About Dr. Sunny Aslam

Addiction psychiatrist. Educator. Community advocate.

I’m Sunny Aslam, an addiction psychiatrist based in Syracuse, New York, and a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at SUNY Upstate Medical University.

My work connects addiction care, community mental health, AI safety, and public advocacy. Across these areas, I’m interested in a practical question: how can we make care and support easier to reach for people who are too often overlooked?

My Clinical Background

My clinical experience includes addiction treatment, pain management, serious mental illness, and community outreach. I hold board certifications in Psychiatry through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and in Addiction Medicine through the American Board of Preventive Medicine.

My work has included collaborating with colleagues to provide psychiatric and addiction care to people experiencing homelessness in Syracuse. That experience is an important part of the perspective I bring to access: making a service available is only a beginning. People also need a way to reach it, understand it, and feel comfortable returning.

I value care that combines clinical evidence with listening, respect, and an understanding of each person’s circumstances.

View my SUNY Upstate faculty profile

Why I’m Working in AI Safety

I work in AI medical safety testing, bringing a clinical perspective to how these systems respond to health-related questions. I’m especially interested in conversations involving mental health and substance use, where recognizing uncertainty and the need for human help matters.

I’m hopeful about AI’s potential to make useful information more accessible. I also take seriously the reasons people may distrust it, particularly when a tool asks about their health, finances, or family circumstances.

My interest extends to medical education: how can clinicians and trainees learn to use these tools thoughtfully, recognize their limitations, and preserve their own judgment?

Why Community Advocacy Matters to Me

I started building medical-debt resources because I wanted to reach beyond the people I could help individually. That effort led to broader questions about navigating benefits, finding support, and making public systems easier to use.

My public advocacy includes food insecurity, medical debt, and how local resources can better serve families facing financial hardship. I’m also exploring how communities hosting AI infrastructure could share in its economic benefits, including proposals to direct resources toward reducing child poverty.

For me, clinical care, technology, and public policy are connected by their effects on everyday life.

Research & Writing

My publications address addiction treatment, public-sector mental health, and medication safety.

• Recovery from opioid use on a neuropsychoanalytic service
  Coauthor · Frontiers in Psychiatry · 2024

• Case Studies in Public-Sector Leadership: How to Help Peer Workers Succeed
  Author · Psychiatric Services · 2014

• Valacyclovir-induced psychosis and manic symptoms in an adolescent young woman with genital herpes simplex
  First author · Psychosomatics · 2009

Conversations Beyond the Clinic

I value opportunities to discuss mental health and access to care with a wider audience.

• Providing mental health care and addiction treatment for the homeless — An interview with Upstate’s The Informed Patient, 2018.

• Schizophrenia — A discussion on Cycle of Health, available through PBS.

• Mobile sports betting and compulsive behavior — A conversation on Upstate’s HealthLink on Air, 2022.

Connect

I welcome conversations with clinicians, researchers, community organizations, and others working on responsible AI, addiction care, and access to public resources.

Connect with me on LinkedIn

Views expressed here are my own and do not necessarily represent any affiliated institution. This website provides general information and does not establish a treatment relationship or offer individual medical advice.