Stephen M. Sonnenberg, MD

Clinical Biography

Stephen M. Sonnenberg, MD, is a board-certified psychiatrist in UT Health Austin’s Mulva Clinic for the Neurosciences. He specializes in psychotherapy for patients who are experiencing anxiety and those who have depressive disorders. Additionally, Dr. Sonnenberg is a professor and serves as the interim Associate Chair of Education for the Dell Medical School Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He also serves as a courtesy professor in both the Dell Medical School Department of Medical Education and the Dell Medical School Department of Population Health and holds faculty appointments in The University of Texas at Austin Steve Hicks School of Social Work, The University of Texas at Austin School of Undergraduate Studies, and The University of Texas at Austin College of Liberal Arts Plan II Honors Program.

Dr. Sonnenberg earned his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine and his bachelor’s from Princeton University. He completed an internship in internal medicine at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, a residency in psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and a fellowship in schizophrenia research at the National Institute of Mental Health Laboratory of Clinical Psychopharmacology. He completed additional training to become a psychoanalyst at the Washington Baltimore Center for Psychoanalysis, formerly known as the Baltimore-District of Columbia Institute for Psychoanalysis.

Dr. Sonnenberg believes the model academic physician is a clinician, a scholar, a researcher, and a teacher. His clinical interests combine this model with the belief that the humanities are important in the basic and lifelong education of the healthcare provider and much of his teaching and scholarship involve both the medical humanities and medical ethics. He has been heavily involved in the planning and implementation of the Austin State Hospital redesign project and has represented the Dell Medical School Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences on the Redesign Clinical Strategies Work Group. He is passionate about mentoring psychiatrists and is proud that one former mentee has become a department chair, another the head of child psychiatry in an academic department, and a third a training director.