Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Our Staff and Cabinet Members

Staff

  • Marisa Spann, PhD, MPH

    • Acting Director of Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
    • Herbert Irving Associate Professor of Medical Psychology, CUIMC
    • Director of Early Neuroimaging, Neuroimmune, and Neuropsychology (early N3) lab, Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics
    • Co-founder of Fetal, Infant, Toddler Neuroimaging Group (FIT'NG)

    Dr. Marisa Spann is the Herbert Irving Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the director of the Columbia Department of Psychiatry’s Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Dr. Spann is a clinical neuropsychologist with specialty training in developmental neuroimaging and perinatal epidemiology. The overarching goal of Dr. Spann’s research is to identify early immune, brain, and neuropsychological antecedents of childhood psychiatric risk to reduce the time to intervention for young children. She accomplishes this through two complementary lines of study involving national and international birth cohorts, and clinical cohorts of pregnant women-fetal dyads in New York. 

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  • Ryan Hill

    • Program Manager of the Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

  • Patrice Harris, MD, MA

    • Advisor of Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
    • Visiting Professor of Psychiatry, CUIMC
    • Former President of AMA (American Medical Association)
    Patrice Harris, MD, MA

Cabinet Members

  • Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford, MD

    • Director, Washington Heights Community Service, New York State Psychiatric Institute
    • Associate Dean for Medical School Professionalism in the Learning Environment, VP&S
    • Associate Professor of Psychiatry at CUMC

    Jean-Marie Alves-Bradford, MD is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and the previous director of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. She is also the Associate Director for Clinical Services and the Director of the Washington Heights Community Service (WHCS) at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) where she sees patients, teaches medical students, residents and fellows and manages inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services in upper Manhattan.  Dr. Alves-Bradford also serves and the training director for the Columbia University’s NIMH funded T32 Research Fellowship in Global Mental Health.   Dr. Bradford received her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at Harvard College and completed her Medical Degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University.  She has been a Columbia faculty member since completing her psychiatric residency in Psychiatry at Columbia University where she served as chief resident.  Dr. Alves-Bradford’s professional interests include improving psychiatric care for individuals with serious mental illness in underserved communities in the US and abroad, medical education, faculty development and advancing equity, diversity and inclusion and belonging in medical settings. She is currently working on implementing a bias response and upstander curriculum at VP&S and has received funding for this project from the Vanneck Bailey Scholar Award from the Apgar Academy and the Innovative Course Design grant from the Columbia Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching, Learning and Innovation.

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  • Melissa Arbuckle, MD, PhD

    • Vice Chair for Education, Department of Psychiatry
    • Director of Residency Training, Department of Psychiatry
    • Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, CUIMC

    Melissa Arbuckle, MD, PhD is Vice Chair for Education and Director of Resident Education in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Arbuckle's interests focus on the role of medical education in advancing the translation of research into the practice of psychiatry. Dr. Arbuckle is a principal investigator on Columbia’s NIH funded R25 Research Track which aims to support the development of physician-scientists who are dedicated to translational research in psychiatry. As part of this effort, Dr. Arbuckle has also received NIH funding to support the June Jackson Christmas Medical Student Research Fellowship, a program for first year medical students who belong to historically underrepresented racial or ethnic groups with a mentored 8-week summer research experience. She is committed to supporting pipeline programs to expand and support URM individuals in psychiatry.

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  • Jonathan Amiel, MD

    • Associate Dean for Curricular Affairs, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
    • Associate Professor of Psychiatry, CUIMC

    Jonathan Amiel, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Senior Associate Dean for Innovation in Health Professions Education at Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians & Surgeons. He is also an Attending Psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Amiel is past chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges’ (AAMC) Organization of Resident Representatives and Northeast Group on Educational Affairs leads its Core Entrustable Professional Activities pilot. He serves on the Advisory Committee for the Gold Humanism Honor Society and chairs its Membership Committee.

    Dr. Amiel’s work focuses on competency-based education and its relationship to the development of health professionals' identities. In his work, he partners with educators across the medical school, medical center, university, and colleagues in national and international professional societies to advance the training of health professionals to optimally meet the evolving needs of the public. The overarching goal is to ensure that training is intentional, just, and aligned with public health needs—including developing our next generation of clinician scientists, educators, and advocates.

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  • Cristiane Duarte, PhD, MPH

    • Ruane Professor for the Implementation of Science for Child and Adolescent mental Health (in Psychiatry), CUIMC

    Dr. Duarte is the Ruane Professor for the Implementation of Science for Child & Adolescent Mental Health in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI). Dr. Duarte is an expert on development of mental disorders in children, adolescents, and young adults with special emphasis on racially and ethnically minoritized youth. Her research has a strong focus on intergenerational processes that may lead to psychiatric disorders. Through the use state-of-the art sampling, recruitment, and culturally appropriate assessment methodologies, she generates population-based knowledge of relevance to diverse, often underserved and understudied populations. She is the Director of the Center for Intergenerational Psychiatry and leads the Boricua Youth Study, which studies how mental disorders develop from childhood to young adulthood in a Latinx subgroup (Puerto Ricans). She is committed to mentoring students, fellows and junior faculty, with special interest in supporting trainees from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in science.

    Cristiane Duarte, PhD, MPH

  • E. David Leonardo, MD, PhD

    • Associate Professor of Psychiatry, CUIMC

    E. David Leonardo MD, PhD is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and an Associate Director of the Adult Psychiatry Residency program.  His research aims at elucidating the mechanisms through which neuromodulatory systems impact the development of the prefrontal cortex during adolescence. In particular, he is interested in understanding how alterations in the developmental trajectory in adolescence can result in long term changes in motivated behavior.  In addition to his research, in his role as Associate Director of Residency training, Dr. Leonardo oversees research training and the neuroscience curriculum.  Prior to the establishment of the Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, he co-chaired the departmental committee of the same name.

    E. David Leonardo, MD, PhD

  • Stephanie Le Melle, MD

    • Director of Public Psychiatry Fellowship, NYSPI
    • Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, CUIMC

    Dr. Le Melle is currently the Director of Public Psychiatry Education at Columbia University Dept of Psychiatry/ New York State Psychiatric Institute. She is also the Director of the Columbia Public Psychiatry fellowship. Prior to this, Dr Le Melle was the Associate Director of the Washington Heights Community Service and then was the Clinical Director of New York State Psychiatric Institute.  She is also a member of the Columbia Psychiatry Dept Committee on Equitry, Inclusion and Diversity. She is the Course Director for Public Psychiatry Education in the Columbia University Psychiatry Residency program.

    Dr. Le Melle was Vice President of the American Association of Community Psychiatrist and continues on the board as a Member at Large. She was a member of the MacArthur Network on Mandated Outpatient Treatment, the National Advisory Board for SAMSHA and is an active member of the American Psychiatric Association and NAMI.   Dr Le Melle is a member of the NYC Community Service Board and acted as the Expert Advisor to Mayor de Blasio’s Behavioral Health Taskforce for NYC/Riker’s Island.

    Stephanie LeMelle, MD

  • Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD

    • Director of the NYS Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence, NYSPI
    • Director of the Hispanic Treatment Program, NYSPI
    • Professor of Psychiatry, CUIMC

    Roberto Lewis-Fernández, MD is Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, Director of the New York State Center of Excellence for Cultural Competence and the Hispanic Treatment Program, and Co-Director of the Anxiety Disorder Clinic, at NYS Psychiatric Institute. His research develops culturally valid interventions and instruments to enhance patient engagement, reduce misdiagnosis, and help overcome disparities in the care of underserved cultural groups.  He led the development of the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview, a standardized cultural assessment protocol. He has been PI or co-Investigator of 25 National Institutes of Health-funded studies and other research, and published over 210 articles, chapters, and books. He is President of the World Association of Cultural Psychiatry, chair of the DSM Review Committee for Internalizing Disorders and the DSM-5-TR Culture-Related Issues Review Committee, and co-chair of the ICD-11 Working Group on Culture-Related Issues.

    Roberto Lewis-Fernandez, MD

  • Warren Y.K. Ng, MD

    • Medical Director of Outpatient Behavioral Health, NYP
    • Director of Clinical Services in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
    • Professor of Psychiatry, CUIMC

    Dr. Ng oversees the comprehensive spectrum of clinical programs in child, adolescent, and adult outpatient and community behavioral health at NewYork-Presbyterian’s Division of Community and Population Health. He oversees the psychiatric services at the MS Children's Hospital of New York within the emergency department and inpatient services.  

    Warren Y.K. Ng, MD

  • Raemel Pascual, MPA

    • Deputy Director of Psychiatric Center 2--Facility Administrative Services
    • Deputy Director of Institute Administration

    Mr. Pascual is the Deputy Director for Facility Administrative Services at New York State Psychiatric Institute. He oversees the state-operated administrative support functions of NYSPI, which include Business Office, Engineering, Environmental Services, Human Resources, Nutritional Services and Safety and Security.

    Raemel Pascual, MPA