George Woods, MD, is chief scientific officer at Crestwood Behavioral Health. He is a physician licensed to practice in California, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Tennessee, Washington State, and Wyoming, with offices in Oakland, California. His clinical subspecialties are neuropsychiatry and consultation liaison psychiatry, the study of psychiatric manifestations of medical diseases and the assessment of neurodevelopmental disorders.
Dr. Woods taught clinical aspects of forensic psychiatry and introduction to geriatric psychiatry at Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia from 2002 through 2016. He has been a lecturer at Berkeley Law – University of California, teaching Mental Health and the Law for nine years.
Dr. Woods was appointed chief scientific officer from Crestwood Behavioral Health Care in 2021, the first in the company's history, after consulting with the company for two years. Crestwood is the largest provider of behavioral health congregate care in California, with 7,000 clients and 3,000 staff members.
Additionally, in 2021, Dr. Woods was appointed to the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) and the Morehouse School of Medicine’s (MSM) SAMHSA Center of Excellence (CoE), focused on African American behavioral health (AABH) disparities.
Dr. Woods was appointed medical expert for the San Francisco District Attorney Post Conviction Unit's Innocence Commission in September 2020. In 2019, Dr. Woods was appointed to the governing board of the Stanford University Medicare Shared Services Program (MSSP) University Health Alliance Accountable Care Organization, LLC. Additionally, Dr. Woods is the recipient of the 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Utah Medical Center, the first psychiatrist ever selected.
He is currently president of the International Academy of Law and Mental Health. From 2017 through 2019, he served as secretary general to the International Academy of Law and Mental Health during its amalgamation with the Institute of Ethics, Medicine, and Public Health at Sorbonne University, Paris, France.
Dr. Woods has worked with several companies including Vulcan Industries, Microsoft, Forefront Telehealth, and Walmart on psychometrically and culturally competent employment testing procedures. He is neurosciences advisor to BetterManager, a leader in advanced coaching for all management levels. Dr. Woods was also a founding partner in JohnsonWoodsGroup, focused on advising start-up companies and institutions on best neuropsychiatric practices that may be relevant to business.
Dr. Woods serves on the advisory board of Roots Medical Clinic, a multipurpose provider of medical, pediatric, and behavioral services for community and post-incarceration minority populations in Oakland, California.