Francis Novak (he/him) is a Psychoanalyst, Psychotherapist, and Musician based in private practice in Manhattan. He serves on the faculty at both the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Institute for Expressive Analysis, where he teaches Psychoanalytic History, Theories, and Practice in their Licensure Qualifying Programs. Dr. Novak trained at the Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis and earned his Doctor of Psychoanalytic Studies (DPsa) degree from the Parkmore Institute. He holds a BA and BM from the University of Michigan and an MSW from New York University. Dr. Novak is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Psychoanalyst. With 25 years of experience, he spent over a decade practicing in community mental health settings across New York City, including as a Clinical Supervisor, before transitioning to full-time private practice.

Dr. Novak published a short essay titled "Seeing Is All the Rage" in the journal Psychoanalytic Perspectives (2023), and is preparing for his doctoral project titled “Queering Up Psychoanalysis – An Integrative Model with the Power to Meet the Moment” to soon be published in the journal Psychoanalytic Inquiry. His paper proposes a "theory of everything" by unifying the "four fundamental parts of the human psyche." He names this four self-states theory "The Golden Girls Theory" after the television series and traces the four archetypes back to Hippocrates and Galen. Queer Theory and Jung's theories of the existence of universal archetypes and the collective unconscious are linked to the model. He gives four clinical examples of four self-states demonstrating the use of this theoretical model to integrate "the four primary self-states". Dr. Novak is eager to continue exploring all of the many intersections between the creative arts and psychoanalytic practice.

As a classically trained professional musician, he is the Principal Clarinetist of the Queer Urban Orchestra for which he is a founding member. He also toured 13 cities in China twice as a Clarinetist with the Manhattan Symphonie, he was the Assistant Conductor of the Queer Big Apple Corps Symphonic Band, and was the Youth Orchestra Director at the Turtle Bay Music School. He continues to enjoy a fulfilling musical career and loves the emphasis on human expression in all of its various creative forms that is at the heart of his professional practice. He can be heard on a recently released Albany Records album, James Ader's "That Star in the Picture", performing "Pie Jesu" with Grammy Award-winning mezzo-soprano Victoria Livengood.