Diversity and Inclusion Alliance

Our Staff

Staff

  • Patrice Malone, MD

    • Co-chair

    Patrice Malone, MD PhD Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center; Assistant Director, Columbia Division of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Clinical Director, Columbia Department of Psychiatry; and Director of the Dr. June Jackson Christmas Medical Student Program.  Dr. Malone received her PhD in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Michigan and medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her general psychiatry residency at Columbia University and her child and adolescent psychiatry training at the New York-Presbyterian Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Residency Training Program as a public psychiatry track fellow.  Dr. Malone founded and is the Director of the Dr. June Jackson Christmas Medical Student Program (JJC), which exposes medical students from historically underrepresented groups to the breadth of what a career in psychiatry has to offer in hopes that they too will become psychiatrists.  She is also co-chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Alliance committee and a faculty member of CopeColumbia where she leads the Bold Conversations for Healing and Reshaping Our Medical Center series.  Dr. Malone is a member of AACAPs Substance Use committee and treats young people suffering from substance use disorders at the Smithers Center as part of Columbia’s Faculty Practice Organization. 

  • Alexandra Canetti, MD

    • Co-chair

    Alexandra Canetti, MD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and a board-certified child and adolescent and adult psychiatrist with expertise in psychosomatic disorders, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and anxiety disorders. Her areas of interest include community psychiatry and culturally humble family-based care to children and youth with medical illnesses. She serves as the Program Medical Director of the Special Needs Clinic, where she treats the mental health needs of individuals and families affected by medical illness and is also the Director of Student Medical Education within the Columbia University Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.  

  • Laila Abdel-Salam, PhD

    Laila Abdel-Salam, PhD (she/her), is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist in the Faculty Practice at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Abdel-Salam specializes in psychotherapy for adults and emerging adults who have experienced trauma, mood disorders, and personality disorders. She also has had extensive training in multicultural and relational psychotherapy, which she implements with all her patients.

     

    Dr. Abdel-Salam believes that integrating various treatment approaches to best fit each individual's needs is essential. She is extensively trained in psychodynamic, relational, Dialectical Behavioral (DBT), and Cognitive Behavioral (DBT) treatment modalities. Dr. Abdel-Salam believes in the importance of exploring how past relationships and early experiences, including cultural factors and family dynamics, influence one's understanding – and subsequently reactions – of oneself and the world. She aims to work with individuals to obtain their most actualized and integrated sense of self.

     

    Dr. Abdel-Salam completed her master's and doctoral degree at Columbia University. She completed her predoctoral internship at Harvard Medical School, where she received focused psychodynamic and trauma training within the Victims of Violence (VoV) clinic co-founded by Dr. Judith Hermann. She completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Abdel-Salam has worked in various settings within New York, including college counseling centers, community centers, and outpatient and inpatient hospital settings.

  • Laurence Chan, PhD

    Laurence Chan, PhD, is a licensed psychologist located at Columbia Doctors Midtown. He serves on the faculty as an Instructor of Medical Psychology (In Psychiatry) and provides services for individuals with substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions. His clinical duties involve conducting diagnostic and substance use level of care assessments, maintaining an individual therapy caseload, facilitating substance abuse groups within the Columbia Co-occurring Recovery Program (CCRP), and the supervision of psychology externs. Dr. Chan received his doctorate in Counseling Psychology and certificate training in College Teaching at the University of Iowa. He completed his internship at the Atlanta VA Health Care System and his postdoctoral residency at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation.

  • Christine Dufresne, MSEd

    Christine Dufresne is passionate about increasing diversity and inclusion in the workplace.  She earned a Diversity and Inclusion certification from eCornell.  Along with being a member of DIA, Christine is one of the Columbia University Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Program Coordinators for Inclusion and leads the NYPH Pediatric Psychiatry Volunteer Practicum Program. Christine is a dual certified special education teacher with expertise in remedial reading instruction and educational advocacy.  She has a demonstrated history of working with students, schools, families and communities to provide a system of support for students who struggle academically as well as socially to become successful learners, leaders, or change agents themselves.

  • Elisabeth D. Huh, LMSW

  • Aaron Malark, PsyD

    Dr. Aaron Malark is a clinical psychologist who specializes in the intersections of gender, sexuality, and mental health. He is currently a psychologist at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology with the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry. Previously, Dr. Malark was the assistant clinical director of the Program for the Study of LGBT Health at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Dr. Malark leads the Gender, Sexuality, and Substance Use consult group at NewYork Presbyterian Hospital’s Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Department. Dr. Malark is also part of the leadership team of the psychology training program at NYP, where he supervises and coordinates the training of psychologists, focusing on training that addresses mental health disparities and the needs of underserved communities.  

  • Kareen M. Matouk, PhD

    Dr. Kareen Matouk is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and the Assistant Program Director at the Columbia Gender and Sexuality Program, where she also completed her postdoctoral fellowship. Prior to that, she received extensive training in LGBTQ+ and gender-affirming healthcare from various institutions, including NYU Child Study Center's Gender and Sexuality Service, Mount Sinai Adolescent Health Center, and the Ackerman Institute's Gender and Family Project. Dr. Matouk's clinical work includes comprehensive evaluations for gender dysphoria, individual and group therapy with children, adolescents, and adults, as well as support for families and parents of gender expansive folx. She is dedicated to providing consultation and trainings related to gender-affirming care across other departments and clinics. Dr. Matouk believes that integrating various treatment approaches and shaping her clinical practice to fit with the needs of each individual is fundamental. She values the importance of exploring how past relationships and experiences, as well as family dynamics and cultural factors, influence and shape one’s understanding of themselves and others. In this way, psychotherapy can help one evolve and deepen their sense of identity and establish an integrated and genuine sense of self as they move forward. Dr. Matouk has also been invested in understanding the intersectionality between culture, religion, sexuality, and gender, particularly for the Middle Eastern and North African queer communities. She can provide psychological services and support to Arabic-speaking clients and their families.

  • Megan Mroczkowski, MD

    Dr. Megan Mroczkowski is the Program Medical Director of the Pediatric Psychiatry Emergency Service at NewYork-Presbyterian/Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital. She is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and an Attending Psychiatrist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. Dr. Mroczkowski completed residency training in General Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and fellowship training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital of Columbia and Cornell Universities. She served as Chief Resident from 2012 to 2013. She completed fellowship training in Forensic Psychiatry at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. Dr. Mroczkowski is Board Certified in Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Forensic Psychiatry. She has served an expert witness in both Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry in Criminal Courts across the country. She has an interest in international mental health and has worked in South East Asia, Central and South America, and Africa. She was awarded the prestigious Barbara Ann Liskin Award in 2013.

  • Jared K. O’Garro-Moore, PhD

    Jared K. O’Garro-Moore, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry) at CUIMC. Dr. O’Garro-Moore specializes in the treatment of adults with mood and anxiety disorders as well as personality disorders. Integrating his advanced training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dr. O’Garro-Moore is able to tailor his treatment to fit each individual’s needs. He also serves as the Assistant Clinical Director of the Columbia Day Program, an intensive outpatient group psychotherapy program for adults struggling with a range of psychological issues. 

     

    Dr. O’Garro-Moore completed his undergraduate degree in Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This was followed by a Master’s degree and Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Temple University. His predoctoral psychology internship was at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center. There, he honed skills in the treatment of adults with trauma, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, as well as serious mental illnesses (Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, etc.). In graduate school, Dr. O’Garro-Moore’s research was focused on the process by which manic/hypomanic episodes initiate and remit; as well as the extent to which comorbid anxiety disorders effect the course of bipolar spectrum disorders. He has also been an author and co-author on several papers on the mechanisms that contribute to the onset of mood disorders, providing him with expertise in addressing issues related to depression and bipolar spectrum disorders.

  • Adriana Rego, MD

    Dr. Rego is an assistant professor of psychiatry in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and adjunct assistant professor at New York University (NYU) Child Study Center (CSC). She completed her general psychiatry residency training at Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She served as the inpatient chief resident in her fourth year and completed an administrative psychiatry fellowship/Senior chief year after that. She completed her child and adolescent specialization at the NYU CSC. While in the program she co-created an undergraduate course called Sex Matters: Identity, Behavior and Development for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies Minor at the College of Arts and Sciences at NYU which she continues to teach to this day. Dr. Rego is a graduate of the New York Psychoanalytic Society and Institute having trained in child, adolescent, and adult psychoanalysis. She previously worked at NYU’s Student Health Center. Her first role at Columbia/New York Presbyterian was in the child outpatient clinic, emergency room, consult services, and in the school based health center (SBHC) program for the department of pediatrics. Apart from her continued work in the SBHC she is also currently the medical director of the Columbia University Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders in Westchester and Midtown as well as the medical director of the Anxiety Day Program.  She currently serves on the Department of Psychiatry’s Diversity and Inclusion Alliance (DIA) Committee.