Dr. Murray A. Raskind is director of Mental Health Service at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System (with campuses in both Seattle and American Lake/Tacoma, Washington), and director of the VA Northwest Network Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC). He is also professor and vice-chairman in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and director of the University of Washington Alzheimer's Disease Research Center.

Dr. Raskind received his BA from Brown University and his MD from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.  He completed an internship and residency in internal medicine at Columbia University/Harlem Hospital Center and a residency in psychiatry at the University of Washington, where he served as chief resident from 1972-1973.

Dr. Raskind began his academic career in geriatric psychopharmacology and neuroendocrinology at the University of Washington. He was recruited to be the first director of the University of Washington/VA Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) in 1976. He assumed the position of vice-chairman for research development in the UW Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 1986. In 1994, Dr. Raskind became director of mental health service at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. In this capacity he has worked closely with an African-American veterans posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) program and has developed a new clinical and research interest in PTSD. He has continued to foster multidisciplinary research and career development in these capacities. 

Dr. Raskind's research efforts are focused on studies in Alzheimer's disease, aging, noncognitive behavioral problems in dementia, and PTSD in combat veterans and civilians. He is currently conducting research into the use of prazosin for the treatment of combat-related trauma nightmares and sleep disturbances. At the national level, Dr. Raskind's expertise in geriatrics and gerontology has been acknowledged by his appointment to the editorial boards of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the Journal of Gerontology, Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders, the Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology, and the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. He has served on the boards of directors of the American Geriatrics Society, the Neuroscience, Behavior and Sociology of Aging Review Committee of the National Institute on Aging and the Scientific Advisory Committee of the American Federation of Aging Research. Dr. Raskind has been a member of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Board of the national Alzheimer's Association since 1991.