Gen Tanaka, M.D.

IMG_0276Gen Tanaka, M.D. is a practicing board-certified psychiatrist, researcher, lecturer/teacher who has been awarded the title of the Knight of Magistral Grace from the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta (Vatican City, Rome) for his continuing devotion to the medical treatment of the impoverished and the neglected. He currently holds the position of an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) School of Medicine.

Dr. Tanaka held administrative roles as OHSU Academic Director-Oregon State Hospital and OHSU Academic Chief. Currently, he acts as the Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Rotation for the OHSU Adult Psychiatry Residency Program. He also chairs the Ethics Committee and Graduate Medical Education Committee at his academic institutions. In 2017, he was awarded annual teaching award from OHSU as “Distinguished Recognition for Excellence in Forensic Psychiatry Education.”

Dr. Tanaka entered Carnegie Mellon University as a National Merit Scholar Finalist, and he graduated with B.S. in Biological Science with University Honors and Department Honors for academic excellence (’06). He received his Medical Doctorate at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (’10). Dr. Tanaka completed clinical training at Harvard Medical School (South Shore Program, ‘15) where he held multiple committee leadership positions. He then attended Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University as a forensic psychiatry fellow, and received his Certificate of Completion from the program (07/15-12/15).

Selected Publications

  • Asai T, Bundo M, Sugawara H, Sunaga F, Ueda J, Tanaka G, Ishigooka J, Kasai K, Kato T, Iwamoto K. Effect of mood stabilizers on DNA methylation in human neuroblastoma cells. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2013 Nov;16(10):2285-94
  • Pivovarova E, Tanaka G, Bursztajn HJ. Is helplessness still helpful in diagnosing PTSD? J Nerv Ment Dis. 2016;204(1):3-8.
  • Gurrera R.J, Dismukes R, Edwards M, Feroze U, Nakshabandi F, Tanaka G, Tang, M. Preparing residents in training to become health care leaders: a pilot project. Academic Psychiatry. 2014:1-5.
  • Gurrera R.J, Dismukes R, Edwards M, Feroze U, Nakshabandi F, Tanaka G, Tang, M. Preparing residents in training to become health care leaders: a pilot project. Academic Psychiatry. 2014:1-5.
  • Soonsawat, A., Tanaka, G., Lammando, M.A., Ahmed, I. and Ellison, J.M., 2018. Cognitively Impaired Physicians: How Do We Detect Them? How Do We Assist Them?. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.
  • Falls BA, Tanaka G, Bursztajn HJ. Geriatric psychiatry and the law. In The Principles and Practice of Forensic Psychiatry, 3rd Edition. Edited by Scott CL and Rosner R. New York, Taylor and Francis.(in press)
  • Tanaka G, Soonsawat A, Haque OM, Bursztajn, HJ. Traumatized Older Individual and Society. In The Oxford University Press Handbook of Geriatric Forensic Psychiatry. (Ed 1). Oxford, U.K.: Oxford University Press. (in press)