Welcome New Board Members, and Congratulations!

It’s a pleasure to welcome two new members to the Editorial Board of Psychiatric Times; to congratulate our editor in chief James L. Knoll IV, MD, on his promotion; and to introduce members of our new Reader Advisory Board to our readers.

First the new Board members. It’s an honor to welcome Drs Michael Thase and Philip Muskin, who join the other esteemed members of our Board. A brief synopsis of their long and distinguished careers follows.

Michael Thase, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Mood and Anxiety Disorders at the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr Thase earned his MD at the Ohio State University College of Medicine, did his postgraduate training at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, and is board-certified in general adult psychiatry. His first academic appointment was at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he spent almost 30 years, ultimately serving as Chief of Adult Academic Psychiatry. Dr Thase moved to U Penn in 2007. Along the way, he has received numerous honors and has published more than 400 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the APA, a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, and a member of both the Board of Directors of the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology and the Scientific Advisory Board of the National Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. Elected to the membership of the American College of Psychiatrists and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, Dr Thase’s research focuses on the assessment and treatment of mood disorders, including studies of the differential therapeutics of both depression and bipolar affective disorder.

Philip Muskin, MD, is Chief of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry at the Columbia University Medical Center of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital. He is also Professor of Psychiatry and a faculty member of the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center for Training and Research. Dr Muskin earned his MD from New York Medical College and completed his residency at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Among his many research interests: mood disorders, AIDS, panic disorder, medical presentations of psychiatric disorders, physician-assisted suicide, decisional capacity, and the role of religion in patients’ decisions regarding do-not-resuscitate status. Dr Muskin is the editor of several books-most recently, The Neuropsychiatry of Headaches-and editor of the soon to be published DSM-5 Self-Exam Questions: Test Questions for the Diagnostic Criteria and the Study Guide to the American Psychiatric Press Textbook of Psychiatry 6th edition. The recipient of numerous academic awards, including Outstanding Teacher of the Year, Dr Muskin is a distinguished life fellow of the APA and of the Association for Academic Psychiatry. He is the current Chair of the Scientific Program Committee for the APA’s 2014 annual meeting.

And it’s my pleasure to share the news that Psychiatric Times’ editor in chief,James Knoll IV, MD, has been promoted to full Professor at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse. Dr Knoll serves as Director of Forensic Psychiatry and Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship. He is a frequently called on forensic expert across the country and has developed one of the top three forensic fellowships in the US. Congratulations, Dr Knoll!

And finally, I’d like to introduce our panel of reader advisors who have volunteered to give us their perspective from the “trenches” about the key challenges psychiatrists face in daily practice. We’ve invited members of this group to give us feedback about what they do-and don’t-want to see in these pages and on our Web site. The advisors, whose names and brief bios now appear here, are Majd Alsamman, MD, Timothy D. Brewerton, MD, Marc Capobianco, MD, DFAPA, Frank Del Real, MD, Leia Gill, MD, Farrel I. Klein, MD, David Lehman, MD, Aaron V. Riley, MD, Nancy P. Schell, MD, and Michael A. Silver, MD, MEd.

Our Editorial Board members aren’t just figureheads with impressive résumés. Each plays a key role in guiding the editorial direction of Psychiatric Times. Members suggest topics, they serve as peer reviewers, and they give us their frank and unblinking appraisal of the contents of each and every issue. Their goal-like ours-is to make sure that every issue and every article we publish on www.PsychiatricTimes.com provides you with timely, engaging, authoritative-and useful-information. We hope you like what you’ve been reading.