Psychiatry Department chairman announces new leadership appointments

The Yale School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry is proud to announce new leadership appointments. The appointments, effective July 1, 2011, increase diversity on the Department’s Executive Committee, most notably by boosting the number of female members to five out of the total of ten.

Department Chairman Dr. John Krystal remarked, "The Department is fortunate to have such talented faculty to take on these crucial leadership roles. These individuals have proven track records of clinical, educational, and research innovation and their perspectives on the Executive Committee will be invaluable."

	Chief, Psychology Section Dr. Rajita Sinha: Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and Child Study and Director of the Yale Stress Center. Her research interests are clinical neurobiology of stress and relaxation, emotion dysregulation, and their effects on desire and drug craving and addictive behaviors, such as drinking, eating and drug use and related health outcomes.
	Assistant Chair for Education & Career Development Dr. Samuel Ball: Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Resident/Intern Substance Use Research Education (REINSURE) Training Program. His major research interests involve the evaluation of personality dimensions and disorders as important constructs for subtyping addicted individuals for the purpose of predicting treatment outcome and developing interventions.
	Assistant Chair for Clinical Research Dr. Stephanie O'Malley: Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Substance Abuse Research in Psychiatry. Her research interests include smoking cessation and the treatment of heavy drinking or alcohol dependence.
	Assistant Chair for Basic Research Dr. Marina Picciotto: Charles B. G. Murphy Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Neurobiology and of Pharmacology. Her research interests include neuroscience, molecular basis of behavior, intracellular signaling and mouse genetic models.
	Director of Clinical Training, Psychology Section Dr. Michael Hoge: Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Yale Behavioral Health. Dr. Hoge is a nationally recognized expert on training and education in behavioral health and specializes clinically in developing systems of care for persons with mental health and substance use conditions.