Nicola Riccardo Polizzotto, MD

Biography

Nicola Riccardo Polizzotto, MD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston and Associate Medical Director of the John S. Dunn Behavioral Sciences Campus, the largest academic psychiatric hospital in the United States. In this role, he oversees large-scale clinical operations and advances the integration of measurement-based care, digital innovation, and education into acute psychiatric practice. He also serves as Director of the Psychosis Program and as a recognized expert in psychotic and dissociative disorders.

Dr. Polizzotto’s research program brings together measurement-based care, translational neuroscience, and digital health to modernize inpatient psychiatry. Building on a longstanding background in neurophysiology spanning multiple techniques, he investigates how disturbances in neural synchrony contribute to hallucinations and delusions, and he leads projects on real-time symptom assessment and neuromodulation.

Dr. Polizzotto also brings more than ten years of experience working at the intersection of psychiatry and the judicial system, including service as a treating psychiatrist in competency restoration, expert witness, and court liaison in high-volume forensic settings.

Trained in Italy and at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Polizzotto is an active reviewer for international journals and a dedicated educator of medical students, residents, and nurse practitioners.