Andrei Novac, Medical Doctor

Psychiatrist; MD

License # A39819

Contact Information:

Disclaimer — Member profile information is provided directly by members. NCP has not verified the accuracy of this information.

Practice Information:

Bio/Background:

Andrei Novac, MD, DFAPA is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. He was born in Bucharest, Romania to parents who were both Holocaust survivors. He received his medical degree in 1978 from a very competitive school in Bucharest, the Carol Davila School of Medicine, Magna cum Laude and completed an internship/residency in pediatrics. He immigrated to the US in 1980.  He completed his residency in Psychiatry at UC Irvine followed by a one-year research fellowship at the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Long Beach, CA, focusing on trauma. During his psychiatric residency, Dr. Novac entered a three-year psychoanalytical track between 1983 and 1986, directed by Barton Blinder, MD, PhD, while also analyzed by Robert Litman, MD, Training Analyst at Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute. In addition, he had one year of supervision with James Grotstein, MD. Upon graduation, he joined the faculty at UCI and has been supervising residents for over 25 years. He has been in private practice in Newport Beach, CA.

Dr. Novac has completed a two-year training in human attachment and the use AAI at the University of California, Berkeley with Mary Main, PhD and additional training in neuroanatomy at Washington University, St, Louis, led by Lennart Heimer, MD. He is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Novac is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is also a member of the College of Research Fellows of the American Psychoanalytic Association.

Dr. Novac developed expertise in trauma and has also consulted and testified internationally in cases of war reparations. In the past, he chaired the study group on Intergenerational Trauma at the International Society of Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS).

Dr. Novac has been the course director of Traumatic Stress and founding director of the Traumatic Stress Program at University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine. He has authored over 50 scientific papers and book chapters on psychopathology and individual and group psychodynamics. He has also published four books of poetry.

A graduate from the New Center for Psychoanalysis, LA, his dissertation is entitled “Psychoanalytic Trauma Diathesis: An Implicit Script Hypothesis.” At NCP he has served on the Research Committee for the past eight years and served as co-chair. Since 2026, he has been co-chair of the Program Committee. He is also on the editorial board of JAPA and Neuropsychoanalysis.