José Maldonado, MD joined the Stanford faculty in 1993 and became Medical Director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service in 1995. He received his medical degree at Ponce School of Medicine and his psychiatric training at Temple University, in Philadelphia. He completed additional training in Forensic Psychiatry at Temple University, and a fellowship in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry/Neuropsychiatry at New England Medical Center/Tufts University, in Boston. 

Dr. Maldonado is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, with courtesy appointments in the Departments of Medicine, Emergency Medicine, Surgery, the Center of Biomedical Ethics, and the Stanford School of Law. He serves as Chief of the Division of Medical Psychiatry, Medical Director of the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service, and Medical Director of Critical Care Psychiatry Service. Dr. Maldonado’s areas of special expertise include delirium, Critical Care Psychiatry and post-critical care cognitive and mental disorders, alcohol withdrawal syndromes, somatoform disorders, neuropsychiatry, dissociation, medical hypnosis, and organ transplantation. 

Dr. Maldonado's research interest include: Neurobiology, Prediction, Prevention and Treatment of Acute Brain Failure (Delirium); Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of Medical Illness and its Treatment; Psychosocial Assessment & Neuropsychiatric Complications of Organ Transplantation; Functional Neurological Disorder; Application of Hypnosis in Psychiatry and Medicine; Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of Traumatic Brain Injury; Pathophysiology and Management of Alcohol Withdrawal; Factitious Disorder & Munchausen's Syndrome; Cultural Diversity in Medical Care; Diagnosis and Treatment of Dissociative Disorders; and Forensic Psychiatry. 

Dr. Maldonado has received numerous awards including the Charles Shagass, MD Award, for meritorious scholarly work during residency training, from Temple University (1992). He was awarded status as Fellow of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry in 1996.The Psychiatric Times named Dr. Maldonado 2001 Teacher of the Year. In 2002 he received the Best Paper Award on the Application of Hypnosis, presented by the American Psychological Association. In June 2003, Dr. Maldonado was awarded the Henry J. Kaiser Award at the Stanford University School of Medicine Commencement Ceremony for excellence in clinical teaching. In August 2003, Dr. Maldonado received the "Best Researcher/Author Presentation" Award at the World Congress in Psychosomatic Medicine for his work on acute brain failure/delirium. He received the 2004 DLIN/Fischer Award, for significant achievement in clinical research from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry for his research in the prevention of Post-Operative Delirium and the introduction of novel alpha-2 agonists (e.g., dexmedetomidine) in ICU sedation protocols. He received the Teacher of the Year Award from the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University in 2004, 2009, and 2011. In 2009 he was recognized by the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry with the Dorfman Award, for Best Original Research, for his work on the development of the Stanford Integrated Psychosocial Assessment for Transplantation. In September 2012 he was named one of US News and World Report's 'Top Doctors'. In November 2012, he received the Research Poster of the Year Award from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, for the development of a “Non-Benzodiazepine Protocol for Alcohol Withdrawal Syndromes”. In 2013, he received the Research Poster of the Year Award from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. In May 2014, Dr Maldonado received the Herbert Spiegel Award for Hypnosis Research from the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University & New York State Psychiatric Institute. In November 2014, Dr Maldonado received the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry’s DLIN/Fischer Award, for significant achievement in clinical research for his research on alcohol withdrawal syndromes and the development of the Prediction of Alcohol Withdrawal Severity Scale (PAWSS). He also received the APM’s 2014 Research Poster of the Year Award for the paper “Cortical hypoactivation during resting EEG suggests central nervous system pathology in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome”, and the 2014 Visiting Professorship Award. In June 2016, Dr Maldonado received the Sawlow Memorial Award on Neuroscience from the Oregon Health & Science University and the Portland International Neuroscience Symposium planned jointly by psychiatry, neurology, and neurosurgery. Dr. Maldonado, he has been recognized by his clinical peers as one of Castle Connolly – “Top Doctor Award” every year since 2003 (2003 – 2023). In 2017, Dr Maldonado received the Franz-Köhler-Inflammation-Award from the German Society of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine [Deutsche Gesellschaft für Anästhesiologie und Intensivmedizin (DGAI)] for extraordinary achievements in research on inflammation and its relationship to the pathophysiology of delirium. Finally, Dr. Maldonado was the recipient of the 2018 – Eleanor and Thomas P. Hackett Memorial Award by the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, the Academy’s highest honor, for distinctive achievements in CLP training, research, clinical practice, and leadership. 

Dr. Maldonado is a Fellow of both the American College of Forensic Psychiatry and the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP); and a member of the Board of Directors and Past-President of the American Delirium Society (ADS). Dr. Maldonado enjoys national and international recognition as an expert in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and specifically in the pathophysiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of delirium and acute brain failure; the neurobiology, prevention, and treatment of alcohol withdrawal syndromes; Transplant Psychiatry, more specifically the psychosocial assessment of organ transplant candidates and donors; traumatic brain injury; conversion disorder; and hypnosis. He is also director of the Mental Health & the Law course in the Stanford School of Law. Dr Maldonado was just named the Inaugural Chair of the Critical Care Psychiatry – Special Interest Group at the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. Yet, the award Dr Maldonado is most fond of has been named the inaugural recipient of the “John & Terry Levin Family Professorship in Medicine”, in 2023. 

Dr. Maldonado is Board Certified in General and Adult Psychiatry, Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, Forensic Medicine, and Addiction Medicine. Dr. Maldonado has over 130 peer-reviewed publications to his name, over 70 peer-reviewed scientific posters, and over 50 book chapters. Dr Maldonado has delivered over 185 peer-reviewed presentations at professional national and international scientific meetings, has organized, and directed over 70 peer-reviewed symposia at national and international scientific meetings, has put together over 50 Peer-Reviewed Courses at National & International Scientific Meetings, and delivered about 400 invited national and international presentations. Dr Maldonado is the senior editor of the book “Psychosocial Care of End-Stage Organ Disease and Transplant Patients”, Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2019.