Dr. Jeste was born in Pimpalgaon, India, received his M.D. (1970) from the University of Bombay, India, and completed his psychiatry residency at the New Jersey School of Medicine and Dentistry (1974–75) and the New York Hospital, Cornell Medical Center, White Plains, NY (1975–77).
In 1977, Dr. Jeste became a Research Fellow and then Staff Psychiatrist in the Adult Psychiatry Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC. From 1982–84, he was also a Neurology Fellow at the George Washington University Medical Center in Washington, DC, as well as Chief (1982–86) of the Unit on Movement Disorders and Dementias at the NIMH.
In 1986, he became Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, and Director of Geriatric Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He was Chief of Psychiatry Service at the VA San Diego Healthcare System (1989–1992). Currently, he is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Neurosciences (1986-), Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair in Aging (2001-), and Director of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging (2003-) at UCSD. Dr. Jeste is past president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (1998–1999), the West Coast College of Biological Psychiatry (1999–2000), and the Founding President of the International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology (2001–03).
Dr. Jeste is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and was a member of the National Mental Health Advisory Council (2006–10) and the NIH Council of Councils (2007–09).
Dr. Jeste is Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (2001-) and has been on the Institute of Scientific Information's list of the "world's most cited authors"—comprising less than 0.5% of all publishing researchers of the last two decades (2002). He spearheaded the process of finalization, approval, and publication of the DSM-5. He also expanded APA's international membership, and focused on positive psychology.
Dr. Jeste has received many awards, including the A.E. Bennett Neuropsychiatric Research Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry (1981); the MERIT Award from the NIMH (1988); the Commendation for Dedicated Service from the American Legion, Veterans Affairs, and Rehabilitation Commission (1991); listed in "The Best Doctors in America" (1992); the C. Charles Burlingame Award from the Institute of Living (2003); APA's Jack Weinberg Memorial Award in Geriatric Psychiatry (2003); the Geriatric Research Award from the American College of Psychiatrists (2005); APA's George Tarjan Award (2006); and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (2012).