I am the Associate Director of Behavioral Sciences at Crozer-Keystone Family Practice Residency Program -- which is a fancy way of saying that I help teach the residents the behavioral aspects of family practice. This includes two general areas -- increasing proficiency in diagnosing and treating mental health disorders; and helping the residents assist patients in making lifestyle changes which will impact their health, e.g., weight loss, smoking cessation. There are several means by which I attempt to convey these skills -- through precepting, presenting lectures and workshops, meeting each resident for a half-hour, case-focused tutorial each week, and collaborating together on cases (either coordinating our respective therapies or co-counseling).

I'm a clinical psychologist and family therapist by training. My clinical specialties include helping families adjust to traumatic and chronic illness, working with the neurologically impaired, as well as general individual, couples and family therapy. In addition to fulfilling my teaching duties, I do approximately eight hours of psychotherapy a week at The Center for Family Health (often treating those patients whom the residents have referred to me), and also work as a consultant at a subacute rehab unit and a senior partial psychiatric hospitalization program housed elsewhere in the Crozer-Keystone system. Prior to working in family medicine, I worked for many years in physical medicine rehab -- thus my interest in families and medical crisis. Prior to that, in the dark ages before graduate school, I was a magazine journalist and editor (for, among other publications, The Village Voice). I am always seeking to combine my psychology and writing interests. Currently I am working on a book for Basic Books on couples and illness. I am also on the Advisory Editorial Board of The Journal of Families, Systems & Health, for which I write a narrative column.

I went to college at Brown University ('80) and received my doctorate in clinical psychology from Hahnemann University ('90). I'm married to Julie Mayer, a psychologist, and have two young children, Monica (born in 1992) and Aaron (born in 1995). I have great empathy for those residents who also have young kids. The balancing act between career and family is excruciating.

I used to play basketball avidly and am still a rabid fan. I have eschewed my concrete-jungle New York City upbringing to become a lover of hiking and bird watching. Once upon a time, I was deeply into rock ‘n’ roll. Ask me anything about the late-’70s new wave scene.