Current Environment:

Medical Services

Specialties

Programs & Services

Languages

  • English

Education

Medical School

University of California, San Diego

1972, La Jolla, CA

Residency

St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Temple University

1975, Philadelphia, MA

Residency

New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center

1985, White Plains, NY

Fellowship

Yale Child Study Center

1987, New Haven, CT

Certifications

  • American Board of Pediatrics (General)
  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
  • American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (Psychiatry)

Professional History

Clinical experience in my third and fourth years of medical school in adult medicine, surgery, obstetrics & gynecology, and pediatrics made clear that my sense of professional identity and commitment resided in the care of children and families, making pediatrics a clear choice for residency training. It was during pediatric internship that a visionary program linking pediatric interns to psychiatric social workers in the care of children with cancer awakened what was to become an abiding passion in clinical work at the interface of pediatrics and pychiatry. My professional trajectory was set: Residency training in child and adolescent psychiatry following that in pediatrics, and a career as a child psychiatrist serving the mental and behavioral health needs of children hospitalized with serious medical illness, and those in psychiatric crisis served by pediatric emergency departments and inpatient programs.

As a physician trained in both pediatrics and child & adolescent psychiatry, both my clinical and scholarly interests focus on the interface between them, particularly in addressing the common misperception that the mind and body are inherently separate and operate by different mechanisms. This dilemma of western medicine dates at least to the 16th century French philosopher Descartes’ concept of “mind/body dualism” which has been profoundly influential in how doctors think about and treat patients, and which modern neuroscience has proven to be invalid. As a clinician, I see many children and youth with chronic pain and other “somatic” symptoms which are unexplained or not fully explained by “medical” illnesses. Such children typically require clinicians with expertise in pediatric medicine and pediatric psychology and psychiatry to fully understand them and to provide relief of symptoms. My scholarship reflects this focus on elucidating the complex ways in which the “mind” and “body” interact, at theoretical and clinical levels. For example, I have written textbook chapters on the psychological aspects of childhood cancer.

Publications

I am fortunate to have had two physician role models during my formative years, our family physician, and the obstetrician-gynecologist who delivered my younger brother. While I was unaware of it at the time, both strongly influenced my choice of a medical career, and neither attempted to influence me in that choice, respecting the autonomy of finding my own way. As his patient, our family physician impressed me with his quiet caring, methodical, unhurried, gentle style of physical examination, and thoughtful summary of his impressions and recommendations not just to my parents but to me, looking me in the eye, instinctively responding to my questions and worries, spoken and unspoken. In my clinical practice, my experience as a child/patient inspire me to commit to approaching my own child and adolescent patients and their families with sensitivity to their suffering, and the best medical science and judgment I can muster in relieving it. The more complex medical practice becomes, the more critical it is to recognize how bewildering is the experience of being a patient, identify with and address that bewilderment and the worry that comes with it, and to commit to close, respectful, and the strongest possible collaborative relationships with with the medical colleagues who are so often equally involved in providing care to our patients.