Biography

Dr. Richard Kogan has a distinguished career both as a psychiatrist and as a concert pianist. He is renowned for his concert/lectures that explore the influence of psychological factors and psychiatric and medical illness on the creative output of the great composers.

A master storyteller, Kogan has given these programs at concert series, music festivals, medical conferences, universities, and scholarly symposia throughout the world, including the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Aspen Ideas Festival, the TEDMED Conference, The Hindustan Times Leadership Summit in New Delhi, the Accelerating Bio-Innovation Conference at MIT, the BBC in London, and the World Psychiatric Congress in Berlin.

Kogan’s tours have included performances at concerts of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Baltimore Symphony, Houston Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Pittsburgh Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, and Buffalo Philharmonic. Kogan is prominently featured on the PBS Great Performances “Now Hear This” episodes entitled “Schumann: Genius and Madness,” “Rachmaninoff Reborn,” and “Old Friends,” about his musical and personal collaborations with Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Chang.

Bridging the worlds of arts and medicine, Kogan has given programs throughout the world in which he illuminates the importance of the humanities in medical education. He has used his explorations of the mental health struggles of the great composers as a way of advocating for the destigmatization of mental illness.

Kogan is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College, Artistic Director of the Weill Cornell Music and Medicine Program, and Co-Director of Weill Cornell’s Human Sexuality Program. He has been praised by The New York Times for his “exquisite playing” and The Boston Globe wrote that, “Kogan has somehow managed to excel at the world’s two most demanding professions.” He has been the recipient of numerous honors and awards in both psychiatry and the arts.

Dr. Kogan is a graduate of Juilliard School of Music Pre-College, Harvard College, and Harvard Medical School, and completed a psychiatric residency and academic fellowship at NYU. In addition to his active career as a performing artist, he maintains a private practice of psychiatry in New York City.