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Educational Leadership
Jack D. Barchas, MD
Chairman of Psychiatry
Jack D. Barchas, M.D. is the Barklie McKee Henry Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the Weill Cornell Medical College and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Dr. Barchas has just finished an eight-year term as Editor of Archives of General Psychiatry. Previously, Dr. Barchas was the Dean for Research Development and for Neuroscience at UCLA School of Medicine and a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. He obtained his medical degree at Yale, took an internship at the Pritzker School of Medicine of the University of Chicago, postdoctoral training at the NIH, and his psychiatry residency at Stanford where he was a faculty member through 1989. At Stanford, he held the Nancy Friend Pritzker Professorship and was the Director of the Pritzker Laboratory at Stanford, an interdisciplinary program centered about fundamental aspects of behavioral neurobiology. He also served as Associate Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. The thrust of Dr. Barchas' past research dealt with neuroregulators and behavior. The themes of his efforts included: 1) identification of previously unrecognized neuroregulators, especially neuropeptides; 2) study of fundamental control mechanisms for neuroregulators; and 3) exploration of the roles of neuroregulators in animal and human behavior as well as in human mental disorders and addictive states. He is an author of several hundred-research papers and has edited a dozen books. Apart from his departmental administrative activities, Dr. Barchas has been deeply involved in public policy issues. For 12 years he chaired the Board on Biobehavioral Science and Mental Disorders of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. The Board produced evaluations for the federal government dealing with health needs and research opportunities. Currently, Dr. Barchas serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees of the New York Academy of Medicine and of the Association for Research on Nervous and Mental Disorders. He is President of the Pasarow Foundation, which provides awards for extraordinary scientific achievement in the fields of neuropsychiatry, cardiovascular disease and cancer. He is currently the Director of the Pritzker Network on Depression, which involves cross-institutional research efforts involving Weill Cornell, Michigan, and Stanford.
Elizabeth L. Auchincloss, MD
Vice-Chairman for Graduate Medical Education
Director of Residency Training
Elizabeth L. Auchincloss, M.D. is the Vice-Chairman for Graduate Medical Education, Director of Residency Training, and Professor of Clinical Psychiatry. She is also Senior Associate Director, and Training and Supervising Analyst at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Dr. Auchincloss is a graduate of Yale College. She received her M.D. from the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and trained in Psychiatry at the Payne Whitney Clinic of the New York Hospital where she was Chief Resident in 1982. She received her certificate in psychoanalysis from the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in 1986. Between 1993-2001, she was an Adjunct Lecturer in the Department of English and Comparative Literature in Columbia University
Dr. Auchincloss is a three-time recipient of the Award for Best Voluntary Faculty Teacher given by the residents of the Payne Whitney Clinic, the recipient of the 1998 Klar Award for Best Teacher given by the candidates of the Columbia Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, the winner of the 1999 Edith Shabsin Award for teaching psychoanalysis from the American Psychoanalytic Association, the 2005 George E. Daniels Award from the Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine for contributions to psychoanalysis, and the 2009 George Goldman Award from the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center. From 1991-1997, she served as chairman of the curriculum committee of the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center. She has also served as Chairman of the Committee on Graduate Medical Education at New York Presbyterian Hospital--Weill Cornell Medical Center and on the Committee for Psychotherapy Competencies of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training. She currently represents the American Psychiatric Association on the Residency Review Committee for Psychiatry of the ACGME.
Dr. Auchincloss has served in the past as Editor-in-Chief of the Bulletin of the Association for Psychoanalytic Medicine and on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is Co-Editor-in-Chief of the New Glossary of Psychoanalytic Terms and Concepts (with Eslee Samberg, M.D.) to be published jointly by the American Psychoanalytic Association and Yale University Press. She is a well-known speaker on the subjects of psychoanalytic curriculum and education, psychotherapy education in residency training, the teaching of psychoanalytic concepts and teaching the writings of Freud to college students. She is the author of many book chapters and reviews and has won the Beller Award of the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalysis, the Menninger Award from the American Psychoanalytic Association and the Roughton Award from the American Psychoanalytic Association for scholarly work. She is the editor of The Quiet Revolution in American Psychoanalysis: Selected Papers of Arnold M. Cooper, M.D.(London, Brunner-Routledge, 2004) She has published papers in the American Journal of Psychiatry, The Archives of General Psychiatry, the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association and the International Journal of Psychoanalysis. Her most recent publications include "Teaching Freud to College Students" (with Nathan Kravis, M.D.-International Journal of Psychoanalysis), "Psychoanalysis and homosexuality: Do we need a new theory?" (with Susan C. Vaughan, M.D.-Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association) "Commentary on The Place of Psychoanalytic Treatments within Psychiatry,'" Archives of General Psychiatry and "A re-assessment of psychoanalytic education: Controversies and changes," (with Robert Michels, M.D. International Journal of Psychoanalysis). In March , 2004, she was a Discussant of the Keynote Papers in the Plenary Session of the 43rd Congress of the International Psychoanalytic Association in New Orleans.
Sibel Klimstra, MD
Associate Vice Chair for Education at Payne Whitney Westchester
Associate Director of Residency Training
Sibel Klimstra, M.D. is the Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry, Associate Vice Chair for Education at Payne Whitney Westchester, Director of Residency Training in Geriatric Psychiatry, and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry. She is also the Director for Weill-Cornell's Medical Student Psychiatry Clerkship. Dr. Klimstra graduated summa cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University with a BA degree, majoring in Biopsychology. She received her MD degree from Yale University School of Medicine in 1988, and stayed at Yale for her adult psychiatry residency, becoming Chief Resident and receiving the Laughlin Fellow Merit Award in 1992. She also completed a PGY-V fellowship year in geriatric psychiatry at Yale University with J. Craig Nelson, MD. After training, she came to the Westchester Division due to its renowned geriatric psychiatry program, headed by George S. Alexopoulos, MD. She has remained there ever since, establishing clinical research interests in geriatric psychopharmacology, depression, and cognitive dysfunction.
Currently, Dr. Klimstra is an Investigator on several NIMH-funded research grants involving the prevention of geriatric depression and the prevention of suicide in the elderly. She is an author of papers published in the prestigious geriatric psychiatry journals, the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. She has also authored several book chapters on geriatric mood disorders and inpatient geriatric psychiatry. She has served as an oral board examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN) and currently serves as a committee member for the ABPN's Geriatric Psychiatry subspecialty examination. She is very active in the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry and is the Chair of the National Training Directors' Workshop, a member of the Teaching and Training Committee, and a Geriatric Mental Health Foundation mentor to medical students and residents.
Dr. Klimstra has received multiple medical student and resident teaching awards including Faculty Teacher of the Year Award from the adult psychiatry residents in 2001, an Excellence in Teaching Award from Weill Medical College of Cornell University in 2002 and 2011, Teacher of the Year Award from the geriatric psychiatry residents in 2005, and a Mentorship Award from the geriatric psychiatry residents in 2011.
Jessica Zonana, MD
Assistant Director of Residency Training
Jessica Zonana, M.D. is an Assistant Director of Residency Training and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. She is a graduate of Wesleyan University where she majored in English and American Studies. She graduated AOA from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine where she was one of the co-founders of the East Harlem Health Outreach Project, a free medical clinic for the uninsured.
Dr. Zonana trained in Psychiatry at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital - Weill Cornell Medical College - Payne Whitney Clinic adult residency training program, serving as Co-Chief Resident in 2007-2008. During her residency at Payne Whitney, she received the Distinguished House Staff Award from the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association. She also received the Faculty Mentor Award from the psychiatry residents in 2009. Dr. Zonana worked as an Assistant Attending Psychiatrist on the inpatient service at NYPH-Weill Cornell Medical Center, teaching psychiatry interns from 2008-2011. She now is a supervising attending in the Payne Whitney Manhattan Outpatient Department, while also working in the New York Presbyterian Hospital Psychiatry Emergency Department and the Student Mental Health Service at Weill Cornell Medical College.
Michael F. Walton, MD
Assistant Director of Residency Training
Michael F. Walton, M.D. is an Assistant Director of Residency Trainingand Instructor in Psychiatry at the Weill Cornell Medical College Department of Psychiatry. He is a graduate of Cornell University with an AB in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and a Concentration in Latin American Studies. He received his MD from the Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Walton trained in Psychiatry at the Payne Whitney Clinic of the New York Presbyterian Hospital -Weill Cornell Medical College - Payne Whitney Clinic where he was Co-Chief Resident in 2008-2009. Dr. Walton is now an Assistant Attending Psychiatrist on the mood disorders team of the inpatient psychiatric hospital at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is also active in clinical research. He has received several teaching awards including Teacher of the Year from the Psychiatry residents in 2010, Weill Cornell Medical College Senior List in 2011, as well as numerous clinical awards including Distinguished House Office Award of the Weill Cornell Medical College Alumni Association in 2009 and New York Presbyterian Hospital Physician of the Year in 2010.
Jessica Zonana, MD, Elizabeth Auchincloss, MD, Sibel Klimstra, MD, and Michael Walton, MD