Mayada Akil, M.D.
Mayada Akil , MD serves as Medical Director of the Outpatient Program and Director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program. Dr. Akil is actively involved in teaching medical students and psychiatry residents. She is the Director of the Psychiatry Course for second year medical students at Georgetown University and teaches a course on Neuroscience and Psychiatry to the fourth year psychiatry residents. She is also actively involved in training residents and medical students at the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Clinic.
Dr. Akil received her medical degree form the University of Damascus. She trained in Psychiatry (the research track) at the University of Michigan. She completed a research fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh in 1991 then joined the faculty at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic and the Department of Neurology at the University of Pittsburgh. In that capacity, Dr. Akil directed a Neuropsychiatry Clinic, conducted neuroscience research and participated in teaching neuroscience to psychiatric residents. In 1996, Dr. Akil joined the intramural program at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) where she conducted research on the pathophysiology of psychotic disorders and continued her clinical practice and her training of research fellows. In 2003, Dr. Akil was appointed Senior Advisor to the NIMH Director and she continues to function in that capacity.
Dr. Akil joined the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Hospital in March of 2007 as a full time staff member. Her clinical and teaching experience and her work in neuroscience research have culminated in her dual role as an advisor to the NIMH Director and a clinician-educator at Georgetown University.
Carol Alter, M.D.
Carol L. Alter, M.D. serves as Director of Policy and Community Outreach for our Center for Mental Health Outreach and as a faculty member for our Psychosomatic Medicine program. Dr. Alter is actively involved in teaching of fellows, residents and medical students, particularly in the areas of Psychosomatic Medicine, mental health policy, and advocacy.
Dr. Alter received her Medical Degree from George Washington University in 1985. She completed her Residency at New York Hospital-Cornell University School of Medicine in 1989. After completing training, she held positions at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Cornell University and Temple University participating in clinical, teaching and research activities related to AIDS, oncology and general CL services. She has had a longstanding interest in mental health policy and served as the Medical Director for Policy and Advocacy at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. She most recently founded and currently directs a policy-action organization, Treatment Effectiveness Now, which is focusing on issues of access to care for patients with co-occurring mental and physical disorders.
Dr. Alter is recognized as one of the nation's leading mental health policy and Psychosomatic Medicine psychiatrists. We are extremely fortunate to have this outstanding faculty member as a member of our department.
Matthew Biel, M.D., M.Sc.
Dr. Biel is Assistant Professor and Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Georgetown University Hospital. He also directs the Pediatric Psychosomatic Medicine program at Georgetown. Dr. Biel has clinical and research interests in mood and anxiety disorders in children and families, trauma and PTSD, and the relationships between physical illnesses and psychiatric symptoms in children.
He is active in medical education and is a core faculty member in Georgetown's Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, General Psychiatry, and Psychosomatic Medicine training programs. Dr. Biel received a B.A. in Spanish and History at Amherst College before attending medical school at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. He then trained in both General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine. He is board certified in General Psychiatry and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Barbara Byers, M.D.:
Dr. Byers provides clinical care for our outpatient Women's Mood Program as well as train and supervise medical students and residents in the outpatient clinics.
Dr. Byers obtained her MD in 2004 from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry. She completed her Psychiatry residency, including specialized training in Women's Mental Health, at the NYU School of Medicine in 2008. Prior to entering medical school, Dr. Byers completed her Master's in Public Health from Armstrong Atlantic University in 2000.
Joyce Y. Chung M.D.:
Joyce Y. Chung, M.D. received her BS and medical degrees from Northwestern University. She completed her psychiatric residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and then a research fellowship in medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School. Her research interests include the study of sociocultural barriers to mental health care, treatment interventions for mental health problems in minority populations, ethnographic/qualitative research methods, and patient-provider discourse and communication. She is the recipient of several research grants.
Dr. Chung has also been active in the area of HIV psychiatry through her clinical practice, educational lectures and published articles about psychiatric complications associated with HIV/AIDS. She helped formulate and was the chief writer for the American Psychiatric Association's Practice Guidelines for the Treatment of Patients with HIV/AIDS. During her eleven-year affiliation with Georgetown, Dr. Chung has served as chief of the Consultation-Liaison service at the Washington VA and as medical director of the Mental Health Care Unit at Georgetown University Hospital. She is a member of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, American Anthropological Association, and Alpha Omega Alpha.
Lisa M. Cullins, M.D.
Dr. Cullins is the Program Director of the Georgetown University/Adventist Behavioral Health Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program and is the Director of the Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at Adventist Behavioral Health - Rockville Campus.
Dr. Cullins received her Medical Degree from the University of Illinois College of Medicine in 1998. In 2001 she completed her General Psychiatry Residency training at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital. She then completed a Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital/New York State Psychiatric Institute in 2003.
Dr. Cullins' areas of interest include Systems of Care, Adoption and Foster Care, School Mental Health, Cross-cultural Psychiatry and Training and Education. Dr. Cullins served as the Associate Training Director of the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Program at Children's National Medical Center from 2005-2007 and was awarded the Outstanding Faculty Teaching Award in 2006. In addition to her administrative work, Dr. Cullins provides clinical care on the Child Inpatient and Partial Hospitalization Programs and Residential Treatment Program at Adventist Behavioral Health. She is board certified in General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Thomas Cummings, Jr., M.D.:
Dr. Cummings provides clinical care for our inpatient and consult services and our outpatient adult programs, with a focus on neuropsychiatry and psycho-oncology. He also has a major role in teaching and supervision of Georgetown medical students and residents.
Dr. Cummings obtained his MD in 2003 from UMDNJ - New Jersey Medical School. He then completed his Psychiatry residency at New York University School of Medicine in 2007. While at NYU, Dr. Cummings conducted research in Alzheimer's disease under the direction of Barry Reisberg, M.D. From 2007-2008 he was a Psychosomatic Medicine Fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Mary Ann Dutton Ph.D.:
Mary Ann Dutton, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who has specialized in the area of intimate partner violence and other forms of interpersonal violence over the past 23 years. Dr. Dutton is active as a researcher, consultant, educator, and forensic expert. She is professor in the Department of Psychiatry, Georgetown University where she is currently involved in research focusing on interpersonal trauma and low-income and minority women's health and mental health issues. She is Principal Investigator on several federally-funded studies focusing on longitudinal patterns of coping, health outcomes, revictimization, and coercive control among women who have been in recent violent and abusive relationships. She is also involved in several other grants focused on the traumatic experiences of violence and abuse.
Dr. Dutton is working to develop community-based, low-cost, accessible and culturally competent interventions for such traumatic experiences. Dr. Dutton has trained audiences of lawyers, judges, advocates, and health professionals concerning physical violence and sexual assault, both nationally and internationally. Her workshops and lectures have focused on understanding the dynamics, traumatic impact, and interventions. Dr. Dutton has published numerous articles, book chapters, and books.
Steven A. Epstein, MD:
Dr. Steve Epstein is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Georgetown University Hospital . He has conducted NIH-funded research and published extensively in the area of Psychosomatic Medicine. In 2001, he was awarded a 1.1 million dollar grant from NIMH to study primary care physicians' decision-making in the evaluation and treatment of depression. Since arriving at Georgetown in 1990, he has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards from residents and medical students and has continued an active clinical practice in psychiatry for the medically ill.
Dr. Epstein received his BA from Yale College and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After completing a residency in Psychiatry at Tufts-New England Medical Center, Dr. Epstein was a fellow in Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at Georgetown . For the ten years prior to becoming Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Epstein directed the hospital's Consultation-Liaison psychiatry service. In addition to his current NIMH grant, he was Principal Investigator on two other NIMH grants in this area.
In 2002, he was elected to the American College of Psychiatrists and received an exemplary psychiatrist award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. As a national leader in Psychosomatic Medicine, he was recently appointed to membership of the Psychosomatic Medicine Committee of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the Council on Psychosomatic Medicine of the American Psychiatric Association.
Bonnie L. Green Ph.D. :
Professor of Psychiatry, and Director of Research and Trauma Studies in the Department of Psychiatry. She was recently appointed as Associate Dean for Faculty Development at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She received her BA, MA, and PhD at the University of Cincinnati, where she was formerly Professor of Psychiatry at UC Medical School. She has studied the consequences of traumatic events, including disasters and war, for several decades. Her recent research focus is the mental health needs of poor women with trauma histories who receive their health care in public sector settings, with an emphasis on how trauma history affects relationships with providers and experiences in the health care system.
She is involved in treatment studies for depression and PTSD in this population, and she is developing educational and coping interventions for traumatized women in primary care. Dr. Green is past Editor of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, and past President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. She has two forthcoming edited books, one entitled Trauma Interventions in War and Peace: Prevention Practice, and Policy, with colleagues at ISTSS and the United Nations, and one on Trauma and Health: Physical Health Consequences of Extreme Stress, with Paula Schnurr.
James F. Herrera, M.D.
Dr. Herrera is the Medical Director of the Parent-Child Outpatient Services at the Reginald S. Lourie Center for Infants and Young Children. He provides clinical care for the outpatient clinic and supervision for the staff as well as consultation to the Therapeuetic Nursery Program (TNP) for children ages 3-5 and the Lourie Center School for children ages 5-11. Dr. Herrera will be supervising Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residents as they rotate through the outpatient clinic, TNP, Lourie Center School and Early Head Start Programs. He also provides psychiatric consultations and staff supervision for The Foundations Schools, a system of special educations schools that span grades 1st through 12th. Dr. Herrera has a private practice in Virginia.
Dr. Herrera received his BA from the University of Virginia and graduated from Howard College of Medicine with Alpha Omega Alpha honors. He received his general psychiatry training at the Harvard Longwood Adult Psychiatry Residency Program and was a child and adolescent psychiatry fellow at the Children's National Medical Center. Dr. Herrera is board certified in General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Daniel W. Hicks M.D.:
Dr. Hicks graduated from Purdue University in 1971 with a BS with Distinction in Psychology. He then went on to Indiana University Medical Center, where he obtained his MD in 1976. Dr. Hicks also attended Indiana University for his Psychiatry Residency, where he was Chief Resident. He graduated from residency in 1979, and received certification from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in 1983.
Dr. Hicks is currently involved in Community Mental Health, private practice, inpatient, partial hospitalization, outpatient psychiatry. His special areas of expertise include Consultation/Liaison Psychiatry, HIV Psychiatry, Death and Dying, Ethics, and Gay and Lesbian Issues. Dr. Hicks is the Chair of Continuing Medical Education for the Washington Psychiatric Society, and a member of the American Psychiatric Association and Capital Area Physicians for Human Rights. He is also involved with the Committee on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Issues and is a Past President of the Association of Gay and Lesbian Psychiatrists.
Yasmin Jilla, M.D.
Dr. Jilla provides clinical care for our outpatient child/adolescent program as well as providing psychiatric services for the Department of Pediatrics on the Kids Mobile Medical Van.
Dr. Jilla obtained her MD in 2003 from the University of Virginia and she completed her Psychiatry residency at the Medical University of South Carolina in 2006. From 2006-2008 she was a Child and Adolescent Fellow at George Washington University. Prior to joining our Department, Dr. Jilla provided community Psychiatry services while on the faculty of the Yale University School of Medicine.
Stacey Kaltman, Ph.D.:
Stacey Kaltman, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Kaltman completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the Catholic University of America. Her dissertation examined predictors of traumatic bereavement following the loss of a spouse. She completed her pre-doctoral internship in behavioral medicine at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where her research and clinical work was primarily in the area of HIV and focused on factors that undermine and promote medication adherence as well as the secondary prevention of HIV transmission.
She also completed a two year research fellowship at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where she worked on research examining the impact of victimization in women with serious and persistent mental illness and the treatment of trauma in female veterans. Currently, Dr. Kaltman collaborates with other research faculty in the department, examining the longitudinal experience of battered women as well as the impact of trauma on women's health care seeking experiences. Dr. Kaltman also is the Principal Investigator of a study examining decision-making processes regarding the smallpox vaccination.
Judith Kupersmith, M.D.:
Dr. Kupersmith has served on the faculty of the medical schools of New York University, the University of Louisville, Michigan State, and Texas Tech. A former ballet dancer with the New York City Ballet Company, Dr. Kupersmith has established innovative and successful Performing Arts programs at these medical centers. She has made numerous presentations across the country in the area of mental health of performing artists.
In addition to her clinical roles, Dr. Kupersmith has extensive experience as a general psychiatry and psychotherapy supervisor. In recognition of her expertise, she has received resident teaching awards at both Michigan State and Texas Tech.
Dr. Krupnick has an M.S.W.from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She did a 2- year NIMH-funded fellowship in community mental health at Mount Zion Hospital and Medical Center in San Francisco. Dr. Krupnick then received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. She currently has a private psychotherapy practice in Chevy Chase, MD and is a Research Professor in the department. Her interests are in the areas of treatment development and therapy outcome, particularly with regard to the treatment of PTSD, comorbid PTSD and depression, and PTSD and substance abuse. For the past several years, her research has focused on addressing the needs of low-income, underserved populations.
John Little, M.D.
Dr. Little is the Medical Director of our Psychiatric Partial Hospitalization Program. He also provides outpatient care in our department, conducts research with Dr. Paul Aisen in his Memory Disorders Program in the Department of Neurology, and provides geriatric consultation to The Washington Home.
Dr. Little graduated from the Baylor College of Medicine in 1986 and completed his Psychiatry Residency at Boston University School of Medicine in 1990. He subsequently completed fellowships in Geriatric Psychiatry and Affective Disorders at the National Institute of Mental Health. Since 1999 he has been Assistant Professor of Psychiatry in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. At Johns Hopkins, Dr. Little provided Geriatric Psychiatry inpatient, partial hospitalization, and outpatient care.
In addition to his clinical and teaching responsibilities, Dr. Little has had a highly productive research career. From 1999-2004 he was the recipient of a Career Development award from NIMH on biologic factors associated with treatment response in geriatric depression. He has recently been Principal Investigator on a study of regional brain activation in geriatric depression which was funded by the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry. Dr. Little has also served as co-investigator on research in bipolar disorder and Parkinson's disease. As a leading academician in Geriatric Psychiatry, he has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and over 40 abstracts.
Avram Mack, M.D.
Dr. Mack is the Director of Medical Student Education as well as the director of the clerkship in the department of psychiatry. Until recently he also was the director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry teaching program at RICA-Southern Maryland. Dr. Mack is a child forensic psychiatrist and directs that portion of the forensic fellowship at Georgetown. He also focuses on addiction psychiatry and medical education.
Dr. Mack received his Medical Degree from Cornell University Medical College in 1998. In 2001 he completed his General Psychiatry Residency at the Harvard Longwood Program. He completed a Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Columbia University / New York State Psychiatric Institute in 2003 and a Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship at New York University/Bellevue Hospital in 2004. He is board certified in General Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Forensic Psychiatry.
Dr. Mack has been a productive scholar in many areas including Forensic Psychiatry, Addiction, and the History of Psychiatry. He is an Editor for Clinical Textbook of Addictive Disorders, 3rd edition, which will be released this year by Guilford Press. Dr. Mack received the award for Junior Faculty Development from the Association for Academic Psychiatry and was honored to be selected as one of the scholars in the Alcohol Medical Scholars Program. Most recently, Dr. Mack has been appointed as the editor for child and adolescent psychiatry for the annual Year Book of Psychiatry. In 2006 Dr. Mack was elected into the American College of Psychiatrists.
Alan Newman, M.D.
Alan Newman is the Residency Training Director for the Department of Psychiatry. In addition, he is the Medical Director of the Inpatient Hospital Program.
Dr. Newman has had an outstanding career in Academic Psychiatry. After completing medical school and psychiatry residency at the University of Arkansas , he completed a fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry at Tulane. Since completing his training in 1999, he has been on the faculty of the Tulane University Medical School . Dr. Newman served as the Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Program from 2002-2003 and as Director of Medical Student Education from 2003 to the present.
Lawrence Park, M.D.
Dr. Park provides clinical care in our outpatient Mood and Anxiety Disorder program as well as for our general adult program.
Dr. Park obtained his MD in 1996 from the University of Wisconsin Medical School. He then completed his Psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hospital in 2000. In 2001, Dr. Park completed a Consultation Psychiatry Fellowship at Massachusetts General. After fellowship, Dr. Park served as the Medical Director of the Inpatient Unit and as the Director of Research and Attending Psychiatrist for the Somatic Therapies Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital. He currently holds a position at the FDA as the Medical Officer in the Office of Device Evaluation, Division of Neurological, Ophthalmic and ENT devices. In this position, he reviews applications for neuropsychiatric devices at the FDA, and works on special projects in ECT, cranial electric stimulation, and lasik.
Michelle Graves Seelman, M.D.
Dr. Seelman supervises fellows during the Child Inpatient and Child Partial Hospitalization rotations at Adventist Hospital.
Dr. Seelman received her Medical Degree from the George Washington University School of Medicine in 2000. She then completed her Internship in Pediatrics at Walter Reed Army Hospital and the National Naval Medical Center. After serving on active duty as a United States Navy Flight Surgeon from 2001-2004, Dr. Seelman returned to residency in General Psychiatry at George Washington University. She went on to complete a Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt Program. Dr. Seelman is board certified in General Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Seelman worked as an attending physician in the Psychiatric Emergency Services Department supervising residents as a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland. She has worked as a Psychiatric Consultant to the Foundation School of Montgomery County. Dr. Seelman currently directs the Child Inpatient and Child Partial Hospitalization Programs at Adventist Hospital.
Tiffany Townsend, PhD:
Dr. Townsend graduated from Spelman College in 1993, with a B.A. in Psychology. In 1998, she graduated from George Washington University with a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Before joining the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Townsend served as Assistant Professor of Psychology at Penn State University.
Dr. Townsend has had an active research career thus far. In addition to her current grant, "A Cultural-based HIV/Substance Abuse Prevention Program for African American Girls," she has served as the P.I. on three funded grants and co-investigator on two others. She has over six publications, two currently under review and several manuscripts in progress. Dr. Townsend serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Black Psychology and as an ad hoc reviewer for five different journals.
Robyn Wechsler, M.D.:
Dr. Wechsler provides clinical care for our outpatient child/adolescent program as well as mental health services for the Department of Pediatrics on the Kids Mobile Medical. She work on the patient-physician communication program and co-leads the first year medical school course.
Dr. Wechsler obtained her MD in 2001 from the University of Maryland; she completed her Psychiatry residency at the University of Pittsburgh Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic NYU in 2004. From 2004-2006 she was a Child and Adolescent Fellow at NYU School of Medicine. Prior to joining our Department, Dr. Wechsler was at the Children's Institute in Los Angeles.
Wendy Zack, LICSW:
Ms. Zack received her Masters of Social Work from McGill University in 1986. She has served in many capacities throughout her career. From 1995 to 2005, she was Chief Social Worker in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of the George Washington Medical Center. In that position, she had extensive clinical and supervisory experience. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Clinical Social Work Institute in D.C.
Ms. Zack has expertise in psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral therapies. In our department, she will provide psychotherapy in the Women's Mood Program and Eating Disorders Program as well as general psychotherapy.
