STATE SESSION: Suicide Prevention (2025 AC Live)

I graduated from NYCOM in May 2000, followed by an Internship in Pediatrics then Psychiatry Residency at Yale University. Moving back to my NYC hometown, I worked in various hospitals, primarily on ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) teams. We served the most severely mentally ill in the community, doing home visits and assisting them to have the best quality of life. Throughout this teaching medical students, psychiatric residents and nurse practitioner trainees. I did this until August 2013 to move to Florida and start with Orlando VA the following month. While at the Orlando VA, I have worked in small Community-Based Outpatient Clinics, larger Outpatient facilities, on behavioral health Interdisciplinary teams, the Domiciliary as well as covering mental health triage and the Inpatient psychiatric units at the main hospital while chairing the Mental Health Performance Improvement Committee. Along with this I have taught Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Internal Medicine Primary Care track residents at AdventHealth Winter Park Hospital, eventually becoming Orlando VA Psychiatry Rotation Director for that facility. Given my experience with non-psychiatric residents, I later ran elective for Podiatry Residents as well as volunteering for many didactic lectures to Psychiatry Residents and numerous facility-wide Mental Health Grand Rounds. These led to accepted invitations for Orlando VA Nursing Grand Rounds as well as a CME lecture for NASW-Lake County Social Workers on suicide. To further support residency education, I have done numerous presentations for our monthly GME faculty meetings and implemented a Wellness Program for incoming psychiatric residents which included chaplaincy, Ombudsman and Orlando VA Whole Health programs. I have taught medical students and psychiatric residents my entire time at Orlando VA and continue to remain active with them and the residency program in my retirement.