Meet Arwen Podesta, MD, DFAPA, DFASAM
Psychiatrist Ā· Educator Ā· Author
Dr. Arwen Podesta is a New Orleansā€“based psychiatrist, board certified in Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine, and Forensic Psychiatry, with additional expertise in integrative and functional medicine. She is known for looking beyond symptom management to uncover the root causes of mental health and substance use disorders, treating the brain, body, and nervous system as one connected system.
She founded a collaborative practice in New Orleans that brings psychiatry, psychotherapy, nutrition, and acupuncture under one roof, reflecting her belief that brain health depends on modifiable lifestyle factors, not medication alone.
As a forensic psychiatrist, she brings clinical depth to the intersection of medicine, law, and policy, providing clear, objective psychiatric evaluation and testimony for attorneys, courts, and legal teams.
A sought-after educator and speaker, Dr. Podesta is known for translating complex science into tools clinicians can use immediately, from neurotransmitter balancing to lifestyle medicine and habit change. Her evidence-based, compassionate teaching style empowers professionals to improve outcomes, reduce relapse, and care for themselves along the way. She is clinical faculty at Tulane, a consultant to state health and legal systems, and teaches at conferences and through her CME-accredited masterclass, Addiction Care Reimagined.
She is a Distinguished Fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, the author of HOOKED, Immediate Past President of the Louisiana Psychiatric Medical Association, and a Council Member of the Louisiana Opioid Abatement Task Force.
