2025 Health Scholar Showcase

Dr. Daniel Knoepflmacher, MD, MFA, is a psychiatrist, educator, and creator of an award-winning medical podcast. He serves as the Director of the General Psychiatry Residency Program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medicine and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. His podcast, On the Mind, explores key topics in Psychiatry, psychotherapy, and mental health research, has over 75,000 downloads, and won the 2023 eHealthcare Leadership Platinum Award for Best Healthcare Podcast.

Dr. Knoepflmacher’s journey to psychiatry has been unconventional. After graduating magna cum laude from Columbia University with a major in Religion, he pursued an MFA in Film Production at the University of Southern California, leading to a successful career in the entertainment industry. Working as an editor, he specialized in theatrical and television campaigns for major studio films. He pivoted to medicine, driven by a desire to channel his longstanding interest in human narrative into meaningful action. He attended medical school at Oregon Health and Sciences University, where he was honored as the top student in Psychiatry and inducted into the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

Following medical school, Dr. Knoepflmacher completed his psychiatry residency at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, where he served as Chief Resident, received the American Psychiatric Association Resident Recognition Award, and became a Fellow of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

As an educator and leader, Dr. Knoepflmacher brings his varied experiences to the forefront of his work. His unique perspective, shaped by high-pressure business environments and creative industries, allows him to help individuals navigate personal, professional, academic, and artistic challenges. Dr. Knoepflmacher also consults with corporate and academic leaders on mental health and personnel management. He has contributed to multiple books, articles, and papers in the field of psychiatry and created a nationally distributed training video on destigmatizing substance use disorders. He continues to advocate for compassionate, personalized approaches to mental health, championing an approach to psychiatry that remains rooted in empathy and human connection. Through writing, podcasting, speaking events, and media engagement, he actively works to raise awareness, reduce stigma, and promote mental health as a fundamental part of overall well-being.