He received his medical degree in 1987 from the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine, and completed internship and residency in psychiatry at the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine in 1991, and served as Chief Resident. He received Board Certification in Psychiatry from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1993, and subspecialty certification and recertification in Geriatric Psychiatry in 1996 and 2006. Dr. Bernstein has been a psychiatrist at the VA Pacific Islands Health Care system since 1991 in a variety of roles, and has been Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health since 2001. He holds an academic appointment as Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry from the University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine. Dr. Bernstein has published in the area of cultural psychiatry.