Welcome to the New Year!

2016: Message from the Director

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I hope that you enjoyed the holidays and are in good health and spirits as 2016 begins!

2015 proved as eventful as each of the previous eleven years that I have written to you to review the old and welcome in the new year. Among the many significant developments that occurred are the following:

• We retained our #1 status in NIH funding (CU and NYSPI grants combined) for the eighth consecutive year
• Named #1 by U.S. News and World Report in Psychiatry – this was the first time that New York Presbyterian Hospital has ever had a department ranked first in the country
• The continued excellence of our numerous training programs which are among the best in the country
• Change in leadership at the NIMH as Director Tom Insel stepped down and a search for his successor was begun
• Maria Oquendo was elected American Psychiatric Association President
• Anissa Abi-Dargham was elected President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
• Roberto Lewis-Fernandez was elected President of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture
• Our department was named a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Mental Health
• Renovations of laboratories on Pardes 5^th floor and Kolb 4^th floor were completed
• Frances Levin was appointed Director of the Division of Substance Abuse as Herb Kleber stepped down from his role as founding director of the division
• Joe Aravena, chief engineer and CSEA leader retired after 41 years at NYSPI
• Iconic emeritus faculty member Bob Spitzer died just as the year came to a close

We recruited new faculty and staff into key positions, among them:

• Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele was appointed the Mortimer D. Sackler Professor of Psychiatry
• Martin Picard was recruited to the Division of Behavioral Medicine
• Rosellen Taraborrelli will begin her new position as Vice Chair for Administration and Finance in February 2016

Several faculty have assumed new responsibilities and leadership positions:

• Lou Baptista and Dave Lowenthal were appointed as Vice Chairs for Clinical Services
• Diana Dragatsi was appointed the Director of NewYork-Presbyterian Psychiatric Emergency Services

As Yogi Berra said “it’s difficult to predict things, especially when it comes to the future,” but I would like to venture my views on 2016.

Given the fact that the economy has finally stabilized, the federal and state budgets should improve at least slightly. We have already seen signs of this with the proposed federal budget increasing National Institutes of Health funding by 6%, and the New York State budget expected to be balanced and with no cuts to the Office of Mental Health.

The need for mental health services locally and nationally will continue to increase, and we will sustain efforts to expand our clinical enterprise. It is our hope that this will result in increased revenue and also provide additional employment opportunities and training experiences.
We will continue to support efforts to improve our training programs, and attract the best and brightest students and postgraduate trainees.

Within the limits of our resources and capacity, we will continue to pursue new initiatives that address unmet public health needs, scientific opportunities and novel training experiences, following our recent successes in developing new programs in women’s mental health, domestic violence, LGBT health, global mental health, precision medicine, and healthy aging.
We will continue to promote greater diversity in our faculty, trainees and in leadership positions of our department and institute.  We will also continue to make every effort to maintain and improve a supportive and congenial work place environment.

In this context, it is my hope and belief that NYSPI/Columbia Psychiatry will enhance its impact on the fields of psychiatry and mental health care nationally and internationally and in doing so, expand awareness, reduce stigma and improve the quality of mental health care.

While our ability to pursue these goals depends in part on the conditions in the changing political and economic environment around us, I firmly believe that the prospects for our field and our institution are extremely bright, and that NYSPI/Columbia Psychiatry is the best place in the world to work, train and to successfully pursue our mission to improve the care of people with mental disorders.

I would like to express my gratitude to every one of the faculty, trainees and staff of Psychiatric Institute, Columbia Psychiatry and our psychiatric services at New York-Presbyterian Hospital for all that you do everyday to make ours the best among all psychiatric departments and institutions, and to our generous donors for their invaluable support of our mission.

Yours truly,

Jeffrey A. Lieberman, M.D.

Lawrence C. Kolb Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons,
Director, New York State Psychiatric Institute
Psychiatrist-in-Chief, New York-Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia University Medical Center