MIRECC / CoE

René Kahn, MD, PhD

VISN 2 South MIRECC Director

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext. 5227

Email: Rene.Kahn@mssm.edu
Email2: Rene.Kahn@va.gov

Please see Dr. Kahn's full biography here

Marianne Goodman, MD

VISN 2 South Associate Director

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.5188

Email: Marianne.Goodman@va.gov

Marianne Goodman, MD is the assistant director of the VISN 2 South MIRECC. She directs the Dialectical Behavioral Therapy clinical and research program and suicide prevention treatment program.

David Kimhy, PhD

Dr. Kimhy completed a 3-year NIMH-funded post-doctoral fellowship in schizophrenia research at the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University. He also served as a Beck Institute Scholar at the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Following his post-doctoral training, he joined the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University and The New York State Psychiatric Institute were he served as faculty for 12 years before joining MIRECC and Mount Sinai. Dr. Kimhy’s research funding includes numerous grants from NIMH and the National Alliance for Research of Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD).

Yulia Landa, PsyD, MS

Lisa Dixon, MD

Director, Clinical & Health Services Research

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.5227

Email: DixonLi@nyspi.columbia.edu

Lisa Dixon, MD, MPH conducts health services research that focuses on improving the quality of care for persons with SMI including increasing metabolic monitoring, reducing smoking, increasing consumer-driven family involvement in care, and reducing disability among persons who are early in the course of a psychotic illness.

Cheryl Corcoran, MD

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.5227

Email: Cheryl.Corcoran@mssm.edu

Dr. Corcoran has expertise in schizophrenia, specifically its early stages. She has research funding to study disturbances in sensory processing, language and social cognition across stages of schizophrenia, using MRI, EEG and more recently, automated natural language processing analysis to measure semantic coherence and syntactic complexity. She has used non-invasive brain stimulation for cognitive mapping and to identify targets and circuits for therapeutic neurostimulation. Dr. Corcoran has also studied the role of stress and drug use in onset and symptom expression in schizophrenia, as well as stigma and paths to prevention and recovery.

Vahram Haroutunian, PhD

Director of Research

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.6082

Email: Vahram.Haroutunian@mssm.edu

Vahram Haroutunian, PhD uses postmortem human brain and genetically modified mouse model systems we study the neurobiology of serious mental illness with a strong, albeit not exclusive, emphasis on schizophrenia and molecular biological and genetic techniques.

Stella Dracheva, PhD

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.6085

Email: Stella.Dracheva@mssm.edu

Stella Dracheva, PhD investigates the role of mRNA editing and epigenetic regulation (DNA methylation and histone modifications) in suicide and other psychiatric conditions using postmortem human brain specimens and/or animal models as well as state of the art methodologies (e.g., RNA-Seq, CHIP-Seq, Infinium 450K Methylation array).

Erin Hazlett, PhD

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.3701

Email: Erin.Hazlett@mssm.edu

Erin Hazlett, Ph.D. conducts multidisciplinary clinical research using neuroimaging and psychophysiological approaches. Her studies examine the neurobiology of attention and emotion processing abnormalities in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders, personality disorders, and major depressive disorder. She has received funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense, National Institutes of Mental Health, and private foundations (e.g., Brain & Behavior Research Foundation). Her most recent VA Merit Award grant uses neuroimaging and psychophysiology to examine emotional processing in Veterans at low and high risk for suicide. If you are interested in finding out more about this study call (718) 584-9000 x3605 (Daniel Vaccaro, Clinical Research Assistant). Dr. Hazlett has over 140 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, is currently a standing member of the Adult Psychopathology and Disorders of Aging (APDA) study section for NIH, and sits on the Editorial Board of the journal Psychophysiology.

Panagiotis Roussos, MD, PhD

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.6080

Email: Panagiotis.Roussos@mssm.edu

Panos Roussos's research is focused on discerning the neurobiology of neuropsychiatric illnesses through understanding the regulation of gene expression. He applies a combination of Molecular Biology and Bioinformatics approaches to tackle these questions.

Philip R. Szeszko, PhD

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.5869

Email: Philip.Szeszko@va.gov

Philip R. Szeszko, Ph.D. focuses on the role of abnormal white matter in the neurobiology of psychiatric disorders and how these abnormalities may contribute to neuropsychological and functional outcome. He has received funding from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, DANA Foundation and National Institute of Mental Health to conduct brain imaging studies in patients with psychiatric disorders. He has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed manuscripts and sits on the Editorial Boards of Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology, Biological Psychiatry and Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging.

Larry Siever, MD

Retired, VISN 2 South MIRECC Director

Larry Siever, MD was the Chief of Psychiatry and Director of the MIRECC at the JJ Peters VAMC. Dr. Siever studied the etiology of the schizophrenia spectrum and affect and impulsive aggression regulation in serious mental illness.

William Byne, MD, PhD

William Byne, MD, PhD employed a variety of postmortem histological and in vivo neuroimaging techniques to examine brain structure and function in serious mental illness and initiated a pharmacological trial in schizophrenia.

Deborah Kayman, PhD, LMSW

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext.5227

As a social worker, Dr Kayman's research priorities are to promote Veteran empowerment, safety and recovery by examining interventions to (a) prevent crises (e.g., through suicide risk assessment); (b) increase access to peer support (e.g., through new technologies); and (c) impart useful skills (e.g., for problem-solving).

Bruce Levine, MD

Retired Director, Education & Clinical Practice

Phone: 718-584-9000 ext. 5204

Email: Bruce.Levine@va.gov

Bruce Levine, MD focuses on the implementation of the full spectrum of evidence based, recovery oriented practice: assessment and diagnosis, treatment partnership, psychotherapies and psychosocial interventions, and psychopharmacological treatments.