Press Releases

Share This Press Release

NUMC RECEIVES APPROVAL FOR THE CREATION OF A NEW CHILD PSYCHIATRY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM WITH INITIAL THREE YEAR ACCREDITATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2010

PRESS CONTACT:
Shelley Lotenberg
shelley@numc.edu
516-572-6055

NUMC RECEIVES APPROVAL FOR THE CREATION OF A NEW CHILD PSYCHIATRY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM WITH INITIAL THREE YEAR ACCREDITATION

East Meadow, NY… Arthur A. Gianelli, President/CEO of the NuHealth System, announced that the Nassau University Medical Center’s (NUMC) had received approval for the creation of a new child psychiatry fellowship program from the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) with an initial three year accreditation to start on July 1, 2011.

Gianelli who was delighted to hear the news said: “We extend our congratulations to the psychiatry team, under the leadership of Dr. Rao, for receiving approval for the creation of their new fellowship with three year accreditation. The accreditation of the child fellowship is the latest step in the impressive growth of the department of psychiatry’s educational mission  in the past three years that included the expansion of its general psychiatry residency program, and starting of a  psychosomatic fellowship  – all helping to provide high quality of care to our patients.”

The United States suffers from a critical shortage of child psychiatrists especially in public sector. The fellowship program will provide its trainees with clinical experience in all areas of child psychiatry so as to become competent practitioners of child psychiatry. The care of the underserved children will be number one priority of this program and its educational philosophy emphasizes fundamental mastery of a wide variety of diagnostic and treatment approaches in a diverse patient population, and an intellectual appreciation of the evidence supporting their use.. The department  which is one of the largest academic  psychiatry departments in public sector, has 183 inpatient beds, the only “locked” emergency room in Nassau County, a busy psychosomatic service, and an out patient division.   Its expertise extends to addiction, child, psychosomatic, correctional, cultural, emergency and general psychiatry.   It also is home for the “Von Tauber Institute for Global Psychiatry” and a  fast developing research enterprise in association with North Shore-LIJ Health System’s department of psychiatry.

The child division, under the leadership of Ilisse Perlmutter,MD, a highly respected child psychiatrist, is comprised of 22 inpatient beds, an outpatient clinic, an emergency service and a psychosomatic service.  Staffed by five dually boarded child psychiatrists, the  training program is under the directorship of Meenatchi Ramani, MD, and  fills a major void for child psychiatrists in the country.

Steven J. Walerstein, MD, FACP, executive vice president for medical affairs and medical director for the NuHealth System, added: ‘The creation of a new training program in child psychiatry marks another step in the extraordinary growth of the department of psychiatry and behavioral health. Under the leadership of Dr. Rao, the hospital has achieved excellence in patient care, quality and education.”
 

“I want to congratulate the team led by our vice-chair for education and training- Dr. Sperber that included Dr. Perlmutter, Ramani and Ditkowsky our clinical director, for their outstanding efforts to realize this cherished goal of the department.  They assiduously worked to address every requirement of the Residency Review Committee (RRC) and created a model training program in the process.  We are grateful to Dr. John Kane and his faculty from North-Shore LIJ for offering crucial support in satisfying RRC’s requirements,” stated  Nyapati Rao, MD, MS, chairman of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.

ABOUT NUHEALTH
NuHealth is a Long Island health care organization delivering essential medical care and disease and lifestyle management to everyone at every stage of life.  Also known as Nassau Health Care Corporation, NuHealth is a public benefit corporation managing the operations of Nassau Medical Center, A. Holly Patterson Extended Care and a network of Family Health Centers that bring primary and specialty care out into the community.  By emphasizing wellness, cultural sensitivity and collaborative efforts with the North Shore-LIJ Health System, NuHealth is working to make good care more affordable and easier to access.

For more information about NuHealth or its Centers of Care, visit www.nuhealth.net.