He regularly teaches post graduate courses for both mental health professionals and laymen and has been course director for two national symposia including:  "Sexual Science--Bridging the Disciplines with the Master Clinicians," and "Beyond Prozac." 

            In the early 1980's, Dr. Podell was one of the founding physicians for the Century City Hospital in Vitro Fertilization Program.  He developed psychological guidelines and a psychological intervention system for couples seeking treatment for infertility.  Dr. Podell was then named to co-direct Century City Hospital's Center for Sexual Medicine, which offered multi-disciplinary treatment for sexual dysfunction. 

            Dr. Podell conceived the idea for a private research and treatment center for anxiety and mood disorders in 1983.  He then co-founded the Center for Mood Disorders in West Los Angeles in 1984 with Michael Gitlin MD, one of the very first private clinical and research facilities of its kind in the United States.  The Center served over 5000 patients in its ten years and regularly conducted FDA clinical trials.

            Dr. Podell also co-founded Westridge Psychiatric Medical Group in 1989 with Melvyn Kinder, Ph.D.  This multi-specialty group brought research validated psychiatric and psychological diagnostic and treatment methods to patients struggling with the emotional dilemmas of aging as well as help to families and caregivers.  The group focused on providing care in Skilled Nursing Facilities and Intermediate and Assisted Living Facilities where Dr. Podell’s expertise in the psychopharmacologic treatment of mood disorders brought relief to behaviorally disturbed and distressed patients with dementia.

            Dr. Podell has published articles in academic and lay journals. He is the author of Contagious Emotions--Staying Well When Your Loved One is Depressed, a Pocket Books hardcover and trade paperback.  He has extensive media experience in every form including local and national television, radio, newspapers, and magazines.  Dr. Podell has appeared multiple times on Los Angeles Network News and on national magazine-formatted shows as well as magazine formatted shows throughout the country.

            He has been quoted in Newsweek, Vogue, Readers' Digest, Ladies Home Journal, Glamour, Red Book, Men’s Health, and other national periodicals, and has been cited in major city newspapers including the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and the San Diego Union-Tribune, etc.  He also conducted an extensive survey through Shape Magazine assessing body image and sexual attitudes of over 8000 female respondents.