Dr. Bob Larsen’s primary professional role is that of the director for the Center for Occupational Psychiatry, Inc. located in Oakland City Center. Dr. Larsen entered private practice in San Francisco in 1982 after completing his residency training at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute of the University of California at San Francisco.
Dr. Larsen’s training includes his receiving an undergraduate degree in molecular biology from the University of Colorado, a medical degree from Northwestern University and a master’s in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley. He received additional post-graduate training as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar when he studied health policy issues and in specific examined the topic of impairment in professionals. He went on to function as a co-director for a psychiatric consulting firm to industry.
He has publications on the topics of psychiatric injury, substance abuse, physician impairment, professional training, group therapy, occupational psychiatry, ethics and fitness-for-duty examinations. He has presented at national meetings of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, the Academy of Organizational and Occupational Psychiatry, the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, the American Psychiatric Association, the American College of Psychiatrists, and the University of California, San Francisco.
As a Clinical Professor at the University of California at San Francisco (volunteer faculty 1984-2017), Dr. Larsen has taught in the Division of Occupational & Environmental Medicine as well as in the area of Forensic Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry. He is past president of the California Society of Industrial Medicine and Surgery. He was a member of the Industrial Medical Council for the State of California as a Senate appointee beginning in 1990, serving throughout the Council’s 13 year tenure. Dr. Larsen has been elected to membership in the American College of Psychiatrists and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. He is frequently called upon to offer opinions in complex cases as an AME or IME.
Aside from presentations at medical meetings, Dr. Bob, as he is known to his friends, also presents on profound topics such as gun violence, suicide prevention, psychological trauma and resilience to gatherings of the general public. Case examples and the humorous side of daily life color Dr. Bob’s reflections on our shared experience.
With the publication of Wounded Workers, in 2021, Dr. Larsen has been presenting tales from his book to professional audiences and the public.
