Bios and Presentations

Sally Reyering, MD

Sally Reyering, M.D., currently works at the Massachusetts (MA) Department of Mental Health (DMH) as special assistant to the State Medical Director where she is currently chairing health and wellness initiatives for the department in the areas of smoking cessation, nutrition, and exercise. Efforts have included developing and improving upon resources for the treatment of nicotine addiction and ongoing efforts to improve the activity levels and nutritional status of clients. She has served on numerous MA statewide initiatives, committees and boards to further work on mental health research, nutrition, cardiovascular health, diabetes, substance abuse, medical error reduction, disaster preparedness, and substance abuse epidemiology. She led the statewide rollout of Medicare Part D for DMH. Dr. Reyering has spent most of her career in public sector psychiatry, working for the Department of Mental Health for 20 years, including residency at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center. In addition to her work with DMH, she was a clinical instructor for the Harvard Medical School for many years doing psychotherapy supervision and psychopharmacology didactic teaching to Mass Mental Health Center and Harvard Longwood Psychiatry Residents. She also worked as a psychopharmacologist in the Brigham and Women’s Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic and continues psychopharmacology endeavors on the DMH Psychopharmacology Expert Work Group.

DMH: Healthy Change Initiative

Douglas Ziedonis, MD, MPH

Douglas M. Ziedonis, MD, MPH, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the UMass Chan Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Ziedonis is an internationally recognized leader in co-occurring mental illness and addiction, in particular tobacco dependence. He is a leader in promoting wellness - especially in mental health and addiction treatment settings. He is co-author of the Learning about Healthy Living manual that includes addressing nutrition, exercise, smoking cessation, spiritual approaches, and stress management. His research includes a focus on integrating wellness interventions into traditional psychiatric treatment, including complementary and alternative approaches.

Dr. Ziedonis has served as an advisor to President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and serves as a Senior Fellow for SAMHSA’s Co-Occurring Disorders Center for Excellence and the TIPS on Co-Occurring Disorders. He also serves on the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Committee on Gulf War and Health: Smoking Cessation in Military and Veteran Populations. Most recently, Dr. Ziedonis was invited to join the Massachusetts Oxycontin and Heroin Treatment Commission. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants from the NIMH, NIDA, CSAT, and other agencies, including grants on Addressing Tobacco through Organizational Change, Motivational Enhancement Therapy for multiple problems, Dual Recovery Therapy, and Smoking Cessation Treatments. He has written over 100 peer-reviewed and other publications and co-edited three books and over 5 behavioral therapy manuals for co-occurring disorders. He serves on the Editorial Board of The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse and The Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery.

UMass Chan: Wellness Is Where It’s At

Katherine Fong, MD

Dr. Katherine Fong is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at UMass Chan Medical School.  She is also the Director of Primary Care Medicine at Westborough State Hospital and Board-certified in Internal Medicine and Geriatrics.  Her primary academic interests are in geriatrics and women's health.  Katherine has been taking care of indigenous patients in the public sector setting (including state hospital, VA's and a correctional facility) for over 25 years.

Physicians - Medical Comorbidities & Psychotropic Medication
Non-Physicians - Medical Comorbidities & Psychotropic Medication

Jay Broadhurst, MD

James B. Broadhurst is a graduate of Williams College, and received his M.D. and M.H.A. from the Medical College of Virginia. He is currently assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, UMass Chan Medical School. Jay is a Diplomate of the American Board of Family Practice with Added Qualifications in Sports Medicine. For our purposes today it is worth noting that Jay is chair of the Public Health Committee, Worcester District Medical Society and serves on the Aid to Impaired Medical Students (AIMS) Committee at UMass Chan. Relevant courses he teaches at UMass Chan include: Physician, Patient and Society; Community Medicine; Substance Abuse; and Interclerkships in Substance Abuse/Pain Management, Domestic Violence, Health Policy, Oral Health and Disabilities.

Maintenance of Health: Check-In and Check-Up

Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia, MD

Suzanne Vogel-Scibilia describes herself as living well with psychotic bipolar disorder. She is a current board member for AACP and CHADD. She was a past board member and president of NAMI and she publishes in the area of recovery. Suzanne is a family member and provider - she founded and practices psychiatry at Beaver County Psychiatry Services in Beaver County, PA.

Addressing the Care Disparities of Living Well with Severe Mental Illness

Sheldon Benjamin, MD

Dr. Benjamin has specialized in clinical neuropsychiatry for nearly 25 years, most of that time at UMass Chan Medical School, where he directs the Neuropsychiatry clinical and training programs, and serves as director of Psychiatric Education and Training, director of the General Psychiatry Residency, co-director of the Integrated Neuropsychiatry Residency, and director of the Clinical Neuropsychiatry Fellowship program. He has been director of the Westborough State Hospital Neuropsychiatry Clinic since establishing it in 1987 and has been a neuropsychiatric consultant to the Psychiatric Treatment Center at UMass since its inception. He has published widely in the areas of neuropsychiatry and psychiatric education. He has lectured widely on neuropsychiatric topics including traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, movement disorders, neuroimaging and neuropsychiatric assessment.

A Users Guide to the Frontal Lobes & Why They in Rehabilitation

Marie Hobart, MD

Dr. Hobart is chief medical officer for Community Healthlink in Worcester, and assistant professor of psychiatry at the UMass Chan Medical School. She has been working in Community Mental Health her entire professional career, and has been the attending physician for the Fitchburg, Leominster, and Worcester Program for Assertive Community Treatment team for the past five years. Her special interest is health and wellness for those with serious mental illness and addiction, and she is the co-chair of the Wellness Academic Interest Group for the UMass Department of Psychiatry.

She received her medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine in 1985, and completed psychiatric residency training at the Massachusetts General Hospital in 1989.