POSTDOCTORAL TRAINING
- Residency in Preventive Medicine, 2003, Mount Sinai School of Medicine;

New York, NY
- Internship, 2001, Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry, Topeka, KS

EDUCATION
- Masters of Public Health, 2003, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; New York, NY
- MD, 2000, Baylor College of Medicine; Houston, TX
- B.A. Religious Studies, cum laude, 1994, Rice University; Houston, TX
Visiting scholar, 1992, Swarthmore College; Swarthmore, PA

LICENSURE AND BOARD CERTIFICATION
- District of Columbia Medical License, initially granted January 2007

- State of New York, License# 224430-1, initially granted April 2002
- American Board of Preventive Medicine, initially granted January 2004

AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
- Emotionally-based treatments to enhance mental, social, and physical well-being
- Treatments for groups and organizations at risk for burnout or secondary traumatic stress

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

- Founder and Medical Director, Greenleaf Integrative Strategies

9/2001 to present

A professional services firm providing expert consultancy in the following: Public Health Consultancy, Cross-Cultural Solutions, Work-Related Burnout Prevention, Mind-Body Workshops and Laughter Yoga Seminars.

 

- Private Practice, Center for Integrative Medicine; Washington, DC
4 /2007 to 2008

Practice included individual and group psychotherapy. An integrative health model that utilizes traditional psychotherapies, medical hypnosis, meditation training, and energy-based rehabilitation. Conditions treated include pain syndromes, depression, psychological trauma, and chronic illness.

 

- Faculty, Mount Sinai School of Medicine; New York, NY
7/2003 to present

My work includes medical student and resident training, academic lectures for the masters program, and facilitating a 40-hour training for domestic violence intervention and rape crisis counselors.

 

- Program Director of Preventive Medicine and Attending Physician in Family Medicine, Wyckoff Heights Medical Center; Brooklyn, NY

6/2004 to 3/2006

 

- Psycho-Social Consultant, Consumer Information and Dispute Resolution, Inc.; New York, NY

1/2004 to 1/2006

Consultant for Olive Leaf Wholeness Center, hired to deliver Integrative Medical Services (psychotherapy, pharmacotherapy, complementary treatments) to address the concerns of those living with catastrophic mental illness.

 

- Private Practice; New York, NY
7/2003 to 3/2006

My practice includes individual and group psychotherapy. It is an integrative health model that utilizes traditional psychotherapies, medical hypnosis, meditation training, and energy-based rehabilitation. Conditions treated include pain syndromes, depression, psychological trauma, and chronic illness.

- Resident in Preventive Medicine; New York, NY
7/2001 to 6/2003

I served as clinician, teacher, program designer, and public health specialist at Mt. Sinai School of Medicine. This involved working at both community-based organizations and the Mt. Sinai Hospital. At a community-based organization for South Asian immigrants in Queens, NY, I ran two 16-week long groups: Substance Abuse Treatment and Male Batterer Intervention Treatment. Treatment was conducted in four languages: English, Hindi, Urdu, & Gujarati. Upon completing the 40-hour experiential training with the Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program [SAVI], I regularly tookl night calls to counsel and advocate for survivors in eight NYC hospital emergency departments. I was a trainer in the Fall of 2003, and I am helping to select trainees in the Fall of 2004.

 

As a member of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, I have been liaison to their post-9/11 work with Muslim, Arab, and South Asian populations. I served as a community health educator at many town-hall meetings of New Yorkers feeling targeted by hate crimes. I was invited to provide technical assistance to Federal Emergency Management Agency-supported Project Liberty and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where I worked on a strategy statement for serving Muslim, Arab, and South Asian populations. Also with Project Liberty, I began a community intervention at the Islamic Elementary School in Brooklyn, helping to assess the nature of bias incidents and traumatic impact on Muslims in New York.

 

At Mt. Sinai, I have been a group therapist for people [most recently HIV+ Gay Men] suffering illness, bereavement, treatment-related problems. At the school-based clinic in the Julia Richman Complex (New York, NY), I have seen adolescents for minor complaints, sports physicals, and behavioral counseling [substance use, sexual habits].

 

Following severe civil violence in 2002 in Ahmedabad, India, I surveyed directors from humanitarian aid organizations in order to develop prevention services for humanitarian workers who were at risk for burnout and secondary traumatic stress. I wrote and submitted a project proposal in compliance with the Institutional Review Board regulations. While there I provided group psychotherapy, psychoeducation, training and capacity building for these populations. Extracting variables and using SPSS for a dataset, I conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses. I presented my conclusions to an academic panel, and I continue to be in contact with my patients and trainees in India. I am now pursuing publication of my findings for the benefit of future humanitarian aid workers’ mental health.

 

 

- Resident in Psychiatry; Topeka, KS
7/2000 to 6/2001

My professional development involved clinical treatment and administrative duties in the following: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Treatment, Substance Abuse Treatment, Geriatric Psychiatry, Emergency Psychiatry, Child Psychiatry, Individual Psychotherapy at a Juvenile Facility, Group Psychotherapy, Brief counseling, and Medical Hypnosis.

TEACHING ACTIVITIES
- Culture and Medicine class for Masters Public Health, lecturer, “The Cultural Dimension of Mental Health and its relation to Physical Health,” May 20, 2003
- Epidemiology and Biostatistics small group instructor, Spring 2002 trimester
- Family Medicine Clerkship small group instructor, October 2002

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
- Boardmember and Special Interest Group Chairperson for the Eastern Group Psychotherapy Society, May 2003 - present

PUBLICATIONS
- Manuscript: “Secondary Traumatic Stress: Prevalence for Humanitarian Aid Workers.”
- Contributor for: V. Bhushan, V. Pall, T. Le, V. Coric, L. Sanfilippo, ed. USMLE Steps 2 & 3 Clinical Vignettes for Psychiatry, 2nd edition, Blackwell Science, Inc. (Massachusetts) 2002.

ORAL PRESENTATIONS
- “Trauma Recovery among Relief Workers in India,” 10/24/02, Psychiatry Faculty Conference
- “Techniques to ease the Mind’s Conversation with the Body,” 3/27/03, Psychiatry Faculty Conference
- “Mind-Body-Spiritual Medicine,” 4/5/03, Network of Indian Professionals
- “Special Issues for South Asian survivors of Sexual Assault & Domestic Violence,” 5/21/03, OB/GYN Grand Rounds
- “Burnout among Medical Caregivers,” 1/6/04, Institute for Geriatric Care, (Salvador da Bahia, Brazil)

 

HONORS
- New York Times Company Foundation 9/11 Neediest Fund Award for conducting work with South Asian, Muslim, & Arab immigrant populations
- Menninger Clinic’s Scholarship in Psychiatry
- Psychotherapy Conference Scholarship from Institute of Religion

LANGUAGES
- Fluent in Hindi, Gujarati, Urdu. Basic use of Spanish and Portuguese.