faculty recruits 2012
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Faculty Recruits 2012TRANSCRIPT
The Friedman Brain InstituteCompassionate Care. Pioneering Research.
2012 Faculty Recruits
photo by David Carpenter
2012 Faculty Recruits
Dr. Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD
The Department of Psychiatry, along with the Friedman Brain Ins;tute, welcomes Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD, to Mount Sinai. Dr. Akbarian will serve as Chief of the new Division of Psychiatric Epigenomics and Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. He will also be a key contributor to educa;onal efforts for residents, postdoctoral fellows, medical and graduate students.
Recrui;ng Dr. Akbarian to Mount Sinai represents an important step in developing outstanding basic and transla;onal research programs in the neurosciences. Under his leadership, the Department will carry out epigene;c analyses of brain and peripheral ;ssues obtained from rodent models and humans, and translate those findings into the clinic.
Dr. Akbarian is interna;onally known for his cuLng-‐edge research on the epigene;c mechanisms of psychiatric disorders. He is a widely recognized expert in advanced chroma;n tools—many of which were developed in his laboratory—in conjunc;on with mouse mutagenesis and behavioral models of mental illness to bridge molecular, cellular, and behavioral inves;ga;ons. He is also a renowned authority on the epigene;c analysis of human brain ;ssue examined postmortem.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Akbarian was Director of the Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Ins;tute. He received his medical and doctorate degrees from the Freie Universitaet Berlin. Dr. Akbarian completed his postdoctoral training in neuroscience at the University of California at Irvine and the Whitehead Ins;tute, and his residency in psychiatry at MassachuseSs General Hospital.
Nelly Alia-‐Klein, PhD
Dr. Alia-‐Klein has been recruited to serve as Professor of Psychiatry, working closely with the Bronx VA, and will hold a secondary appointment in the Department of Neuroscience.
Known for her gene-‐brain behavior studies in anger and aggression phenotypes, Dr. Alia-‐Klein uses mul;ple neuroimaging techniques and neuropsychological tests to explore the neurobiological underpinnings of reac;ve aggression, that characterize IntermiSent Explosive Disorder. Her interests emphasize the integra;on into predic;on of individual differences, including polymorphisms and epigene;c paSerns, personality traits, and responses to provoca;on.
In her new role, Dr. Alia-‐Klein will serve as co-‐director of the Neuropsychoimaging of Addic;on and Related Condi;ons (NARC) research program. With her team at NARC, she will also be studying the efficacy of select interven;ons including neurofeedback, using Brain Computer Interface and targeted brain s;mula;on with Transcranial Magne;c S;mula;on to reduce reac;vity to provoca;on. Dr. Alia-‐Klein will help expand research at Mount Sinai in the area of psychiatric disorders of self-‐regula;on as evident in drug addic;on and IntermiSent Explosive Disorder with well-‐characterized phenotypes.
As part of her research in gene-‐brain-‐behavior modeling, Dr. Alia-‐Klein will collaborate with the ins;tutes for Genomic and Mul;scale Biology, Gene;cs and Genomics Sciences, Transla;onal and Molecular Imaging Ins;tute at Mount Sinai, as well as ins;tu;ons and consor;a throughout the U.S. and the world. Dr. Alia-‐Klein is par;cularly commiSed to educa;onal outreach and impact on the general public of the neurobiological study of anger and aggression. She is also deeply commiSed to the applica;on of research for interven;ons that enhance self-‐regula;on and quality of life for people suffering from psychiatric disorders.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Alia-‐Klein was a Scien;st at the Medical Department at Brookhaven Na;onal Laboratory in Upton, NY. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and English Literature from Adelphi University in New York and her doctorate in Psychology from the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Columbia University.
2012 Faculty RecruitsTanja Auf der Heyde, PhD.
Dr. Auf der Heyde will serve as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Faculty Prac;ce Associate in the World Trade Center (WTC) Mental Health Monitoring and Treatment Program.
Dr. Auf der Heyde’s research interests include the applica;ons of psychodynamic psychotherapy to the treatment of trauma;c stress and comorbid personality disorders, as well as their integra;on with other evidence-‐based prac;ces. She is also studying the treatment of psycho;c spectrum disorders, and the rela;onship between trauma and the development of psychosis.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Auf der Heyde was a post-‐doctoral fellow at the William Alanson White Ins;tute in New York City. During her internship training at the Bronx Psychiatric Center, she
worked primarily with a severely mentally ill forensic popula;on. Dr. Auf der Heyde earned her doctorate from The City University of New York, focusing on disrup;ons in interpersonal rhythms as a result of a history of trauma.
Anne-‐Claude V. Bédard, PhD.
Dr. Bédard will serve as Assistant Professor (Research Track) in the clinical and transla;onal ADHD research program in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In her new role, Dr. Bédard will con;nue her research on impaired cogni;on in childhood neuropsychiatric disorders, with the ul;mate goal of developing effec;ve compensatory strategies or interven;ons that will improve cogni;ve performance and influence the trajectory of such disorders. Her work is also focused on examining the brain mechanisms underlying working memory in youth with and without ADHD, and in par;cular, the neural effects subserving the therapeu;c effects of guanfacine on working memory.
Dr. Bédard’s past research has helped elucidate the effects of methylphenidate on cri;cal cogni;ve processes such as working memory and inhibitory. Her findings have also been influen;al in developing conceptualiza;ons regarding the core deficits in ADHD, among which spa;al working memory is emerging as an important construct.
In 2010, Dr. Bédard was awarded a grant from the Klingenstein Third Genera;on Founda;on, and in 2012 she received the Mount Sinai Robin Chemers Neustein Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct innova;ve research integra;ng her long-‐standing interests in spa;al working memory and psychopharmacology with her newly developed neuroimaging skills. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Bédard completed her doctorate at the University of Toronto in Medical Science/Neuroscience where she conducted a highly influen;al series of studies in neurocogni;on as it relates to ADHD.
Kristen Brennand, PhD
The Department of Psychiatry, together with the Department of Neuroscience, the Friedman Brain Ins;tute, and the Black Family Stem Cell Ins;tute, welcome Kristen Brennand, PhD, to Mount Sinai. Dr. Brennand will serve as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Neuroscience. She will also be a member of both the Friedman Brain Ins;tute and the Black Family Stem Cell Ins;tute.
Dr. Brennand’s research focuses on genera;ng neural stem cells and neurons from fibroblasts obtained from pa;ents to model the molecular and cellular deficits associated with schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. Her work, which appeared in Nature in 2011, was the first report of cellular deficits found in derived neurons from schizophrenia pa;ents. She will con;nue to develop this work here as a member of the Division of Psychiatric Genomics.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Brennand was a post-‐doctoral fellow at the Salk Ins;tute under the supervision of Fred Gage, PhD. During her training, she generated human induced pluripotent stem cells from pa;ents with schizophrenia and subsequently differen;ated neural progenitor cells and mature neurons to serve as cell-‐based human models with which to study psychiatric disease. She earned her doctorate from Harvard University where she conducted stem cell research in the laboratory of Douglas A. Melton, PhD. Her doctoral work focused on determining the mechanism of growth and maintenance of pancrea;c insulin-‐producing β-‐cells in adult mice.
2012 Faculty RecruitsDr. Roger Clem, PhD
Roger Clem has joined the Mount Sinai School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience and Psychiatry.
Dr. Clem comes from John Hopkins University and has already established a na;onal reputa;on for his work focused on synap;c plas;city at glutamatergic receptors in the amygdala in regula;ng aversive memories. His research u;lizes state-‐of-‐the art electrophysiological recording techniques, molecular biological manipula;ons of genes and proteins, and sophis;cated behavioral assays to understand the forma;on, storage, retrieval, and erasure of such memories.
Barbara Coffey, MD, MS,
Dr. Coffey is an interna;onally-‐known specialist in ToureSe’s Disorder and related disorders. She is Director of the Tics and ToureSe’s Clinical and Research Program, and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine (MSSM).
Dr. Coffey received her B.A. in Biology-‐Psychology from University of Rochester, her M.D. from Tufs University School of Medicine and M.S. in Epidemiology from Harvard University. She completed residency in psychiatry at Boston University Hospital and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Tufs University School of Medicine.
Former Director of Pediatric Psychopharmacology at McLean Hospital and Director of ToureSe's Clinics at McLean and MassachuseSs General Hospitals between 1992-‐2001, Dr. Coffey remained on the faculty of the Harvard Medical School un;l 2007. Prior to her MSSM arrival, she was Director of the Tics and ToureSe’s Clinical and Research Program at the NYU School of Medicine and Associate Professor in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Coffey is the author of more than one hundred manuscripts in peer-‐reviewed journals, abstracts and chapters including Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Archives of General Psychiatry. A past member of the Medical Advisory Board of the ToureSe Syndrome Associa;on, Dr. Coffey is a highly sought afer speaker at world-‐wide conferences. The recipient of numerous research grants from NIH, founda;ons and industry, her research has focused on the phenomenology, neurobiology and novel treatment of ToureSe’s Disorder.
Dr. Menachem Fromer, PhD
Dr. Menachem Fromer has joined Mount Sinai School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Gene;cs and Genomic Sciences. He is a member of the Division of Psychiatric Genomics, Ins;tute for Genomics and Mul;scale Biology and the Friedman Brain Ins;tute. Dr. Fromer is a computa;onal biologist, computer scien;st, and gene;cist inves;ga;ng the gene;c causes of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, au;sm, and bipolar disorder. His previous work has yielded efficient algorithms for processing large datasets of protein sequences and clustering them into func;onal groups and families, accurate algorithms for modeling protein structures and protein-‐protein interac;ons at the atomic level, and general-‐purpose algorithms for finding mul;ple op;mal solu;ons for widely-‐used mathema;cal models.
2012 Faculty RecruitsVilma Gabbay MD, MS, LLB
Dr. Gabbay has joined Mount Sinai as an Associate Professor and Chief of the Pediatric Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. Prior to Mount Sinai, Dr. Gabbay was a Leon Levy Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the NYU School of Medicine. In addi;on to being one of the na;on's leading experts on pediatric mood disorders, Dr. Gabbay is a renowned researcher with a focus on the neurological and immunological mechanisms that contribute to the development and maintenance of mood disorders in youth. Her research efforts u;lize an array of sophis;cated, cuLng-‐edge techniques, including func;onal magne;c resonance (MR) imaging, MR spectroscopy, immunological and gene;c assays, and comprehensive clinical evalua;ons. She also inves;gates the efficacy and neurochemical effects of Omega-‐3 faSy acids (fish oils) in the treatment of adolescent depression and ToureSe's disorder. Dr. Gabbay's research has been funded by the Na;onal Ins;tutes of Health, the American Founda;on for Suicide Preven;on, the
ToureSe Syndrome Associa;on, the Hope for Depression Research Founda;on, and the Na;onal Associa;on for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.
Peter Glick, PhD.
Dr. Glick will serve as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the World Trade Center (WTC) Mental Health Monitoring and Treatment Program. Trained in psychodynamic theory, he incorporates interven;ons across modali;es including cogni;ve behavioral therapy, dialec;cal behavior therapy, and other behavioral strategies.
Dr. Glick recently co-‐published a chapter in a book about the psycholinguis;cs of self-‐decep;ve speech and is preparing his disserta;on for publica;on. He was the recipient of a number of dis;nc;ons including a University Fellowship and The Irwin Rock Memorial Award in Psychology for his disserta;on inves;ga;ng ruptures in the therapeu;c alliance.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Glick completed his postdoctoral fellowship in the Psychiatric Recovery Center at St. Luke’s-‐Roosevelt Hospital focusing on severe and persistent mental illness. He also helped train psychology interns, externs, and psychiatry residents in psychotherapy. Dr. Glick earned his doctorate in clinical psychology from the New School for Social Research and completed his predoctoral internship at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center.
Dr. Arthur Goldberg, PhD
Dr. Arthur Goldberg has joined Mount Sinai School of Medicine as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Seaver Au;sm Center. He works with the Ins;tute for Genomics & Mul;scale Biology and the Friedman Brain Ins;tute. Dr. Goldberg joins us from the Sloan-‐KeSering Ins;tute at the Memorial Sloan-‐KeSering Cancer Center, and the Computer Science Department in the Courant Ins;tute at New York University, where he maintains close collabora;ons. He was CEO of ChoiceMaker Technologies which created leading data quality sofware. Dr. Goldberg’s research at the Seaver Au;sm Center focuses on design and development of computa;onal infrastructure for processing large genomic data sets, including tools for visualiza;on, sta;s;cal and pathway analysis. In par;cular, Dr. Goldberg leads the crea;on of the sofware infrastructure for the Au;sm Sequencing Consor;um. He is responsible for funding, staffing and managing a team of computer scien;sts and computa;onal biologists, including local and remote members, to work on this project.
2012 Faculty RecruitsRita Goldstein, PhD.
Dr. Goldstein has been recruited to serve as Professor of Psychiatry and will hold a secondary appointment in the Department of Neuroscience.
Na;onally and interna;onally known for her neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies in drug addic;on, Dr. Goldstein formulated a theore;cal model known as Impaired Response Inhibi;on and Salience ASribu;on (iRISA). The model uses mul;ple neuroimaging modali;es—including MRI, EEG/ERP, PET and neuropsychological tests—to explore the neurobiological underpinnings of iRISA in drug addic;on and related condi;ons. Her work has contributed to the development of relevant machine-‐learning algorithms for innova;ve analyses applied to this mul;dimensional data set.
Dr. Goldstein’s interests also include pharmacological fMRI, including administering oral methylphenidate to cocaine addicted individuals to improve self-‐control, neurofeedback such as Brain Computer Interface, and brain s;mula;on with Transcranial Magne;c S;mula;on. She has also been exploring the contribu;on of individual differences, including polymorphisms in monoaminergic genes, to addic;on and aggression, with a focus on the neural mechanisms underlying reinforcement learning and ex;nc;on, choice and decision-‐making, and self-‐awareness and insight into severity of illness.
In her new role, Dr. Goldstein will serve as chief of Neuropsychoimaging of Addic;on and Related Condi;ons (NARC) Research Program. She will be responsible for direc;ng the lab in its con;nued use of mul;modality func;onal neuroimaging methods to explore the neurobiological bases of impaired cogni;ve and emo;onal func;oning in human drug addic;on and other disorders of self-‐control. An important applica;on of this research is to facilitate the development of interven;on modali;es that would improve treatment outcome in drug addic;on and other chronically relapsing disorders of self-‐regula;on.
Dr. Goldstein will contribute to Mount Sinai’s research efforts in the area of psychiatric neuroimaging, neuropsychology, and cogni;ve neuroscience, and play an important role in enhancing transla;onal research in drug addic;on, IntermiSent Explosive Disorder and related disorders, bridging the gap between basic research in the Department of Neuroscience and clinical interven;ons and treatment in numerous facili;es including Bronx VA, Phoenix House, and Samaritan Village.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Goldstein was a tenured Scien;st at the Medical Department at Brookhaven Na;onal Laboratory in Upton, NY. She earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Tel Aviv University in Israel and her doctorate in Health Clinical Psychology from the University of Miami in Florida.
ShanK Gooden, PhD
Dr. Gooden aSended the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB), where she studied biology and had her first exposure to clinical psychology working with young children at the UCSB Koegel Au;sm Center. In August of 2003 she began medical school at Drexel University
School of Medicine in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. July 2007 she started residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in the the Triple Board Program and is glad to be staying at Mt. Sinai, working on the inpa;ent child and adolescent unit.
2012 Faculty Recruits
Dorothy E. Grice, MD.
Dr. Grice will serve as Professor of Psychiatry in the recently formed Division of Tics, Obsessive-‐Compulsive, and Related Disorders (DTOR). DTOR encompasses an array of related condi;ons characterized by repe;;ve behaviors with onset in childhood or early adulthood.
In her new role, Dr. Grice will have an ac;ve research program that focuses on the biology, gene;cs, and phenomenology of OCD, ;c and au;sm spectrum disorders. She will be Chief of the OCD and Related Disorders Clinical and Research Program and Associate Director of
the Tics and ToureSe’s Clinical and Research Program, within DTOR. Dr. Grice completed advanced clinical and research training in child psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center through the Na;onal Ins;tute of Health Research Training Program in childhood neurobiological disorders.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Grice was at Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Ins;tute where she was the Gene;cs Principal Inves;gator at the Columbia University Simons Simplex Collec;on. While at Columbia, she established a DNA repository for all research par;cipants within the Division of Child Psychiatry and directed the Tic, ToureSe, and Related Disorders Clinic at Children’s Hospital of New York/New York Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Grice received her medical degree from the Medical University of South Carolina and is currently comple;ng her masters of science in bioethics at Columbia University.
Roy Jerome, PhD.
Dr. Jerome will serve as Assistant Professor of Psychology and work as a staff psychologist within the Comprehensive Health Program-‐Downtown, which provides primary and specialty care to pa;ents in our community with HIV/AIDS.
Dr. Jerome’s areas of exper;se include substance use disorders, sexual health, HIV, Hepa;;s C (HCV), pain management, trauma-‐focused therapies, post-‐trauma;c stress disorder, and men’s mental health. His research focuses on methamphetamine use, HIV-‐risk, and trauma.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Jerome was a postdoctoral psychology fellow in HIV and HCV at the San Francisco VA Medical Center. During his training, he developed an early-‐recovery treatment protocol for pa;ents with methamphetamine use disorders. Dr. Jerome also focused on behavioral health treatments for pa;ents undergoing novel interferon treatment for Hepa;;s C. He earned his doctorate from New York University where he conducted research on methamphetamine use and HIV-‐risk among black gay and bisexual men in New York City.
2012 Faculty Recruits
Yan Jiang, PhD
Dr. Jiang will serve as Instructor in the Researcher/Educator Track and as a faculty member in the Division of Psychiatric Epigenomics. In her new role, she will collaborate primarily with the Friedman Brain Ins;tute and the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurobiology. Dr. Jiang’s research interests involve genome-‐wide mapping of epigene;c informa;on in cor;cal interneurons from both normal and diseased brains. She is also inves;ga;ng epigene;c influences on brain func;ons in pa;ents suffering from mood disorders, with a focus on the molecular biology of major depression. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Jiang earned her doctorate degree from the University of
MassachuseSs Medical School in the laboratory of Schahram Akbarian, MD, PhD. Her thesis work involved studying a chroma;n remodeling protein Setdb1 histone methytransferase, which par;ally inhibits NR2B containing NMDA receptor func;on and mediates an;depressant-‐like effects in the transgenic mouse model for depression. In 2010, she was granted a Young Inves;gator Award from Na;onal Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.
MaOhew Majeske, MD.
Dr. Majeske will serve as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Chief of the Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic. A na;onally recognized expert in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), Dr. Majeske will be a member of Mount Sinai’s ECT service and provide consulta;on and treatment to pa;ents referred for ECT. In his new role, he will also work as a study psychiatrist on the clinical trial, PRIDE, which compares the effects of ECT with the use of medica;on alone in prolonging remission from depression in elderly pa;ents. Dr. Majeske’s clinical interests also include treatment-‐resistant mood disorders, geriatric psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, and lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender issues.
Dr. Majeske has a long background in New York City teaching hospitals. For nearly 20 years, he was Unit Chief at St. Vincent’s Hospital un;l the facility closed. During his tenure at St. Vincent’s, he also directed the ECT service. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, he was Director of the Adult Inpa;ent Service at Elmhurst Hospital Center as well as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York Medical College.
Born and raised in Michigan, Dr. Majeske completed his medical degree and residency at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He received his fellowship training in forensic psychiatry at New York University.
2012 Faculty Recruits
Joshua Morris, MD.
Dr. Morris will serve as ASending Psychiatrist and Assistant Professor on the Adult Inpa;ent Service at Mount Sinai Hospital.Dr. Morris will provide outpa;ent treatment for psychiatric pa;ents, specializing in the diagnosis and management of anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and personality disorders. Board-‐eligible in psychiatry, Dr. Morris is trained to use pharmacotherapy, individual psychodynamic psychotherapy, and group psychotherapy. He is also cer;fied to perform electroconvulsive therapy. In his new role, he will also supervise residents and medical students.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Morris completed a four-‐year residency program at the Zucker Hillside Hospital-‐North Shore-‐Long Island Jewish. During his residency, he co-‐inves;gated the demographic characteris;cs of pa;ents who received clozapine or long-‐ac;ng injectable an;psycho;cs in a busy, academic, inpa;ent seLng. His senior paper, based on this research, received an award from the Queens County Psychiatric Associa;on. Dr. Morris earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in Augusta.
Juan D. Pedraza, MD Dr. Pedraza will serve as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. In addi;on to supervising psychiatry residents, he will conduct clinical work at the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpa;ent clinic, a foster care agency, and in his private prac;ce. Since the beginning of his postgraduate training, Dr. Pedraza has been ac;vely involved in teaching and research, conduc;ng clinical trials in ASen;on Deficit/Hyperac;vity Disorder (ADHD). As a resident, he obtained funding from Glaxo Smith Kline and started conduc;ng a trial evalua;ng the effect of Omega-‐3 faSy acids in the treatment of children with ADHD. He also first authored a chapter on the gene;cs of aggression published in Advances in Psychology Research. More recently, he received the Pond Family Award for ADHD and related
disorders from the American Professional Society for ADHD and Related Disorders. Through this award, he is conduc;ng a prospec;ve trial to study execu;ve func;oning deficits in parents of underserved children diagnosed with ADHD at Mount Sinai. Prior to joining Mount Sinai as a fellow, he completed his residency at the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn. He received his medical degree from the Universidad El Bosque-‐Escuela Colombiana de Medicina.
2012 Faculty Recruits
Cyril J. Peter, PhD
Dr. Peter will serve as Assistant Professor of Research in the Division of Psychiatric Epigenomics. For two years, he has been an integral part of Schahram Akbarian’s, MD, PhD, laboratory team, which recently came to Mount Sinai and is studying the epigene;c mechanisms of psychiatric disorders. Dr. Peter’s research focuses on iden;fying and characterizing novel proteins and molecular interac;ons involved in chroma;n remodeling and epigene;c regula;on in human and vertebrate brain. His goal is to translate those findings and develop new chroma;n modifying drugs that have therapeu;c poten;al for neuropsychiatric diseases. In addi;on, he will contribute to grants and projects for the Center of Excellence, organize a monthly
seminar on psychiatric epigene;cs, and serve as a mentor to graduate and postdoctoral students. Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Peter was an instructor at Brudnick Neuropsychiatric Research Ins;tute at UMASS Medical School. During his training, he iden;fied a novel chroma;n protein complex, which may play a key role in epigene;c mechanisms in the brain.
Dr. Dalila Pinto, PhD
Dr. Dalila Pinto has joined Mount Sinai School of Medicine as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, with a secondary appointment in the Department of Gene;cs and Genomic Sciences. She is a member of the Seaver Au;sm Center, the Child Health and Development Ins;tute, the Friedman Brain Ins;tute and the Ins;tute for Genomics and Mul;scale Biology. She earned her MSc from the University of Porto and PhD from the University of Utrecht, and did her postdoctoral fellowship in the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. Dr. Pinto’s research focuses on understanding how the human genome varies in sequence, structure and copy number, and how this gene;c varia;on contributes to phenotype differences and disease risk in families and popula;ons, with an emphasis on au;sm and
other neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders. Over the past 5 years, she has played a leading role in mapping and characterizing the func;onal impact of structural variants (SV; dele;ons, duplica;ons, inversions and complex rearrangements), integra;ng this knowledge into mul;ple disease studies. By using a combina;on of high-‐throughput technologies together with bioinforma;cs and sta;s;cal gene;cs, her lab will integrate SV and other forms of gene;c varia;on with gene expression, epigene;cs and clinical data, to iden;fy biological pathways involved in disease.
2012 Faculty Recruits
Avi (Abraham) Reichenberg, PhD.
Dr. Reichenberg will serve as Professor of Psychiatry, work closely with the Seaver Au;sm Center, and hold a secondary appointment in Preven;ve Medicine. Na;onally and interna;onally known for his developmental and neuropsychological studies in schizophrenia, Dr. Reichenberg was the first scien;st to describe the increased risk for advanced paternal age in au;sm, and has provided molecular mechanisms for these findings. In his new role, Dr. Reichenberg will augment Mount Sinai's research efforts in the area of psychiatric epidemiology and play an important role in enhancing the transla;onal research program at the Seaver Au;sm Center. He will also aid in the development of the Divisions of Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Psychiatric Genomics by adding psychiatric
epidemiology to these programs while contribu;ng to larger efforts in neuropsychiatric analyses. Dr. Reichenberg’s exper;se will enable many Mount Sinai researchers to introduce epidemiology dimensions to their studies, which will maximize their ability to obtain NIH research grants. His own research will focus on human and animal models in the context of the epidemiology of psychiatric disease.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Reichenberg was a Professor in Epidemiology in the Department of Psychosis Studies at King’s College in London. He earned his doctorate, master’s and bachelor degrees from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel.
Luis H. Ripoll, MD.
Dr. Ripoll will serve as Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the World Trade Center (WTC) Mental Health Monitoring and Treatment Program. Dr. Ripoll’s research interests include the neurobiological basis of personality differences in social cogni;on, iden;ty, alexithymia, and aggression; developmental influences of aSachment insecurity on neurobiological func;oning; psychotherapy process research; and evidence-‐based treatments for personality disorders.
Dr. Ripoll earned his medical degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine in their research track, and completed his adult psychiatry residency at Mount Sinai where he
served as Chief Resident. During his residency, Dr. Ripoll pursued addi;onal exper;se in the treatment of post-‐trauma;c stress disorder and dissocia;ve disorders, dialec;cal behavior therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. He also pursued a James J. Peters VA MIRECC Psychiatric Clinical Research Fellowship, working primarily in Mount Sinai's Mood and Personality Research Program.
2012 Faculty Recruits
Ariz Rojas, PhD.
Dr. Rojas will serve as Assistant Professor in the Division of Tics, Obsessive-‐Compulsive, and Related Disorders. Dr. Rojas specializes in evalua;ng and trea;ng children, adolescents, and adults with obsessive-‐compulsive spectrum disorders, ;c disorders, anxiety disorders, and ADHD. She also supervises research assistants, graduate students, and residents as well as delivers lectures on cogni;ve behavioral therapy. Her clinical research has focused on evidence-‐based treatments for pediatric OCD, parent-‐child interven;ons, and the role of accultura;on in the mental health of Hispanic youth.
She first came to Mount Sinai in 2011 as a postdoctoral fellow working in the Obsessive-‐Compulsive Disorders Treatment Center and the Center for Excellence in ADHD and Related Disorders.
During her fellowship, Dr. Rojas conducted diagnos;c evalua;ons, cogni;ve behavioral therapy, exposure and response preven;on, habit reversal, group therapy, parent management training, and psychological tes;ng. She was also responsible for supervising and teaching clinical psychology externs and psychiatry residents.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, she completed a predoctoral internship in clinical child and pediatric psychology at Children’s Hospital Boston at Harvard Medical School. She received her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of South Florida with a concentra;on in pediatric psychology. She was also a recipient of the Ford Founda;on Predoctoral Fellowship from the Na;onal Academy of Sciences.
Corneliu Sanda, MD.
Dr. Sanda will serve as Assistant Professor and work full-‐;me in the inpa;ent Dual Diagnos;c Unit at Mount Sinai Hospital.
Board-‐cer;fied in general psychiatry and addic;on psychiatry, Dr. Sanda is a licensed prescriber of Buprenorphine, a novel treatment for opiate dependence, and has an exper;se in addic;on psychiatry. During his post-‐doctoral training at Indiana University, he worked in a cellular biology laboratory and published several ar;cles in na;onal and interna;onal journals on Hepa;;s B and its treatment.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Sanda pursued his general psychiatry residency training at Harlem Hospital—a community hospital affiliated with Columbia University. Later, he completed a psychiatry fellowship in addic;on at Mount Sinai. Dr. Sanda received his medical degree from Carol Davila University, the leading medical school in Romania.
2012 Faculty RecruitsJan Schuetz-‐Mueller, MD.
Dr. Schuetz-‐Mueller will serve as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Unit Chief of an adult inpa;ent psychiatric unit where he specializes in working with pa;ents who have severe chronic mental illness.
In his new role, Dr. Schuetz-‐Mueller will treat pa;ents and teach medical students and residents. As Associate Director of the Mount Sinai Program in Global Mental Health, he will coordinate several projects at interna;onal field sites that will improve psychiatric care in foreign countries. Such projects include developing child and adolescent psychiatry in Belize and crea;ng an Alcoholics Anonymous program in the Caribbean islands of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He will also mentor medical students and residents in the global health track.
Dr. Schuetz-‐Mueller completed his residency in psychiatry and a fellowship in psychiatric hospitalism and administra;on at Mount Sinai. He earned his doctorate in medicine from the Medical University of Vienna in Austria.
Dr. Paul Slesinger, PhD
Dr. Slesinger comes from Salk Ins;tute and has established a na;onal and interna;onal reputa;on for his cuLng-‐edge research on neural and synap;c plas;city within the brain’s reward circuitry that underlies natural reward and drug and alcohol addic;on. He is a widely recognized expert in using advanced electrophysiological recording techniques along with mouse mutagenesis, in conjunc;on with behavioral models of reward and addic;on, to bridge molecular, cellular, and behavioral inves;ga;ons.
Eli Stahl, PhD. Dr. Stahl will serve as Assistant Professor and be engaged in full-‐;me academic ac;vi;es in the new Center for Sta;s;cal Gene;cs, which is jointly based in the Departments of Psychiatry, and Gene;cs and Genomic Sciences. Throughout his career, Dr. Stahl has established a na;onal reputa;on for developing and applying novel methods in studies of complex disease. Recently, his research on polygenic modeling to inform gene;c architecture was featured as part of a first-‐author manuscript in Nature Gene;cs.
In his new role, Dr. Stahl will help strengthen our exper;se in genomics and genomic medicine, par;cularly in the applica;on of gene;c methods to other non-‐psychiatric illness. He will work closely with the Ins;tute of Genomics and Mul;scale Biology, and the Ins;tute for Personalized Medicine, to foster collabora;on among Mount Sinai researchers.
Prior to joining Mount Sinai, Dr. Stahl was a research associate in the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology, and Allergy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School and an Affiliated Researcher in the Medical and Popula;on Gene;cs Program at the Broad Ins;tute of Harvard and MIT. He received his doctorate in gene;cs from the University of Chicago and his bachelor degree from the University of California, Davis.
2012 Faculty Recruits
Dr. VeneKa (Vanna) Zachariou, PhD
Dr. Zachariou comes from University of Crete, one of the foremost research universi;es in Greece. Dr. Zachariou has succeeded in developing a na;onally and interna;onally recognized research program focused on RGS proteins and related signaling complexes. She has, almost single handedly, demonstrated regula;on of specific variants of RGS proteins within discrete region of brain and spinal cord and, by use of advanced molecular biological tools, mutant mice, and viral vectors, established an important role of this regula;on in rodent models of neuropathic pain and analgesia, drug addic;on, and depression and an;depressant responses.
Dr. Lan Zhou, MD, PhD
Dr. Lan Zhou has joined Mount Sinai School of Medicine an Associate Professor in the Department of Neurology. She is board cer;fied in Neurology, Neuromuscular Medicine, and Neuromuscular Pathology. She predominantly treats adult pa;ents with neuromuscular disorders with a special interest in myopathies and small fiber neuropathy. She also performs skin/nerve/muscle biopsies and interprets biopsies. Dr. Zhou is a physician scien;st. Her research team is ac;vely exploring the molecular mechanisms underlying muscle inflamma;on and fibrosis associated with muscular dystrophy and acute skeletal muscle injury repair. Her research is aimed to develop novel
pharmacotherapy to modify inflamma;on, reduce fibrosis, promote regenera;on, and improve muscle func;on and phenotype in pa;ents with muscular dystrophy. Her research is funded by the Na;onal Ins;tute of Health.