Melissa Nishawala, M.D.

Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Director, Tisch Young Adult Program
Clinical Director, Autism Spectrum Disorders Service
Clinical Director, Eating Disorders Service

I feel privileged to work in a place where we evaluate and treat children from the New York Metropolitan area and also from all over the country. A few come from as far away as England, Africa and Japan to receive the thorough and comprehensive evaluation that we provide at our Center of Excellence. As Clinical Director of both the Eating Disorders and the Autism Spectrum Disorders Services at the Child Study Center, I have the opportunity to supervise the Child Psychiatry Residents on evaluations as well as ongoing psychopharmacology and therapy cases. We also meet weekly in a small group for a psychopharmacology seminar in which the Residents present challenging cases and we review pertinent journal articles as well as faculty cases with relevant teaching points.

Each week a group of residents meets behind a mirror to observe one of their colleagues evaluate a child under my direct supervision. After the interview, a rich discussion ensues, and in addition to providing guidance and supervision to the residents, I find that I always learn something from them as well! The discussion continues in our weekly case conference in which the Resident receives input from all disciplines. As much as I enjoy working with children and their families, the favorite part of my job is training the residents—the brightest, most promising Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residents in the world.

Richard Oberfield, M.D.

Clinical Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Director Consultation/Liaison Service
Bellevue Hospital Center

The Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Unit at Bellevue Hospital is a very dynamic and diverse rotation for the first year fellows. The Unit encompasses both a traditional inpatient pediatric component, as well as a free-standing outpatient component attached to the Pediatric Clinic; the latter functions as an evaluation and short term treatment setting for children and adolescents with acute and chronic medical conditions. The Unit is staffed by a highly dedicated team of psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. Our primary teaching goal is to communicate the enthusiasm and interest which we have for our work to our trainees.

On the inpatient component, the patients referred have significant psychological issues related to surgical and medical procedures, accidents, trauma, and chronic pediatric illnesses. The outpatient component's location, a few steps from the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic, leads to ease of referral, and a rich and unusual ability to communicate with our pediatric colleagues. Informal "curbside" consultation is very common, in addition to the more formal referral to our staff for evaluation.

On a personal note, I had the good fortune of being trained at NYU-Bellevue in the time of great early pioneers in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, such as Stella Chess. One of the many gratifications of my job as Unit Chief of Pediatric Consultation-Liaison is the sense of "passing the torch" and the tradition of clinical curiosity and excellence of NYU-Bellevue to younger colleagues.

Mia Pappagallo, M.D.

Clinical Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Unit Chief, Child Psychiatric Inpatient Unit
Bellevue Hospital Center

Hello, I'm the Unit Chief on the Bellevue Hospital Child Inpatient Unit, 21 South; the first child inpatient psychiatric unit in the United States. After completing my general residency and child training here at NYU and spending a year in the child outpatient clinic, I was pleased to stay on and join a unit with such a long history of commitment to public service. We serve children aged 12 and under, using a multimodal team approach, and we are always eager to welcome trainees onto that team (which includes social workers, psychologists, nurses, psychiatry technicians and teachers from our on-site special education school, P811).

In addition to teaching trainees the "bread and butter" of inpatient psychiatry, including group therapy, cognitive-behavioral and play therapies, and medication management, we strive to underscore the individuality of each child and family. Our families come from a wide variety of cultural and economic backgrounds, and we are committed to helping trainees develop flexibility to meet the patients where they are and to tap into the strengths that are invariably present and unique to every child and family.

At the end of the day, working with children is often just plain fun, and I really believe that a sense of fun is a crucial part of working effectively with children and their families. I look forward to meeting you!

Andrew Roffman, LCSW

Clinical Instructor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Assistant Clinical Director, Family Studies Program

One of the most unique aspects of our training program is the extensive degree to which residents get exposed to and trained in working with families and couples. As a passionate advocate of family therapy and "systems thinking," I'm very excited to introduce the future leaders of the field of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to family therapy theory and practice. Since there is widespread agreement that families are the most significant psychological and emotional context for the child's development, growth and well-being, it is essential that psychiatrists are well-trained in family assessment and treatment. While individual psychopathology in the context of the family and family pathology are taught, our emphasis is on family resourcefulness, strength, and resilience, as these are the clinician's greatest allies in working with children and adolescents. Each year it is a privilege and pleasure to watch residents grasp the contextual, relational framework of family therapy, and to see how this both humanizes and makes more effective their work with children and families.

Eric D. Teitel, M.D.

Clinical Assistant Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Unit Chief, Adolescent Psychiatric Inpatient Unit
Bellevue Hospital Center

As Chief of the Adolescent Inpatient Unit at Bellevue, I have substantial contact with the medical students, psychiatry residents, and child and adolescent fellows who rotate through 21 West. Trainees are exposed to a representative cross-section of adolescent and family psychopathology and treatment. Being the first adolescent inpatient unit in the U.S., we have a long history of commitment to public service. Our dedication to fully serving our patients and families trumps other pressures that may be unavoidable in the private sector, allowing us to work with them in a truly multi-modal way to get them where they need to be clinically. We aim to optimize trainees' exposure to inpatient psychiatry through in vivo supervision as we work side-by-side, fostering autonomy for our fellows in managing their cases, and harnessing expertise available through multi-disciplinary treatment. One of the most enjoyable aspects of this work for me has been to emphasize and join with the healthy instincts and functioning that are present in every patient and family. Integrating fun into our daily routine is a challenge that brings multiple rewards—it helps to ease our patients' suffering, allows us to cope with the stress of the difficult work we do, and also promotes for trainees the learning process of working with people of all ages and backgrounds. I look forward to having you join us.