Robert Spitzer, M.D.

Robert Spitzer, M.D., spent his career at Columbia University as a professor of psychiatry at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and served on the staff of the affiliated New York State Psychiatric Institute. In 1973, he became a key voice in the debate over the classification of homosexuality in the DSM-II. Homosexuality had been listed as a mental disorder in the DSM since 1952 until the APA Board voted in December 1973 to replace the diagnostic code.

In 1974, Spitzer became chairman of the APA’s Task Force on Nomenclature and Statistics, a position he held through 1987. The Task Force was responsible for revising the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and Spitzer worked to transform the manual from a relatively brief publication into a more systematic, data-driven diagnostic and classification guide.