Division of Psychiatry & Medicine

About the Program

Patients with medical and surgical illnesses frequently develop neuropsychiatric complications in addition to new issues related to their pre-existing psychiatric disorders. The Division of Psychiatry & Medicine sees approximately 9% of the 43,000 patients admitted to the Massachusetts General Hospital each year, making it one of the busiest consultation services in the hospital.

Providing Expert Care

Our specialized psychiatrists and psychologists are equipped to diagnose and treat patients with a wide variety of medical problems. Our clinical team provides many differing services, including:

• Providing expert diagnostic interventions and care to medical patients throughout the hospital
• Medication management in the hospital setting- we have pioneered the use of a variety of medications with medically ill patients
• Helping patients adjust to modern medical technology
• Treating the anxiety often associated with illness and serious medical issues
• Our clinicians face a wide array of medical psychiatry challenges each day and provide guidance and care based on their expertise and experience.

Consultation Services

The Division of Psychiatry & Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital provides specialized care for various types of patients through our variety of consultation services.

Avery Weisman Psychiatric Consultation Service & Resident Psychiatry Consultation Service

The Avery Weisman Psychiatric Consultation Service and the Resident Psychiatry Consultation Service trains residents from the Mass General/McLean Psychiatry Residency in four-month, half-time rotations during their PGY III year. A chief resident is chosen from the fourth year to serve on the consultation team. Our attendings conduct consultations in every part of the hospital with residents to provide state-of-the-art medical psychiatric care.

In addition, the Fellows Consultation Service educates three PGY V graduate psychiatrists each year. They receive a graduate school level course in clinical neuroscience along with intensive clinical training. Graduates of the fellowship have gone on to become leaders in medical psychiatry.

Psychiatric Consultation Service

Felicia A. Smith, MD, Director
Theodore Stern MD, Director Emeritus

Scott Beach, MD
Christopher Celano, MD
Ana Ivkovic, MD
Nicholas Kontos, MD
Kavitha Kolappa, MD
Nadia Quijije, MD
Carlos Fernandez-Robles, MD
John Taylor, MD, MBA

Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship

Nicholas Kontos, MD, Director
John Taylor, MD, Co-Director
Gabrielle Chavez, Fellowship Coordinator 

Burn Consultation Service

The Burn Consultation Service has both child and adolescent and adult components. We work closely with the psychiatry program at the renowned Shriner’s Hospital for Children burn care program and the Burn, Acute and Critical Care Program at Mass General. The Burn Consultation Service is an important buffer against staff burnout. This service continues the tradition of the Mass General psychiatrists who cared for the burn victims of the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire. We provide state-of-the-art care for burn victims.

Shriners Child Burn Hospital Consultation Service
Attila Ceranoglu, MD, Director

Adult Burn Psychiatry Consultation Service
Nadia Quijije, MD, Director
Sean Glass, MD

Cardiovascular Health Service

The Cardiovascular Health Service is staffed by psychiatrists with expertise in cardiac psychiatry. This service has developed an integrated program of behavioral health, which has benefited patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation at Mass General. This is especially important since mood disturbance can contribute to and exacerbate cardiac disease.

John Purcell, MD, Director 

Cox Psycho-Oncology Service

The Cox Psycho-Oncology Service is a leader in the area of depression and cancer. Our clinicians work closely with the Mass General Cancer Center's Breast Cancer Treatment Program, the Prostate Cancer Treatment Program, the Center for Gynecologic Oncology and the Neuro-Oncology (Brain Tumor) Treatment Program. These devoted psychiatrists work closely with patients and families who often are facing the loss experiences brought about by cancer.

Joseph Greer, PhD, Program Director
Donna Greenberg, MD, Education Director
Carlos Fernandez-Robles, MD, Medical Director

Annah Abrams, MD, Pediatric Hematology-Oncology
April Hirschberg, MD
Kelly Irwin, MD
Guy Maytal, MD

Infectious Disease Consultation Service

The Infectious Disease Consultation Service provides evaluation and treatment services to patients seen in the Infectious Disease Clinic, many of whom are diagnosed with HIV-AIDS.

Felicia A. Smith, MD, Director

Pain Consultation Service

Gregory Acampora, MD, Director 

Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Service

These psychiatrists in the Pediatric Consultation-Liaison Service are skilled in helping young people meet the developmental challenges of illness. Among the many worthwhile initiatives of the team, there is the innovative Parenting at a Challenging Time (PACT) program, begun by Paula Rauch, MD. This Mass General Cancer Center Program provides parent guidance consultations to adults with cancer who seek assistance in helping their children cope with parental illness.

Eric Hazen, MD, Director
Elizabeth Pinsky, MD, Associate director

Annah Abrams, MD
Paula Rauch, MD
Lawrence Selter, MD

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Behavioral & Mental Health Service

The Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital Behavioral and Mental Health Service has an experienced, dedicated staff of psychiatrists, psychologists and neuropsychologists. These clinicians specialize in the diagnosis and management of the emotional, cognitive and behavioral problems of patients requiring rehabilitation from illness and injuries.

Spaulding Charlestown:
Donna DiGioia, MD, Clinical director

Christopher Carter, PhD
Richard Goldberg, PhD
Nasser Karamouz, MD
Eric Leskowitz, MD, Spaulding Outpatient Center Medford
John Levine, MD, PhD, Pediatric Rehabilitation Unit

Spaulding Cambridge:
Olivia Zurek, MD
Jake Holzer, MD 

Transplant Consultation Service

The Transplant Consultation Service is comprised of several seasoned psychiatrists working on organ-specific teams. The service includes teams focused on working with recipients and donors of kidney, lung, heart and adult liver transplants. These transplant psychiatrists make essential contributions to both the transplant teams they serve and to the patients and families they treat.

Ana Ivkovic, MD, Director and Adult Liver, Kidney, Hand specialist

Laura Prager, MD, Lung
John Purcell, MD, Cardiac
Steven Schlozman, MD, Pediatric Liver, Kidney

Trauma Consult-Liaison Service

The Trauma Consult-Liaison Service is involved in rounds with the multidisciplinary trauma team in the Emergency Medicine Department.

Nadia Quijije, MD, Director

Our Research

Research Team

Jeff Huffman, MD, Research Director
Scott Beach, MD
Christopher Celano, MD

Current Projects

The Division of Psychiatry & Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital conducts a wide array of research projects. Our research portfolio includes the projected listed below.

Mental Health and Cancer

• The potential benefits of psychostimulant medication as a substitute for patients undergoing anti-androgen treatment for prostate cancer
• Pessimism and attributional styles in prostate cancer
• Psychosocial care in the context of genetic testing for cancer susceptibility
• The strategies parents dying from cancer might use to reduce the suffering of their young children, investigated through the surveys with young adults who experienced early parental loss

Stress Disorders in Burn Patients

• Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in burn patients
• The study of stress in 1-4-year-olds with burns
• The development of the child stress disorders checklist for use in burned children
• The use of morphine to protect against the emergence of PTSD in burn patients

Cardiac and Vascular Health

• The impact of mood disorders on cardiac health
• The relationship between cerebral vascular disease and depression in patients undergoing hemodialysis versus chronic ambulatory peritoneal dialysis, in collaboration with researchers in Japan

Mental Health in the Primary Care Setting

• The use of depression screening by primary care doctors

Brain Function

• The effects of cognitive rehabilitation on regional brain function in traumatic brain injury
• The effects of motor training on regional brain function in stroke
• The utility of palmtop electronic devices for enhancing treatment compliance and outcome in patients with brain injuries

Other

• PTSD in rehabilitation patients facing amputation
• The mental health consequences of liver transplant donation, in collaboration with researchers in Japan
• Nitric oxide and the physiology of the placebo effect