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The Dave Nee Foundation is honored to have an Advisory Board consisting of esteemed mental health professionals to assist with our cause.
Dr. Stelwagon is a practicing clinical psychiatrist specializing in addiction psychiatry in New York City. As a diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, she is board certified in both general and addiction psychiatry. In addition to full time private practice, she is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at Weill Medical College of Cornell University and an Assistant Attending Psychiatrist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. As an addiction psychiatrist, her experience has included Medical Directorship of Exponents Drug Treatment Program, an outpatient chemical dependency treatment facility in Manhattan.
Dr. Stelwagon graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts from DePauw University, and received her medical degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She completed her internship and residency at the New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical College. Dr. Stelwagon then received her subspecialty training with a Fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry at New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Cornell Medical College.
Dr. Stelwagon is a member of the American Psychiatric Association, The New York State Psychiatric Association, and The American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry.
Dr. Duman is Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology and Director of the Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities at the Yale University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas Medical School in Neuropharmacology and joined the Yale faculty in 1988. He became tenured in 1997 and was named the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry in 2000. Dr. Duman has received several prestigious awards for his work on depression including the Anna-Monika Prize (2001), the Nola Maddox Falcone Prize (2002), the Janssen Prize for Research in Psychopharmacology (2003), a NIMH MERIT Award (2005), a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Award (2005), and the College of International Neuropsychopharmacology (CINP) Basic Research Award (2006). He is author of over 250 original articles, reviews and chapters and has given over 150 invited lectures.
Studies from Dr. Duman’s laboratory have contributed to the characterization of the molecular and cellular actions of antidepressants and stress, providing the basis for a neurotrophic hypothesis of depression. This hypothesis is based on work from Dr. Duman’s laboratory demonstrating that chronic antidepressant treatment increases the expression of neurotrophic factors, and increases the proliferation of new neurons in the adult brain. Up-regulation of these neurotrophic factors and neurogenesis counteract the atrophy and cell loss that is caused by stress and that is thought to underlie, in part, the pathophysiology of depression. Dr. Duman’s work has demonstrated that increased neurotrophic factor expression and neurogenesis contribute to the actions of antidepressant treatment. These findings represent ground-breaking advances in our understanding of the effects of antidepressants and provide a framework for the development of novel therapeutic agents.
Dr. Gomez is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and a second year candidate at the New York University’s Psychoanalytic Institute. She is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in General and in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Gomez has a deep background in studying Adolescent suicide stemming from her contact with hundreds of suicidal children, adolescents and young adults during her tenure as the Director of the Emergency Services for the Division of Child and Adolescence Psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City. Dr. Gomez has also participated in prominent research projects in this field such as the treatment of Adolescents Suicide Attempters (TASA) study.
Dr. Gomez graduated Cum Laude from Pedro H. Urena National University School of Medicine in the Dominican Republic. She completed her fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Columbia University’s St Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center where she became chief resident during her senior year.
Dr. Gomez is an active medical staff member and has admitting privileges at Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, CT, where she has a private practice.
Dr. O’Connor is the author of three books, Undoing Depression: What Therapy Doesn’t Teach You and Medication Can’t Give You, Active Treatment of Depression, and Undoing Perpetual Stress. For fourteen years he was executive director of the Northwest Center for Family Service and Mental Health, a private, non-profit mental health clinic serving Litchfield County, Connecticut, overseeing the work of twenty mental health professionals in treating almost a thousand patients per year. He is a practicing psychotherapist, with offices in Canaan, Connecticut, and New York City. He currently is working on his fourth book — about happiness.
Dr. O’Connor is a graduate of Trinity College in Hartford and received his MSW and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Afterwards, Dr. O’Connor performed his postgraduate work at the Institute for Psychoanalysis and the Family Institute. He has worked in a wide variety of settings, from inner-city clinics to wealthy suburbs.
Dr. O’Connor and his family live in Lakeville, Connecticut. He participates as a leader and a member in a free self-help group in Sharon, Connecticut, for victims of depression.
Dr. Stanger graduated from Dartmouth College and attended the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, where she received her M.D. Dr. Stanger performed her intern year at Yale-New Haven Hospital and her residency in adult psychiatry at the NY Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Dr. Stanger is a Clinical Psychiatrist and is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in Adult Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Stanger is also a member of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Stanger is currently in private practice on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.