Who am I?

In essence...

I am the Director of Quality Management and Development at University Behavioral Associates (UBA). UBA is an innovative managed care company founded by the Department of Psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center, which delivers behavioral health services to a large population in the Bronx, New York. I am also an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and an Attending Psychologist at Montefiore Medical Center. I serve as an Associate Director in the Psychology Internship Training Program at Montefiore Medical Center, as a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Consultant to the Sleep Wake Disorders Center in the Department of Neurology, and as an Adjunct Clinical Supervisor for both the Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University and the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University.

I am a consultant to the Institutional Review Board of the Biomedical Research Alliance of New York and also hold leadership positions at the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (serving as President of the Cognitive Therapy Special Interest Group, and as a member on the Professional Issues, Awards and Recognition, and Convention Program Committees), as well as Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology) and Division 56 (Trauma Psychology) of the American Psychological Association (serving on the Convention Program Committees for each division, and as a Section Editor for The Clinical Psychologist for Division 12).

I have been licensed in New York since December of 2003 and Pennsylvania since 2004 (currently inactive). I was also Certified in Cognitive Therapy by the Academy of Cognitive Therapy in 2004, and was selected for inclusion in both the "Who's Who in Medical Sciences Education" (in 2005) and the Who’s Who in America" (in 2006).

I see patients (mainly adults and older patients, but occasionally a teenager) privately (by appointment only) at Montefiore Medical Center and the Cognitive Therapy Center of Long Island. My clinical expertise in the cognitive-behavioral assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders (e.g., panic disorder and agoraphobia, social anxiety disorder, specific phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder), unipolar mood disorders (e.g., depression, dysthymia), sleep disorders (e.g., chronic insomnia), and body focused repetitive disorders (e.g., trichotillomania, skin picking).

I have authored numerous articles and book chapters on topics such as panic disorder and panic attacks, posttraumatic stress disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, hoarding, insomnia, depression, trichotillomania and other body-focused repetitive behaviors, stress management, professional issues, and the use of evidence-based psychotherapies in training and practice. I have also been featured as an expert in national media outlets including ABC's Good Morning America NOW, ABC's Eyewitness News, News 12 The Bronx, Radio France Internationale, MSNBC.com, WebMD.com, Weightwatchers.com, and HealthDay.com.

A little more history...

My initial training was at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. I earned my Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Psychology from Queen's in 1994. My thesis examined the effect of race differences between eyewitnesses and suspects on eyewitness identification procedures used in police investigations. My thesis supervisor was Roderick C. L. Lindsay, Ph.D.

After finishing at Queen's, I headed south of the (Canadian) border and completed a Masters of Arts degree in Forensic Psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice - a division of the City University of New York. While at John Jay College I worked as a Research Associate for the Research Foundation at the City University of New York (my supervisor was Charles Bahn, Ph.D.). The project I worked on examined retrospective evaluations of dispute resolution processes and attempted to identify factors contributing to a positive assessment of the resolution process.

My area of specialization at John Jay College, however, was the assessment and treatment of sexual offenders. As a result, as part of my clinical training, I completed an externship in the Forensic Division of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (which is now called the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health) in Toronto, Canada. After completing my degree at John Jay College, I served as a consultant to the Head of the Forensic Division (Howard E. Barbaree, Ph.D.) for almost a year before deciding to return to school (and the good ole USA!).

I earned my Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology (GSAPP) at Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey. During my four years at Rutgers, I had the opportunity to work in a variety of clinical settings, including: The Psychological Clinic at GSAPP, the Rutgers College Counseling Center, the Rutgers Foster Care Counseling Project, the Freehold Day Program for troubled adolescents, the Livingston College Learning Center, the Department of Neurology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry at New Jersey (UMDNJ), and the New Jersey Center for the Healing Arts.

My doctoral dissertation examined the efficacy of five “massed” (i.e., daily) versus “traditional” (i.e., weekly) sessions of cognitive restructuring in the treatment of patients with panic disorder. My dissertation committee consisted of William C. Sanderson, Ph.D. and G. Terence Wilson, Ph.D. As part of my doctoral training, I also completed a 2000 hour internship in Clinical Psychology at the University of British Columbia Hospital, a division of the Vancouver Hospital and Health Sciences Centre (which is now called Vancouver Coastal Health), in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Before returning to New York in August 2003, I spent my first two post-doctoral years working at the Center for the Treatment and Study of Anxiety (CTSA) at the University of Pennsylvania (directed by Edna B. Foa, Ph.D.). While at the CTSA, I was involved in studies of Generalized Social Phobia,  Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. I also served as the "Open Clinic" Coordinator - a clinic for all patients who were not eligible or not interested in participating in clinical trials and for patients who thought that they did not benefit fully from the clinical trials.

During my first year at Montefiore Medical Center, I worked as the Clinical Coordinator for the Anxiety and Depression Program (directed by Gregory M. Asnis, M.D.). I was a sub-investigator on 10 studies, including Depression, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Insomnia, Bipolar I Disorder, Bipolar II Disorder, and Borderline Personality Disorder.

During my next four years (August 2004 to June 2008) at Montefiore Medical Center, I worked as an Attending Psychologist in the Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Department (directed by Charles Ramesar, M.D.). I provided: (a) individual, (b) marital, (c) family, and (d) group cognitive-behavioral treatments for patients registered in the AOPD. I also designed and implemented stress management, smoking cessation, worry/anxiety, and insomnia groups - for both patients in the clinic and staff in the department. In addition, I designed and conducted a satisfaction survey for patients receiving services in the AOPD, served as a consultant (conducting needs assessments) to other departments in the medical center, and was an active member of the Grand Rounds Committee.

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