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 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 Alexopoulos, MD. She has remained there ever since, establishing clinical research interests in geriatric psychopharmacology, depression, and cognitive dysfunction.
Currently, she is an Investigator on several NUMH-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 (AAGP) 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.
She 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 Cornell Medical College in 2002 and 2011, Teacher of the Year Award from the geriatric psychiatry residents in 2005, Educator of the Year Award from the AAGP in 2008, and a Mentorship Award from the geriatric psychiatry residents in 2011.
Nahla Mahgoub, MD is the Associate Director of Residency Training in Geriatric Psychiatry, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. She is a full time faculty member and attending psychiatrist supervising the geriatric fellows in both the geriatric inpatient unit and the specialized practice for older adults.
Dr. Mahgoub graduated from the University of Alexandria, Egypt in 1991 and completed a Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship at Beth Israel Medical Center in June 2007. She joined the Westchester Division in July 2007, and demonstrated outstanding commitment to the geriatric psychiatry program, both administratively and clinically. She is an active member of both the Geriatric Residency Education Committee and the Program Effectiveness Committee. She is also a member of the Teaching and Training Committee of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. She achieved ABPN subspecialty certification in geriatric psychiatry. She has been productive in geriatric psychiatry publications, primarily in the areas of clinical patient care reviews and case reports. She is a co-leader of the "Writing Seminar and Career Development" which has greatly assisted in helping our own fellows publish.
Dr. Mahgoub teaches and supervises geriatric fellows on a daily basis in both the inpatient and outpatient clinical services. She is a regular lecturer throughout the year in the Didactic Curriculum and has pioneered the use of quizzes to enhance learning. In 2011, she received the "Teacher of the Year" Award from the graduating geriatric fellows.
