Roles
Professor, Clinical Psychiatry
Division Chief, Geriatric Psychiatry
Medical Director, UM Memory Disorders Clinic Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and Aging
Training Director, Geriatric Psychiatry, Jackson Memorial Hospital
Fellowship Program Director, Geriatric Psychiatry
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Biography
I received my Medical Degree at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School/Rutgers University in New Jersey in 1993. I then completed my Psychiatry Residency Training at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York where I served as the administrative Chief Resident prior to my graduation in 1997. After completing my Fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at UM/Jackson Memorial Hospital where I also served as Chief Fellow, I was appointed to the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at UM in 1998.
During the early part of my academic career, I had several key clinical and teaching roles at UM’s Community Partner, Mount Sinai Medical Center (MSMC) on Miami Beach. I was the Medical Director of the MSMC Acute Geriatric Psychiatric Unit, a community based acute psychiatric care unit that specialized in elderly patients with depression, dementias, and other chronic mental illnesses. I directed the Consultation-Liaison Service at the hospital and saw psychiatric patients in acute medical settings as a consultant. I had a large number of psychiatric residents, fellows as well as UMSOM students who I supervised in these clinical settings.
I also served as Psychiatric Director of the Wien Center for Alzheimer’s Disease and Memory Disorders at MSMC. The Wien Center is one of the largest memory disorder specialty clinics in the Southeastern United States. I developed my skills as a state-of the-art clinician in Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. I became a co-investigator on my first ROI Grant supported by the NIH studying novel cognitive tests in diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in its earlies stages with Dr. David Loewenstein. At that time, I also had a keen interest in depression and its relationship with Alzheimer’s disease. Along with a number of publications, I became second author in a landmark study published in the Archives of Psychiatry establishing depression as a strong risk factor for the development of Alzheimer’s disease. This study continues to garner numerous citations in this important body of literature.
In 2006, I left Mount Sinai to become the Medical Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Inpatient Unit at Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital (JBHH). I also became Medical Director and Principal Investigator of the University of Miami Memory Disorders Clinic. In both major clinical settings, I was able to establish myself as the premier geriatric psychiatrist in South Florida and establish excellent clinical services.
I was able to incorporate the MDC as the clinical arm of the CNSA and establish integration within clinical neurology and neuropsychology. Under my leadership, the department of Geriatric Psychiatry has grown substantially through active recruitment of new faculty, strengthening collaboration with the CNSA. As a clinical scientist i have been PI and co-PI on numerous state and federally funded grants as well as clinical trials in Alzheimer's Disease. I also have served on numerous university committees, including the Faculty Council, UMMG Leadership Council, Sub chair of the LCME reaccreditation Committee, as well as a member of the Medical School Admissions Committee for the last 10 years. I participate regularly in community service that provides free mental health care to those in need such as the student run DOCS program and the San Juan Bosco Clinic. I perform lectures in the community for both paid and unpaid caregivers as well as the public as I am well known in the community for my clinical expertise. My dedication, time-commitment, and outstanding service to the university lead me to receive the UM/ Miller School of Medicine Faculty Citizenship Award in 2010, the first year it was awarded. -
Education & Training
Education
Licensures and Certifications
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Honors & Awards
No result found
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Teaching Interests
As a clinical educator I has served as the Geriatric Psychiatry Training Director at UM/JMH for the past 19 years. I dedicate multiple hours teaching medical students, residents in psychiatry, neurology, geriatric medicine as well as geriatric practitioners throughout the community. I have won both departmental and national awards for my teaching skills and I am currently an Associate Member of the Academy of Medical Educators at the University of Miami. -
Research Interests
I have evolved into a clinical scientist with several strong research and scholarly interests. Although I continue my extensive clinical practice as well as teaching, I have continued to advance my knowledge in the detection of early Alzheimer’s disease (AD). I am an active coinvestigator on 3 large NIH funded 5-year longitudinal grants and several state funded grants that focus on the development of novel cognitive tests and other clinical biomarkers in the early diagnosis of AD. I also serve as the Medical Director of the UM Clinical Core site for the 1 Florida Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center, one of 31 nationally funded centers that is dedicated to translating advances in research into improved care for AD as well as prevention. I have published a number of peer reviewed article on the use of novel tests in diagnosing pre-clinical AD and its relationship to established clinical biomarkers. Due to the recognition of my expertise, I have been invited to present at local, national, and international meetings and foundations on the subject. In addition to leading the MDC, I currently am the PI on a state-funded 3-year grant to develop an advanced registry in African American individuals at risk to develop Alzheimer’s disease. Due to my experiences serving the multiethnic population in South Florida, I have strived to close the gap in health disparities in this vulnerable population. Additionally, I have collaborated with physicians and researchers in several departments such as neurology and ophthalmology, and I have numerous clinical trials in private industry targeting treatments and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. I recently was the site PI for a NIH funded Phase II trial examining the use of lithium in the treatment of agitation and psychosis in Alzheimer’s disease. -
Publications
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