Father Luke Istafanous is a board-certified psychiatrist and the founder and medical director of St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Clinic, a Christian faith-based psychiatric outpatient facility located in Belleville, New Jersey. The clinic offers its services to the public free of charge.​Father Istafanous is also a priest of the Coptic Orthodox Church and serves as a pastor for the community of St. Mary & St. Mercurius in Belleville, NJ.He founded St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Clinic in 2011 because he saw a need to provide up-to-date psychiatric and psychotherapeutic medical care that incorporates Christian principles to also address an individual’s spiritual needs. As a highly qualified psychiatrist, Father Istafanous uses the most modern mental health modalities including pharmacology and psychotherapy. But because he is a priest of the Church, he is also able to incorporate Christian doctrine in counseling the suffering individual. His goal is to bring a patient into health and balance by addressing their medical needs—through psychiatry–as well as their need for a relationship with God.​Father Istafanous’ approach is in keeping with modern trends of psychiatry that have come to recognize the best standard of care as one that includes all aspects of the individual, using the bio-psycho-socio-spiritual model.​Father Istafanous is originally from Egypt. He obtained the Certification of MD from the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG) in 1999. He completed the psychiatry residency training program at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/New Jersey Medical School (UMDNJ/NJMS) from 2000 – 2004. He also obtained a medical board degree of general psychiatry from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) in 2004 and a second board in the sub- specialty of addiction from the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM) in 2005.​He has served as a Medical Director of the Psychiatric Emergency Room in Trinitas Hospital in Elizabeth, NJ, and as an attending psychiatrist at UMDNJ/NJMS, reaching a faculty appointment of Assistant Professor of Psychiatry from 2004 to 2010. He has a Master’s degree in Theology from the Pope Shenouda III Coptic Seminary.Father Istafanous is the co-author of Purity: An Orthodox Christian Curriculum, a guide for Sunday School teachers to teach age-appropriate Christian-based sex education.​He developed a teaching course on “Addiction & Spirituality” and is the author of “Are mental disorders sinful?” and “Leading in Christ Through the Medical Field.”​