| Contact Us: illnessconcern@aol.com | 212-543-5542 |
About Us
Affiliations
The Somatic Disorder and Heightened Illness Concern Research Program is located at the medical campus of Columbia University Medical Center, within the Division of Therapeutics at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Our funding comes from multiple sources, including the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), foundations, and private donors.
Columbia University Medical Center
Columbia University Medical Center is a world-renowned center of research and education, with a faculty of over 5,000, a supporting staff of over 8,000, and an enrollment of over 25,000 students and research fellows.
New York State Psychiatric Institute, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene
Founded in 1896 and located on the campus of Columbia University Medical Center, the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) is the oldest mental health research institution in the US. Widely regarded as one of the leading neuropsychiatric facilities in the world, the NYSPI is deeply committed to research, training and clinical care, with programs that encompass psychiatry, mind/behavior medicine, infectious disease, brain imaging, psychology, neurobiology, genetics, behavior and epidemiology.
Collaborations
In recognition that knowledge comes by sharing of resources and strengths, we initiated a collaboration with the renowned Harvard University illness anxiety expert, Dr. Arthur Barsky, in order to design a treatment study that would take the best treatment approaches available for hypochondriasis and compare them to one another. Dr. Barsky, Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard University and Director of Psychiatric Research at Brigham Women’s Hospital in Boston, has published widely on illness anxiety and hypochondriasis. Dr. Barsky and his colleague Dr. David Ahern are the authors of numerous articles on hypochondriasis and somatoform disorders. They will be in charge of the Boston site of a new NIH-funded treatment study of Hypochondriasis and Illness Fears. To learn how you may be able to participate in this treatment study in Boston, contact Dr. Barsky’s team at 617-732-5236. To learn about how to participate in this study at the NYC site, contact us at 212-543-5542 (ask for Emily Doherty).
Faculty and Staff
Brian A. Fallon MD, M.Ed., M.P.H., DirectorAssociate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry.
Dr. Fallon is founder and Director of the Program for the Study of Somatic Disorders at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI) (established in 1994), and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Fallon graduated from Harvard University in 1977 where he studied psychology and social relations. He then obtained a Master’s degree in Counseling and Consulting Psychology at Harvard University before obtaining a Master’s Degree in Public Health (epidemiology) at Columbia University. His medical training at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons was followed by internship in medicine at the Columbia University Medical Center. He received residency training in psychiatry at NYSPI and Columbia University, and subsequently joined the faculty.
His interests have focused on the evaluation and treatment of anxiety and on the perplexing experience faced by patients who have unexplained medical symptoms and marked illness fears. He has presented the results of his research on illness fears and medically unexplained symptoms at conferences in the United States and Europe.
In addition to his work on illness anxiety, he has conducted treatment research to identify better options for patients with refractory Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. He has also pioneered work on the neuropsychiatric effects of an infectious disease – Lyme disease. This work has made him particularly aware of the fact that some patients with medically unexplained symptoms actually have a medical diagnosis that has been overlooked. In evaluating patients for his illness fear studies, he emphasizes the importance of a thorough review of the patient’s medical history and laboratory tests to make sure an underlying medical disorder has not gone undetected.
Michael McKee, Ph.D.Research Scientist
Clinical Assistant Professor, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Michael McKee, PhD is a Research Scientist in the Anxiety Disorders Clinic of the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry), Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Trained in the use of cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBT) by such leaders in the field as Dr. Gail Steketee, Dr. Richard Heimberg, and Dr. Marsha Linehan, among others, Dr. McKee specializes in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for anxiety disorders.
Dr. McKee is a cognitive-behavioral research therapist for National Institute of Mental Health-funded projects studying the effectiveness of CBT in the treatment of hypochondria, social anxiety, and pathological gambling. He also teaches pre-doctoral trainees and postdoctoral fellows at the Anxiety Disorders Clinic.
Dr. McKee has extensive experience with the treatment of a range of behavior problems, and maintains a private practice in Scarsdale, New York.
Formerly, Dr. McKee was Assistant Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University from 1993 to 2000, where he treated patients and supervised trainees in the ambulatory services department at the Westchester Division of New York Presbyterian Hospital.
Roberto Lewis-Fernandez, MD.Director, Hispanic Treatment Program, and Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Columbia University
Dr. Roberto Lewis-Fernández is Director of the Hispanic Treatment Program at New York State Psychiatric Institute, Associate Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Columbia University, and Lecturer on Social Medicine at Harvard University. Dr. Lewis-Fernández graduated from Harvard College in 1979 and obtained a Master’s Degree in comparative religion from Harvard Divinity School in 1982. His medical training at Yale Medical School (1982-86) was followed by internship in general medicine and psychiatry and adult psychiatric residency at The Cambridge Hospital, a Harvard-affiliated program (1986-90). Dr. Lewis-Fernández completed a Dupont-Warren psychiatric research fellowship and a federally sponsored fellowship in clinically applied medical anthropology at Harvard Medical School from 1990 to 1993. This training focused on examining how symptom presentations of medical and psychiatric illness can vary across cultures, including diverse ways of expressing physical symptoms. From 1993 to 1995, Dr. Lewis-Fernández worked for the Puerto Rico Department of Health implementing an innovative program for assessing and treating mental health problems in rural primary care clinics.
His research focuses on the interplay of social, cultural, and biological factors in symptom presentations, help-seeking choices, and treatment outcomes of patients suffering from anxiety, depressive, somatoform, and dissociative disorders, particularly among US Latinos. Current projects include the interplay of physical illness and psychiatric symptoms in primary care patients, including how to improve collaboration between primary care physicians and mental health professionals. He is also examining the efficacy of anti-convulsants and antidepressants in the treatment of combined somatic and psychiatric presentations, including Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
Dr. Lewis-Fernández was on the Cross-Cultural Committee of the DSM-IV and is currently the chair of the Cultural Psychiatry Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and a member of the Services Review Panel of the National Institute of Mental Health and the Community Services Board of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. He also serves as Editor of the Cases Section of Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, which publishes clinical cases illustrating the impact of culture on the symptoms, course, and outcome of psychiatric disorders and patients' help-seeking choices.
Raphael Campeas, MDResearch Psychiatrist, Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University
Dr. Campeas is a Research Psychiatrist in the Anxiety Disorders Clinic at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Campeas graduated from Mount Sinai Medical School in 1979. He then completed an internship in Adult Internal Medicine at the Brookdale Hospital in New York City. He received residency training in psychiatry at Mount Sinai Hospital. Since then he has worked at the Anxiety Disorders Clinic of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He has participated in studies of OCD, Panic Disorder, Social Phobia, GAD, PTSD and Heightened Illness Concern.
Sam Barberie, BA.
Research Assistant
Mr. Barberie is the Clinical and Administrative Coordinator for the Heightened Illness Concern Program and the primary contact for patients interested in the study. He graduated from New York University with a degree in psychology and child and adolescent mental health. His research interests are in child and adolescent anxiety disorders and the use of technology in treatment with children.
Natalia Skritskaya, PhD Research Psychologist
Dr. Skritskaya has completed her training in clinical psychology at Hofstra University. Her bachelor's degree is from St. Petersburg University, Russia and her Master's Degree is from Eastern Kentucky University. She has extensive experience working with patients who have anxiety and depression with a particular interest in cognitive behavioral therapies for patients with illness fears.
Pernilla Schweitzer
Research Fellow
Pernilla Schweitzer is a medical student at Columbia University who is currently completing a one year research fellowship sponsored by the Doris Duke Foundation. She is particularly interested in anxiety and somatoform disorders, and will apply for a psychiatry residency in 2010. She graduated from Harvard University, with a concentration in Biology and a citation in French literature.
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Co-Principal Investigator and Collaborator at the Boston Site
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Arthur Barsky, MD.Co-Principal Investigator at Brigham Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Barsky is the Director of Psychiatric Research at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He and his colleague, Dr. David K. Ahern (staff psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry at the Brigham and Women's Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Psychology (Psychiatry) at Harvard Medical School) have published extensively in the area of hypochondriasis and somatoform disorders. Dr. Barksy is one of the leading international authorities on the diagnosis and treatment of patients with hypochondriasis and other somatoform disorders. To participate in the Boston site treatment study of hypochondriasis and illness fears, please call 617-732-5969.
