Recently, the Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the hospital was chosen as the next president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association. Jeffrey Lieberman is also the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and serves as director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute. During his career, Dr. Lieberman’s research has focused on the neurobiology, pharmacology and treatment of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders.

In his role as APA president, Dr. Lieberman will address urgent priorities in the field of psychiatry, including influencing health care legislation, increasing funding for psychiatric research and supporting graduate medical training.

“…Unless psychiatric services and mental health care are adequately supported, both the burden of suffering and the costs of untreated mental illness will continue to rise,” Dr. Lieberman said.

“So far the results have been very encouraging. A reduced need for emergency medical attention or hospitalization means more patients are getting the preventive and ongoing care they need,” said lead author J. Emilio Carrillo, M.D., who currently serves as vice president of community health at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

The hospital currently serves more than 60 percent of the 270,000 inhabitants of the Washington Heights and Inwood community, which is geographically bounded by the Hudson and Harlem Rivers. The New York-Presbyterian program is based around the hospital’s Ambulatory Care Network, which includes seven community health center practices and seven school-based centers in the area. It also connects residents with independent physicians and home health care providers in the community.

“The success of this program is a testament to the hospital’s longstanding commitment to the health of the communities we serve, as well as to an unprecedented collaboration between New York-Presbyterian, Columbia University, government agencies and community physicians and organizations,” said senior author Steven Corwin, M.D., the CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital.

Connie Milstein has served as a trustee to the New York –Presbyterian hospital since 2000. She also oversaw the creation of the hospital’s Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center. Milstein is a long-time supporter of medical research; she also serves on the Board of Directors of CURE (Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy) and was the 2010 Chairman of “Heart’s Delight,” an annual actuaion and fundraiser in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the American Heart Association.

One of the cutting-edge high-tech machines the Milstein Center will have at its service is the Zeego 3-Dimensional Circular X-ray device. The Zeego, of which the Milstein Center will have three of the country’s eleven in total, is capable of giving doctors an unprecedented view of the internal structure and functioning of their patients with none of the invasiveness of previous procedures to obtain similar information.

“The Milstein Heart Center will allow New York-Presbyterian to continue on its path of advancing new treatments, a road that saw this Hospital perform the first successful pediatric heart transplant operation, the country’s first robotically assisted open-heart procedure to be completed with a totally closed chest, and the country’s first robotically assisted, totally endoscopic coronary artery bypass surgery, along with many other breakthroughs in cardiovascular research and patient care,” says Dr. Craig R. Smith, surgeon-in-chief at the Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center.

The Milstein Family Heart Center, with the help of Connie Milstein, will lead the country into the future of excellent health care for healthier, more productive lives.

Connie Milstein represented the Milstein Family at the inaugural ceremony held on January 20th. Her family donated $50 million of the $260 million spent to create and appoint this amazing new facility.

Dr. Herbert Pardes, the CEO and president of the New York Presbyterian Hospital explained at the opening ceremony the importance of and hope for the new Milstein Family Heart Center:

“As we open the doors to the Vivian and Seymour Milstein Family Heart Center, we look at the future of heart care, with advanced inpatient and outpatient care, including new minimally invasive treatment options, available together under one roof. This building honors the longstanding vision and support of the Vivian and Seymour Milstein family and signals a unique hospital setting where heart patients have access to the very best care, delivered with compassion in a comfortable and family-friendly environment.”