As a child and adolescent psychiatrist, I provide psychiatric care for children and adolescents as developing individuals and as members of a family, community and culture. I believe strongly in the adage “there is no health without mental health” and have committed my career to bettering the lives of children and adolescents in Western New York. Understanding the child comprehensively and addressing treatment broadly is fundamental to my approach. While medication management is an important part of what I do, I prescribe and manage medication within the context of the psychosocial needs of the child. As a result, I often address my patients’ needs by providing psychotherapy, family guidance and consultation about other fundamental aspects of the child’s life, particularly school.

In 2010, I led a team of five university-based child psychiatry programs across New York state to secure a major grant from the New York State Office of Mental Health to provide education and consultation to primary care physicians across the state. I am now the Executive Director for this national model program, Project TEACH (www.projectteachny.org) . The program received the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Psychiatric Services Bronze Medal in 2016-17 as a model program and the Rieger Service Program Award for Excellence from American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). I have served in many positions of leadership regionally, nationally, in the medical school, hospitals, and department of psychiatry at UB, including as Vice Chair for Academic Affairs from 2014-21. I have authored papers and chapters on a variety of topics, including education, collaboration with primary care, and psychodynamic psychotherapy in children and adolescents. I am the first author on a book for primary care providers entitled Child and Adolescent Mental Health (Lippincott Williams and Wilkins 2002). I have presented frequently at national meetings and been a leader in national organizations, including AACAP and the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (AADPRT), serving as President in 2009-10. I have served on the PRITE (Psychiatry Resident In Training Exam) and Child PRITE Editorial Boards from 1996-2009 and was a regular examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology oral exams until their sunsetting. I have received two of AACAP’s highest awards, the Catchers in the Rye award in 2016 and the Simon Wile MD Leadership in Consultation Award in 2021. I have been selected as a Best Doctor in America virtually every year from the 1990s, and am a Distinguished Fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

I teach and supervise residents and medical students in outpatient settings and provide lectures to these trainees as well. In addition, I mentor residents and early career faculty, and I often write journal articles and chapters with them. In the last two years I have been the Thread Leader for Biomedical Ethics education and course director for the Ethical Physician course for M3 medical students at the Jacobs School.

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychiatry

Children, Adolescents

Physician Gender:

Male