Geriatric Psychiatry Educational Leadership
George S. Alexopoulos, MD is Tenured Professor of Psychiatry and the Vice Chairman for Geriatric Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is the Center Director for the Cornell Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research for Geriatric Mood Disorders. He is the Director of the Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry, the Co-Director of the Aging Center for Research and Clinical Care and the Director of the NIMH-funded Postgraduate Research Fellowship in Geriatric Mood Disorders at Weill Medical College of Cornell University. He is also the Director of the Specialized Services Division at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital - Payne Whitney Westchester.
Dr. Alexopoulos graduated from the National University of Athens in Athens, Greece. He completed psychiatry residency at the New York Hospital - Westchester Division, Cornell University Medical College and then a research fellowship on the psychobiology unit in the Department of Psychiatry, the New York Hospital, Payne Whitney Clinic, Cornell University Medical College.
Dr. Alexopoulos' research is guided by the hypothesis that geriatric depression is a heterogeneous entity in which aging-related processes and neurological brain diseases modify the course of illness and the effects of treatment. His lab has previously characterized the heterogeneity of geriatric depression, tested its response to acute pharmacological treatment, and described its course under naturalistic conditions.
Recent studies have identified the timetable and predictors of recovery in elderly patients with major depression and investigated the relationship of disability to clinical parameters of depressed elderly patients. Dr. Alexopoulos and his coworkers identified and defined distinct stages of geriatric depression. He is now studying clinical, neuroradiological (volumes of brain structures), and pharmacological determinants of depressive symptomatology and other outcomes (cognitive impairments, disability) in patients with distinct course of illness. This approach allowed dissection of the geriatric depression syndrome based on course of illness and its relationship to meaningful clinical and biological characteristics. The syndromes of the "depression-executive dysfunction of late life" and "vascular depression" have been identified. Optimal antidepressant treatment approaches are being tested by novel pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches. These findings are expected to guide geriatric antidepressant treatment practice and provide the background for sharply focused investigations of the mechanisms of specific geriatric depressive syndromes.
Dr. Alexopoulos has served on many geriatric psychiatry national and international education and research advisory committees. He has been consistently named among the "Best Doctors in Westchester and New York". He has received the Distinguished Psychiatrist Lecture Award by the American Psychiatric Association, the Award for Research in Geriatric Psychiatry by the American College of Psychiatrists, the Joseph Zubin Research Award of the American Psychopathological Association, the Geriatric Research Award of the American College of Psychiatrists and has been appointed Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists in 2004.
Sibel Klimstra, MD is the Director of Residency Training in Geriatric Psychiatry, Associate Vice Chair for Graduate Medical Education at Payne Whitney Westchester, and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry. She is also Director of Medical Student Education for the Westchester Division. She is the Associate Director for the Westchester DivisionŐs Specialized Practice for Older Adults and the Associate Director for Weill-CornellŐs Medical Student Psychiatry Clerkship.
Dr. Klimstra graduated 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 dementia. Currently, she 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. Most recent publications include "Continuation Treatment of Delusional Depression in Older Adults"(American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry) "Executive Dysfunction and Disability in Elderly Patients with Major Depression" (American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry).
In the year 2003-2004, Dr. Klimstra served as Acting Director of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry for Weill-Cornell Medical College and in 2005 was appointed Associate Clerkship Director for the Medical Student Psychiatry Clerkship. She is an oral board examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and teaches oral board examination courses to the residents and fellows. She has received the Faculty Teacher of the Year Award from the psychiatry residents in 2001, an Excellence in Teaching Award from Weill Medical College of Cornell University in 2002 and the Teacher of the Year Award from the geriatric psychiatry residents in 2005.
Jose M. de Asis, MD is the Associate Director of Residency Training in Geriatric Psychiatry, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. He is a full time faculty member and attending psychiatrist supervising the PGY-V (geriatric fellows) residents in both the Westchester DivisionŐs Geriatric Inpatient Unit and the Specialized Practice for Older Adults (Geriatric OPD).
Dr. de Asis graduated from University of the Philippines with a BS degree, majoring in Psychology. He received his MD degree from the same university in 1985. Dr. de Asis completed his residency training in adult psychiatry at New York University-Bellevue Health Center in 1996. After residency, he completed a 2-year NIMH funded T32 research fellowship at the Weill-Cornell Institute of Geriatric Psychiatry during which he studied functional neuroimaging in geriatric mood disorders. He trained in PET methods and published studies of functional neuroimaging in geriatric unipolar depression and bipolar disorder. Results of his structural neuroimaging study that applied a semi-quantitative technique for the assessment of signal hyperintensities in geriatric bipolar disorder were recently published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry (De Asis, 2006).
Dr. de Asis has remained at New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Payne Whitney Westchester as a geriatric psychiatrist and full-time faculty of Weill Medical College of Cornell University. In addition to his neuroimaging research, he has extensive experience in education and teaching to a wide variety of disciplines including geriatric psychiatry clinical and research fellows, psychiatric residents, medical students, pre- and post-doctoral psychologists, nurses and social workers.
In 2005, Dr. de Asis received a Health and Human Services-funded Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA) that supports teaching and training within the department and also supports the development and propagation of geriatric psychiatry curricula within other medical disciplines of New York Presbyterian Hospital institutions and in community arenas of patient care.
