Mount Sinai Recruits Charles H. Kellner, MD, Accomplished ECT Researcher, as New Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry
Charles H. Kellner, MD, a leader in electroconvulsive therapy research, joined The Mount Sinai Medical Center as Chief of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Director of the ECT Clinical Service.
Charles H. Kellner, MD, a national leader in Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) research, has joined The Mount Sinai Medical Center as Chief of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Director of the ECT Clinical Service. Among many other achievements, Dr. Kellner is the Co-Principal Investigator of a multi-site study of maintenance ECT for geriatric depression. Mount Sinai is one of two overall coordinating sites for this project, which was recently funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
For the past decade, Dr. Kellner has also led the collaborative ECT research group, Consortium for Research in ECT (CORE), in the performance of NIMH-sponsored multi-site research protocols. His work supports the use of ECT for geriatric patients with depression who have not had success with other treatments.
Having dedicated a great part of his career to the study of ECT, Dr. Kellner brings to Mount Sinai vast knowledge and experience in the treatment of severely depressed geriatric patients, said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. "As Chief of Geriatric Psychiatry, Dr. Kellner will also be the training director for the ACGME-approved Fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry."
Mount Sinai is a great venue for my strong interest in promoting research in Geriatric Psychiatry, said Dr. Kellner. "I look forward to building collaborations with the Department of Geriatrics and other departments at Mount Sinai to further the institution’s well-established reputation as a world renowned leader in research." Most recently, Dr. Kellner served as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the New Jersey Medical School and as Director of the ECT Service at University Hospital in Newark.
Dr. Kellner received his MD from Cornell University Medical College and did his internship at Los Angeles County Medical Center and his Psychiatry residency at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He completed a fellowship in Biological Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, Maryland, and was on the faculty of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston from 1984-2002, where he directed the ECT service.
Credited with more than 150 publications, mostly related to ECT and mood disorders, Dr. Kellner has also co-authored the APA (American Psychiatric Association) published text, Handbook of ECT. From 1994 to 2004, he was the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of ECT. He is a member of the APA Task Force on ECT, which is currently revising the APA’s recommendations on ECT.
About The Mount Sinai Medical Center
The Mount Sinai Medical Center encompasses The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The Mount Sinai Hospital is one of the nation’s oldest, largest and most-respected voluntary hospitals. Founded in 1852, Mount Sinai today is a 1,171-bed tertiary-care teaching facility that is internationally acclaimed for excellence in clinical care. Last year, nearly 50,000 people were treated at Mount Sinai as inpatients, and there were nearly 450,000 outpatient visits to the Medical Center.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine is internationally recognized as a leader in groundbreaking clinical and basic-science research, as well as having an innovative approach to medical education. With a faculty of more than 3,400 in 38 clinical and basic science departments and centers, Mount Sinai ranks among the top 20 medical schools in receipt of National Institute of Health (NIH) grants.
About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with 48,000 employees working across seven hospitals, more than 400 outpatient practices, more than 600 research and clinical labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advances health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time—discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.
Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 9,000 primary and specialty care physicians and 11 free-standing joint-venture centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida. Hospitals within the System are consistently ranked by Newsweek’s® “The World’s Best Smart Hospitals, Best in State Hospitals, World Best Hospitals and Best Specialty Hospitals” and by U.S. News & World Report's® “Best Hospitals” and “Best Children’s Hospitals.” The Mount Sinai Hospital is on the U.S. News & World Report® “Best Hospitals” Honor Roll for 2024-2025.
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