About the Medical Director Institute
Leadership
Co-Chairs
Expertise: Community Mental Health, Medicaid, Medical Education, Payment Models
Dr. Parks is the Medical Director for the National Council for Behavioral Health. He has nearly two decades of experience with public health. He was named director of the Missouri HealthNet Division of the Missouri Department of Social Services in 2013. He also holds the position of Distinguished Research Professor of Science at the University of Missouri – St. Louis and is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri, Department of Psychiatry in Columbia. He practices psychiatry on an outpatient basis at Family Health Center, a federally funded community health center established to expand services to uninsured and underinsured patients in central Missouri. He previously served for many years as Medical Director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health and as President of the Medical Director’s Council of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Director. He also previously served as Director of the Missouri Institute of Mental Health at University of Missouri St Louis and as Division Director for the Division of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services of Missouri Department of Mental Health.
Expertise: Integrated Care, Medical Education, Payment Models, Trauma
Dr. Patrick Runnels serves as medical director at the Centers for Families and Children where he helped implement one of the original 13 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Primary and Behavioral Health Care Integration grants, has overseen development of a psychiatric nurse practitioner Fellowship program and orchestrated integrated care clinics in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic and other large hospital systems.
He serves as director of the Public and Community Psychiatry Fellowship at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Dr. Runnels attended medical school at the University of Missouri, Columbia, and completed his general psychiatry residency at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City and Public Psychiatry Fellowship at Columbia University when he worked in public policy at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and the New York State Office of Mental Health.
He is communications director for the American Association of Community Psychiatrists, served on the Council for Advocacy and Government relations, is a past Board member of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), serves on the Board of Trustees for the National Association of Mental Illness Ohio and is on the Scientific Planning Committee for the APA Institute on Psychiatric Services.
Members
Expertise: Child/Adolescent, Addictions, Community Mental Health
Dr. Allen serves as medical director for Rushford/Hartford Healthcare. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit Michigan in 1989. He did his internship and General Psychiatry residency at the Tufts University Medical School / New England Medical Center and his Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training at Harvard University Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital program. Dr. Allen served as Medical Director of Psychiatric and Family Services at Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Brighton, Mass from 1995 until 2003 when he moved to Connecticut to take the position of Unit Chief at Riverview Hospital for Children and Youth in Middletown, Conn. Dr. Allen has served as Medical Director at Rushford since 2005. Dr. Allen has held the title of Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard University Medical School (1994–2003) and at Yale University Medical School (2003–2005). Currently Dr. Allen trains Residents from the Institute of Living in Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Allen was seated on the SAMHSA Pharmacotherapy Expert Consensus Panel which developed Pharmacotherapy Principles for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders published in 2012. Dr. Allen is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General and Adult Psychiatry and is ABPN certified in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, as well as being certified in Addiction Medicine by the American Board of Addiction Medicine (ABAM).
Expertise: Evidence Based Psychotherapies, Personality Disorders, Primary Care Integration, Trauma
Dr. Allender completed his residency in Psychiatry at the University of Washington in 2007, where he developed his passion for community behavioral health care and the need to move Evidence Based Practices into real world settings. After residency, he started work as a community psychiatrist at Valley Cities Behavioral Health Care. He became the Chief Medical Officer at Valley Cities in 2012. Since then he has spearheaded efforts to integrate behavioral health treatment with primary care partners and to provide Evidence Based Practices focused on treating trauma, psychosis, and substance use disorders.
Expertise: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Eric Arzubi, MD is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and serves as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Billings Clinic, Montana’s largest healthcare organization. He earned his B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in 1991, after which he spent 8 years in Latin American journalism and finance. In 1999, he walked away from his job as a Morgan Stanley bond trader in New York City to pursue his real passion, medicine. After finishing his pre-med studies at Columbia University, he attended the Yale School of Medicine, where he earned his M.D., completed psychiatry residency, and specialized in child and adolescent psychiatry. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor at the Yale Child Study Center. Dr. Arzubi considers himself a patient advocate first: while in training he co-led Keep the Promise Coalition, the public policy arm of NAMI of Connecticut, and he now serves on the Scientific Advisory Council of Bring Change To Mind, a national leader in the fight against stigma that still plagues our field. He joined Billings Clinic in 2013 and was named Chair of the Department of Psychiatry the following year. In 2017, he was appointed to the organization’s Leadership Council, which acts as the physician-led internal governing board. Since moving to Montana, he has led the creation of Yellowstone County’s first school-based health clinic, the state’s first psychiatry residency program, and the development of Montana’s first EmPATH unit, an innovative model of care designed to serve patients in a psychiatric emergency. Montana has posted among the worst suicide rates in the U.S. over the last 40 years; in response to this ongoing crisis, Arzubi is committed to transforming the way psychiatric services are delivered in rural America, using innovative workflows and technology-driven solutions. As an example, he launched Montana’s first Project ECHO hub in 2016. In 2017, Arzubi served a one-year term as president of the Big Sky Regional Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, a regional chapter of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Expertise: Managed Care, Medicaid, PH/BH integration, Trauma Informed Care
Expertise: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Managed Care, PH/BH integration, Value Based Purchasing, Foster Care
Joel L. Axler, M.D., is the National Behavioral Health Managing Medical Director for the Anthem Government Business Division (GBD) for Medicare and Medicaid. He is responsible for the administration of medical services for company health plans including impact on health care quality, cost, and outcomes, and integrated behavioral and physical health services.
Prior to his current role, Dr. Axler served as Behavioral health medical director for Amerigroup Georgia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anthem from 2011 until 2018. In this role, he oversaw the psychiatric health needs of members in the Georgia Medicaid program and he was also the medical director of the Foster Care program.
With more than 30 years in health care, Dr. Axler has held leadership positions directing the psychiatric care of children, adolescents and adults. Prior to joining Amerigroup in 2011, Dr. Axler served as medical director at Peachford Behavioral Hospital in Atlanta and as Regional medical director of United Behavioral Health Care, Georgia for 15 years.
Dr. Axler is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and is board certified in child, adolescent and adult psychiatry, and neurology. He is a diplomat of the National Board of Medical Examiners. He is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Society and the Georgia Council on Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Expertise: Child/Adolescent, Medical Education, Integrated Care
Dr. Donald Bechtold is medical director and vice president of healthcare and integration of Jefferson Center and chief medical officer of Foothills Health Solutions. Previously, he served as the medical director of Foothills Behavioral Health and Foothills Behavioral Health Partners. He has served on the manuscript review panels of Child Abuse and Neglect: The International Journal and American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research: The Journal of the National Center and on the Editorial Boards of The Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Pediatric Emergency News and as a National Institute of Mental Health external reviewer. He has also participated in numerous research projects and teaches, consults, publishes and presents both regionally and nationally. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado School of Medicine where he also received his post-graduate specialty training in general psychiatry, his subspecialty training in child and adolescent psychiatry and was part of the full-time faculty. He also served as adjunct faculty at the Denver Seminary in the Master of Arts in Counseling program and as a contract consultant with the Indian Health Service. Dr. Bechtold is Board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. He is a Distinguished Fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Expertise: Integrated Public Health, Behavioral Health
John Bischof currently works as Senior Medical Director at Specialty Behavioral Health Services for Central City Concern (CCC) in Portland, OR. Prior to joining CCC in December 2012, he serves as the first Medical Director of Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare in Portland, OR from 2005 to 2006, and then as Associate Medical Director for United Behavioral Healthcare’s Public Sector from 2006 to 2012. From 2008 to 2009, he also served as President of the Oregon Psychiatric Physicians Association. In April 2015, Bischof received an Oregon Primary Care Association’s Innovation Award for “establishing CHCs as centers of excellence through innovative clinical, operational and administrative practices.”
He earned his MD from University of Missouri-Columbia in 1990, trained in psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University from 2000 to 2004, and completed the Columbia University Public Psychiatry Fellowship for work in clinical and administrative public psychiatry in 2000. For 27 years, Bischof has dedicated his training and clinical and administrative work to better serving people in integrated public health/mental health and substance use disorders recovery programs.
Expertise: Child/Adolescent
Dr. Biuckians has been providing outpatient psychiatric evaluations and ongoing medication management for children and teenagers ages 3-17 at MAPS Behavioral Health since January 2011. He also provides psychiatric services for young adults on a case by case basis. He has been providing psychiatric consultation to the school districts served by the Lincoln Intermediate Unit in Adams and York counties since 2008. Dr. Biuckians obtained his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University in 2003. He then completed his Adult Psychiatry Residency and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at Pennsylvania State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Dr. Biuckians is a Board Certified Adult and Child/Adolescent Psychiatrist and was honored with the prestigious Patients’ Choice Award in 2011, among several other awards during medical school and residency. Dr. Biuckians collaborates with MAPS Behavioral Health psychologists and therapists to develop and implement treatment plans for children and teenagers participating in services. He was appointed the Medical Director for Community Services Group in November 2013.
Expertise: Psychosis High-Risk State/First Episode, Outcomes/Value-Based Purchasing, Integrated Health, Pharmacoeconomics
Dr. Joseph Bona is presently the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of the DeKalb Community Service Board. He is also Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Emory School of Medicine and the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Bona is originally from Buffalo, NY and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology and English at Canisius College in Buffalo, and a Medical Doctorate at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He completed psychiatry residency training and chief residency at the Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC; and earned an MBA at the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Prior to his present role, Dr. Bona served as Vice-Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Emory and Director of Schizophrenia Research. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, book chapters and maintains a research interest in psychotic disorders, psychopharmacology, early episode schizophrenia, primary care integration and service delivery structure and policy. Dr. Bona is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Immediate Past-President of the Georgia Psychiatric Physician Association, and Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. He was awarded the Georgia Psychiatrist of the Year for 2016.
Dr. Carl Clark’s early experience with his father’s bipolar disorder sparked a commitment to helping people with mental illness regain their lives, hopes and aspirations. As President & Chief Executive Officer of the Mental Health Center of Denver, Dr. Clark leads the organization in “focusing on what people can do, not what they can’t do. He is dedicated to achieving the organization’s vision of touching all lives in Denver and creating extraordinary experiences that improve well-being.
Dr. Clark’s has extensive involvement at the local, State and national levels. Dr. Clark’s colleagues and the Denver community recognize his valuable contributions. Dr. Clark joined the Mental Health Center of Denver in 1989. He became the Medical Director in 1991, Chief Executive Officer in 2000 and President & CEO in 2014.
Over ten years ago, Dr. Clark challenged the Mental Health Center of Denver to be “The Center of Excellence” with the best and most innovative mental health services in the country. Since then he has led the way in delivering strengths-based, person-centered, culturally-proficient services as well as employing trauma-informed, evidence-based practices.
Under his leadership, the Mental Health Center of Denver has recently been named a finalist for a 2018 World Changing Idea Award from Fast Company Magazine, and recently won the 2018 Excellence in Behavioral Healthcare Management Award from the National Council for Behavioral Health. The Mental Health Center of Denver is proud to be a Denver Post Top Work Place for 7 years running.
Expertise: Child/Adolescent, Consultation to Schools, Psychiatry
Dr. Sara Coffey is assistant professor and Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences. Additionally, Dr. Coffey is the behavioral health director of the OSU Health Access Network. Dr. Coffey’s professional interests include integrated care with pediatricians and consultative work with community partners including the Department of Mental Health, the Oklahoma Health Care Authority and the Public-School System. Dr. Coffey is board-certified in general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry.
Expertise: Child and adolescent behavioral health, family-centered approach to Integration, psychiatric evaluation, foster youth, training MH professionals
Expertise: Adult Psychiatry
Jeffrey Eisen, MD, MBA is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Oregon Health and Science University, and the Chief Medical Officer of Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, the largest provider of community-based mental health and substance use treatment services in the state of Oregon. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Eisen served as a faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and as the Medical Director for Community Behavioral Health Services at Lahey Health, one of Massachusetts’ largest healthcare providers. His team at Lahey Health received a $4.2 million grant to design innovative programs for improved care for patients with co-occurring medical, psychiatric, and addictions diagnoses. He has presented nationally on such topics as the opioid overdose epidemic, the prescribing of controlled substances, and treatment approaches for homeless populations. He currently sits on Oregon’s advisory panel for the development of standards of care for substance use disorder treatment. Dr. Eisen received his MD from the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed his postdoctoral residency in adult psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School. He was a fellow in public sector forensic psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts, affiliated with the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. Dr. Eisen also holds an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, with certification in Public Management.
Expertise: Child/Adolescent, Addictions
Dr. Fishman is an addiction psychiatrist and a member of the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is the Medical Director of Maryland Treatment Centers, a regional behavioral healthcare provider, which offers programs for residential and outpatient treatment of drug-involved and dual-diagnosis adolescents and adults. Dr. Fishman is a national expert on adolescent addiction treatment and program development. His academic work has focused on models of care and treatment outcomes for addictions in youth, in particular opioid dependence.
Expertise: Addiction psychiatry and co-occurring disorders, administrative and community psychiatry
Expertise: Managed Care, Financing, Integrated Care, Financing in Medical Education in Evolution: Developing Personally Effective Physicians (TCU SOM)
Dr. Hopper is the Western Regional Vice President and Behavioral Health Medical Director of Anthem’s Government Business Division. In this role, he leads clinical and quality initiatives in behavioral health and integrated medical-behavioral health. He has served as physician leader and chair for government business integrated service innovation. Clinical and professional practice began 26 years ago for Dr. Hopper. He has held a variety of clinical leadership positions over his career. These positions have included medical director roles at psychiatric facilities, clinical organizations, and at two major health plans. For five years, he served in the behavioral health CMO role at one of these engagements. Honors conferred on Dr. Hopper include being voted “Exemplary Psychiatrist” by NAMI in 1997, and he currently is a member of NAMI’s Leadership Alliance since late 2011. He has presented national conferences on Wellness and the integration of behavioral health into medical settings. He participated on a panel discussion at the Royal Society in London on the topic of mental health financing in 2008. Dr. Hopper currently is a part of the American Psychiatric Society’s workgroup on medical/behavioral integration. Educational pursuits started at Baylor University where he was a Summa Cum Laude graduate and member of Phi Beta Kappa. He completed medical school at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, and then graduated from The University of Texas Southwestern Medical School psychiatric residency program. Dr. Hopper also received an MBA with honors from The University of Texas at Dallas (in partnership with Southwestern Medical School). Dr. Hopper is a member of The American Medical Association, The Texas Medical Association, The American Neuropsychiatric Association, The American Psychiatric Association, The Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians, The National Alliance of Managed Care Physicians, The American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, and The American Telemedicine Association.
Expertise: Primary Care, Integration, Collaborative Care, IMPACT, Physical Health in SMI Populations
Dr. John Kern is chief medical officer and project director for a Cohort 2 SAMHSA Primary Care Behavioral Health Care Initiative Grant at Regional Mental Health Center. He also serves as medical director and chief medical officer at Southlake Center and Regional Mental Health Center, where he is responsible for all medical services and intensive psychiatric, addictions and emergency programs, as well as directing all programs integrating behavioral health and primary care. He initiated and supervises a Behavioral Health Consultant program providing mental health services to NorthShore Health Systems and continues to provide clients direct service two days a week. Dr. Kern received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Michigan, MD from Wayne State University School of Medicine, completed residency at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Northwestern University Medical School and is board-certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Dr. Kern has published widely and is a consultant to the National Council for Behavioral Health, Senior Medical Consultant for MTM Services, co-led the “Psychiatrist Summit” at the National Council’s annual conference in 2010 and 2011 and speaks regularly on integrated care issues and management of psychiatric services.
Expertise: Psychotic and Mood Disorders, Psychopharmacology, Interventions and Biomakers
Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D. is the Lawrence C. Kolb Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Psychiatrist-in-Chief of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center. His career has focused on research and clinical care of people with severe mental illness including psychotic and mood disorders. He has authored or co-authored over 600 articles published in scientific literature and wrote or edited 11 books on mental illness, psychopharmacology and psychiatry. He is the recipient of many national and international honors and awards, and in 2000 was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.
More recently, Dr. Lieberman’s work has extended into public policy and advocacy for enhancing awareness of mental illness and improving mental health care, as well as diminishing stigma. During his term as President of the American Psychiatric Association in 2013-2014, Dr. Lieberman actively contributed to government policy and legislation including the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act, The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act, and was a visible spokesperson to the media on mental illness and psychiatry. This motivated him to write the critically acclaimed book Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry for general audiences. He has also written numerous articles for the print and electronic media in addition to appearing on broadcast news programs and TED-like talks on stigma and mental illness.
Expertise: Child Psychiatry, Academic Expert
Dr. Howard Liu is assistant vice chancellor for faculty development and leads strategic initiatives in faculty educational and leadership development for the Colleges of Medicine, Allied Health, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical. He also serves as the director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska, maintains a child psychiatry practice and is an associate professor of psychiatry. Dr. Liu is an expert in mental health workforce development and innovative teaching, chairs two faculty development committees and the E-Learning Steering Committee and is the past president of the Nebraska Regional Organization for child psychiatry. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Medical School, completed his residency at the University of Michigan Hospitals and completed a fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hospital. Dr. Liu is the recipient of the National Council for Behavioral Health’s Champions of Training and Workforce Development Award, has presented more than 50 peer reviewed abstracts and is a frequent speaker and consultant. He is a member of the National Advisory Council for the Clinical Scholars Program for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the program chair and councilor for the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry and co-chair of the Training and Education Committee for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Expertise: Recovery-oriented, integrated MH/SUD/PH/DD systems; organization QI and transformation; managed care contracting and UM
Dr. Minkoff is a Board-Certified Addiction Psychiatrist, and recognized as one of the most preeminent experts on integrated services and systems for individuals with co-occurring serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders. The focus of his career began with a passion for community psychiatry, and over the years, his work has evolved to incorporate interest, experience, and expertise in ever more complex and diverse systems, services, and populations. For over 40 years, he has worked to develop services and systems within limited resources to best meet the needs and inspire the hopes of individuals, families, and populations with the greatest challenges.
In that journey, he has been involved in service provision, management, and consultation in almost every area of behavioral health. Examples of this include: Chairing a SAMHSA Managed Care Initiative Panel on Co-occurring Disorders in the late nineties, and developing a national model for integrated system design for individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (Comprehensive, Continuous, Integrated System of Care), which has been implemented in multiple state and local systems nationally; co-editing “Managed Mental Health Care in the Public Sector: A Survival Manual” (1997); developing a toolkit for implementing recovery-oriented integrated systems for individuals and families with all types of complexity (2001-present), including co-authoring the Center for Integrated Health Solutions Organizational Assessment Toolkit for Integration (OATI), addressing integration of health and behavioral health, in 2013. He has recently been appointed as one of the two non-federal psychiatrist members of the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee, created by the 21st Century CURES Act to bring multiple federal departments together to create a transformed system of care for individuals and families addressing serious mental illness and serious emotional disturbance.
Expertise: Disaster Psychiatry, Emergency Psychiatry, Community Mental Health, Rural Psychiatry, Organizational Psychiatry, Integrated Care, Telepsychiatry, Veterans Issues
Dr. Ng is a board-certified psychiatrist and is the chief medical officer at Acadia Hospital and Chief of Psychiatry at Eastern Maine Medical Center. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of Health.
He is a past President of the American Association of Emergency Psychiatry as well as being a member of the board of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. He has a lengthy history of involvement and advocacy in community mental health issues. He has extensive experience in the area of primary care and mental health, cross cultural issues, community system issues, substance abuse and homeless issues. He is also involved in community mental health, emergency psychiatry and disaster mental health. He was the former chairperson for the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH) Multicultural Advisory Committee, which advised the Commissioner of Mental Health on issues of cultural competency within the OMH system.
Dr. Ng completed his psychiatry residency at St. Vincent’s Hospital and an additional year of training as a Public Psychiatry Fellow at Columbia/Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Ng was the director of the Primary Care Consultation-Liaison Service at Gouverneur Hospital in New York City and later, one of the associate medical directors of Project Renewal, Inc, a non-profit agency that works with the homeless with mental illness and substance abuse in New York City. Dr. Ng had also worked with Project HELP, a homeless outreach team in New York City.
Expertise: Trauma, Organizational Change, Recovery-oriented Care, Confronting Structural Racism in Community Care
Paula G. Panzer, MD, Chief Clinical and Medical Officer at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services in New York City, is a community psychiatrist with extensive clinical and administrative experience in the development and management of community practice models and trauma-based mental health services, including evidence-based practices and practice-based emerging-evidence models. Dr. Panzer provides leadership for the Clinical and Medical Services Division of this very large Health and Human Services Agency which collaboratively sets practice standards, structures and promotes continuous performance improvement, identifies and analyzes client outcomes, and supports discipline specific practice for Psychiatry, Nursing, Medicine and Psychology. Dr. Panzer provides oversight for the training and trauma departments which provide direct services to bereaved youth, kin-caregiving relatives and communities recovering from crises and disasters. Her division also includes the well-respected Martha K. Selig Educational Institute whose staff brings core competency training as well as cutting edge learning to both The Jewish Board staff and the larger community. Training is seen through the lens of practice improvement with a focus on bridging the worlds of health and behavioral health for the most welcoming, collaborative, respectful, effective and efficiently delivered care. Dr. Panzer holds an AB from Hamilton College, an MD from Cornell University Medical College and did her psychiatry training (as resident and chief resident) and public psychiatry fellowship at Columbia University in New York. She is currently a board member of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. She is the lead author of Traumatic Stress in the Community, a chapter in the 2012 book Handbook of Community Psychiatry and proudly teaches in multiple settings about the necessity of integrating the impact of micro-aggressions and structural racism on people in to the crucial system and clinical lenses of Trauma Informed Care, Recovery Oriented Practice and Evidence Driven Practice.
Expertise: First episode psychosis, integrated care, CMH and health system integration
Expertise: Integration/Reverse Integration, Psychiatric Leadership, Tribal and Correctional Mental Health, Telepsychiatry
Dr. Lori Raney is a psychiatrist and principal with Health Management Associates in Denver and an authority on the collaborative care model and bidirectional integration of primary care and behavioral health. Her work focuses on service design and training of multidisciplinary teams to implement evidence-based practices.
For 15 years, she served as the medical director of a community mental health center where she fostered development of a full range of evidence-based services, including a telepsychiatry program. She has worked for more than 15 years with tribal populations with the Indian Health Service in remote clinics in the Southwest and continues her clinical work with the Ute Mountain Ute tribe in Towaco, Colo. She also worked as a staff psychiatrist and Clinical Director for an ambulatory care center in rural Arizona on the Navajo Reservation.
Dr. Raney received her undergraduate degree in biology from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill School of Medicine and completed her residency at Sheppard Pratt Hospital.
She participated in the design of a fully integrated healthcare facility that combined primary care and traditional behavioral health, which made it possible for her to rapidly address the physical health issues in patients with serious mental illness.
Expertise: First Break Psychosis, Telepsychiatry and ACT populations
Dr. Rekerdres is native Texan and dedicated Narrative Psychiatrist with experience in providing Recovery oriented Psychiatric treatment to individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. She graduated cum laude with a degree in Philosophy from the University of Dallas. From there, she went on to earn her MD from UTMB in Galveston, TX and then completed her residency in Psychiatry at UT Southwestern. She has collaborated and received additional mentorship in Family and Systems Psychotherapies from the Family Studies Center at UT Southwestern under the guidance of Connie Cornwell, MA, LMFT-S, LPC.
Dr. Rekerdres has clinical experience in Emergency Psychiatry, Inpatient Psychiatry, Outpatient Psychiatry, Homeless Psychiatry, Medication Assisted Treatments including Buprenorphine, Telepsychiatry, First Break Psychosis, Family and Couples Therapy, IDD populations and Assertive Community Treatment. She also has Psychiatric Administrative experience as the former Medical Director of Child and Family Guidance Center in Dallas and the former Chair of the Psychiatric Leadership Advisory Group for the North Texas Behavioral Health Authority. Currently, she sees patients via Telepsychiatry and is the Medical Director of the North Texas Region of ETBHN and is also the Medical Director for ADAPT Crisis Services in the North Texas region.
Expertise: Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Pediatrics
Dr. Karen Ann Hendrix Rhea is chief medical officer and represents internal and external behavioral and psychiatric health services for Centerstone of Tennessee, a community mental health with focus on those with severe mental illness. She is especially interested in integration of behavioral and physical health care at the organizational level. She is the psychiatrist member of the TennCare Pharmacy Advisory Committee, a member of the national Behavioral Health Subcommittee and the national Behavioral Health Pharmacy Subcommittee for Anthem (Wellpoint). She has also served on state committees on child welfare and adult and child mental health and provider groups for managed care insurance companies in Tennessee. Dr. Rhea received her MD degree with honors from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and completed a residency in pediatrics. She returned to do a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship, a research fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry and a residency in general psychiatry. Dr. Rhea is triple-boarded in pediatrics, general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. She is an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at Vanderbilt School of Medicine, a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, secretary of Tennessee Chapter of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists, a member of American Osteopathic Association and a National Association of Mental Illness-Exemplary Psychiatrist.
Expertise: Child/Adolescent
Dr. Bhagi Sahasranaman has been employed at Henderson Behavioral Health since 1991 and has been their Medical Director since the year 2000. Henderson Behavioral Health is a large CARF accredited behavioral health organization in Florida that serves over 30,000 individuals each year. She is also the child psychiatrist consultant for several organizations such as Camelot Community Care, Children’s Harbor and Kids in Distress.
Dr. Sahasranaman is Board Certified in General Psychiatry and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She has served on various committees and panels at the district and state levels. She has been a member of the expert panel for the “Florida Medicaid Drug Therapy Management Program for Behavioral Health” that has developed best practice medication guidelines for treatment of various behavioral health disorders in children and adults. She has provided numerous presentations, workshops, and trainings and has received several awards and recognitions. Dr. Sahasranaman is Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, at Nova Southeastern University College of Osteopathic Medicine and at Florida International University, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine.
Expertise: Healthcare Systems, Psychiatric Leadership, Psychodynamic Psychiatry
Expertise: Managed Care, Intellectual Disabilities, Geriatrics, Pharmacy Management and Integrated Care
Expertise: Telepsychiatry, Psychiatric ED
Dr. Wayne Sparks completed his undergraduate education at Duke University with B.S. degrees in Zoology and Psychology, and his M.D. at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. He also completed his Psychiatric Residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. He joined Atrium Health in 1997 at the start of one of the nation’s few 24-hour Psychiatric Emergency Departments staffed with Board Certified Psychiatrists. He also served as the Medical Director of the Psychiatric ED from 2001 – 2017.
Dr. Sparks has been doing Telepsychiatry since 1997, which started as a coverage system for one facility’s solo psychiatrist. He has been Medical Director of Telepsychiatry since 2001 and has been integral in the implementation, growth, and management of the delivery of virtual psychiatric care for patients in 22 Medical ED’s and Inpatient Medical Units across Atrium Health. He has also been the Regional Medical Director for the Behavioral Health Service Line of Atrium Health and served as Chief of the Department of Psychiatry of Carolinas Medical Center. Currently, Dr. Sparks is the Senior Medical Director for Behavioral Health Services for Atrium Health.
Expertise: Health policy, Re-entry Services
Expertise: Primary Care, Integration
Jack Todd Wahrenberger is a Family Practice physician who currently works in Pittsburgh, Pa. as the Chief Medical Officer at the Pittsburgh Mercy Health System. He studied Medicine and Public Health at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine where he obtained an MD and MPH degree. Dr. Wahrenberger co-founded the North Side Christian Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center that serves uninsured and underserved persons in the inner city of Pittsburgh. He served as the Medical Director of this FQHC for 16 years. In 2012, Dr. Wahrenberger joined Pittsburgh Mercy Health System to start a fully integrated primary care clinic that serves as the medical and mental health home for over 5,000 individuals as part of SAMHSA’s PBHCI grant program. In 2017, Dr. Wahrenberger became the Chief Medical Officer and oversees a medical staff consisting of 15 Psychiatrist, 8 CRNP’s and 5 Primary Care Providers. Pittsburgh Mercy is a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, which provides a wide array of services including 4 ACT teams, a crisis center, partial hospitalization programs, adult, child and adolescent outpatient mental health, outpatient primary care, street medicine, as well as services for those with intellectual disabilities.
Expertise: Adult Psychiatry, Addiction Medicine