|
Margarita Abi Zeid Daou, M.D Margarita Abi Zeid Daou, M.D., is a forensic psychiatrist and assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School (UMass). Dr. Daou graduated from the University of Balamand, El-Koura in Lebanon in 2012, completed a psychiatric internship at the St. Georges Hospital University Medical Center in Ashrafieh, Lebanon, and her psychiatric residency at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee. She then pursued fellowship training in Forensic Psychiatry at UMass completing her studies in 2018. Since 2018, Dr. Daou has been prolific in her academic, clinical, teaching, and administrative roles within the Department of Mental Health’s Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital (WRCH), UMass, nationally and internationally. Her current position with WRCH is Associate Facility Medical Director and Training Director for the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship of UMass Chan. She is a Designated Forensic Psychiatrist with DMH and an Expert Witness for Massachusetts Courts. And she has a private practice. Dr. Daou is richly involved in the academic life of her peers and trainees at UMass, Mass Psychiatric Society, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), Association of Directors of Forensic Psychiatry, and the American Psychiatric Association. She is the Program Chair for AAPL’s 2026 Annual Meeting in Tampa FL. She reviews manuscripts for and serves as a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law and is co-editor for two special issues of Behavioral Sciences and the Law. Since the start of her membership with AAPL in 2016, she has been on the Ethics Committee, Research Committee, Cross-Cultural Committee, and serves on the Annual Meeting Program Committee. She is first author of four of her nine peer reviewed publications while also publishing non- peer reviewed contributions in Psychiatric News, book reviews, book chapters, a legal digest, and Policy Statement concerning telepsychiatry for the APA. Dr. Daou has been invited to give Grand Rounds presentations and participates in the Law and Psychiatry Seminar series at UMass, and she extends herself regularly to train psychiatric residents at Boston Medical Center, Cambridge Health Alliance, and Boston University. Her peer education efforts reach internationally to Spain, Austria, France, and Italy as well as throughout the United States. Her involvement with MPS and the APA since starting residency in 2014 includes service as a Council Member and now as an APA Representative for MPS. Other activities with the APA that benefit from Margarita’s keen discernment and problem -solving talent include participation on the Correctional Committee, Judicial Action Committee, Racial and Social Justice Workforce, as well as the Scientific Program Committee. Dr. Daou continues to step up as a leader who goes the extra mile for patients, colleagues, and the needs of the institutions she serves. Her ethical foundation is matched with impeccable clinical skill, mentorship, and leadership potential. On a personal note, she married earlier this year and enjoys a full and rich life as she continues to integrate her generous contribution of her expertise and skills to patients, trainees, peers, and the larger public while maintaining her resilience and care for herself, family, and community. MPS is proud to honor Dr. Daou with the 2025 Outstanding Psychiatrist Award for an Early Career Psychiatrist! Early Career Psychiatry Award - Previous Awardees: |
