Visionary Philanthropist Stephen Stahl Invests in Psychiatry’s Future at Cambridge

An endowed professorship at the Cambridge Department of Psychiatry promises to pave the way for aspiring clinicians and researchers to do research that will ultimately illuminate the mysteries of mental illness and treatment for generations to come. Dr. Stephen Stahl and his wife Shakila made the gift this year. 

“I believe Cambridge is a great institution, and that investment in psychiatric neurosciences is a very useful way to help that institution,” said Dr. Stahl.

Stahl, an internationally recognized clinician, researcher, and teacher in psychiatry with subspecialty expertise in psychopharmacology, never planned or expected to make a fortune as a best-selling author and medical education entrepreneur. But as of today, Dr. Stahl has published 90 textbooks including three best sellers in his field and founded, built, and sold his medical education company, the Neuroscience Education Institute.

“There are now over 2 million copies of the books sold throughout the world in 10 to 15 languages,” said Stahl. “There’s an old saying that if you’re somebody like Hillary Clinton or Colin Powell, you make the book. But if you’re nobody, the book makes you and that was the case with me.”

His book Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology is in its Fifth Edition and is essential reading in the field of mental health practice.

Stahl, who grew up in Ohio, studied at Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, and Stanford where he joined the faculty. In 1985 he moved to the UK to work at the Merck Neuroscience Research Centre near London. There he met the Cambridge University Press & Assessment editor who would help change everything for him. Stahl’s first book, Stahl’s Essential Psychopharmacology, led to another best seller, Stahl’s Prescriber's Guide, a guide to utilizing psychiatric medications.

“These books exploded and kind of took over my life, and I started a lot of educational enterprises, including the Neuroscience Education Institute,” Stahl explained. His decision to make an endowment gift to Cambridge was driven by his desire to create a legacy advancing the field of psychiatric neurobiology.

“I believe in the pursuit of knowledge and research, in my specific case, looking at mental disorders, Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, bipolar, addictions -- some of the biggest problems in society today.”

Together, Stahl and his wife Shakila have made endowment gifts to all the universities they attended. “We both feel these universities made us who we are, so we owe a great debt to them,” said Stahl.

Due to his ongoing work with Cambridge University Press & Assessment, he deepened his relationship with the University, which in 2024, conferred him with an honorary doctorate degree, Doctor of Medical Science, for his decades of achievements and contributions to psychopharmacology including his leading textbooks. He is also a Fellow at Clare Hall and an Honorary Fellow in the Psychiatry Department. 

“We are profoundly grateful to Dr. Stephen Stahl and Shakila for their extraordinary generosity. It was a pleasure to work with them and the academic leadership of the Psychiatry department to bring this important gift to fruition,” said Sean Moriarty, Chief Development Officer at Cambridge in America. 

Stahl’s concern about the gaps in understanding of the causes and treatments of mental illness, and most urgently, psychotic illnesses and drug addiction, is foundational to his concept for the Stahl Professorship at Cambridge.

“My vision is to find young stars that are only in places like Cambridge and take the burden of trying to earn their salary every year through grant writing off the table for them. That way they can be very committed to a long and productive career at Cambridge, to make the institution great, to make themselves great, to make the field great. And I trust them to weave magic.”