As part of a system-wide initiative by RWJBarnabas to broaden its behavioral health services and end the stigma associated with Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT), RWJBarnabas Health said Monday it appointed Dr. Robert Greenberg as it’s new ECT medical director, effective immediately.
Greenberg will open an ECT service at Clara Maass Medical Center in Belleville, an RWJBarnabas Health facility, and evaluate the implementation of additional ECT services throughout the network.
RWJBarnabas said Greenberg would also collaborate with Dr. Jessica Israel, RWJBarnabas Health corporate chair of geriatrics and palliative care, as an expert in geriatric psychiatry at the Barnabas Health Ambulatory Care Center in Livingston. He will actively consult on complex cases with medical and neurological co-morbidity, such as movement disorders and cognitive disorders.
Greenberg
“We are dedicated to continuously enhance our Behavioral Health Network as a destination for those in need of our services. We welcome Dr. Greenberg who brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to build a strong ECT practice,” said Jennifer Velez, RWJBH executive vice president of community and behavioral health. “His expertise in ECT is a valuable addition to our Behavioral Health team, and he will help us to develop next-level patient care and treatments.”
During ECT, the brain receives a small electrical stimulation, resulting in a brief controlled seizure. Experts have determined that ECT is one of the most effective treatments for severe depression and certain other psychiatric and medical conditions when other treatments are not effective or when rapid improvement is essential.
“Dr. Greenberg is a physician who looks at the whole picture surrounding a patient with complex medical issues,” Israel said. “This is what Geriatric Medicine is all about.”
Greenberg is certified by Adult and Geriatric Boards of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is a member of the RWJBarnabas Health medical group. In addition to his role at RWJBarnabas Health, he is clinical professor of Psychiatry at the Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine.
He has been active in the field of Geriatric Psychiatry practice, research, teaching and training for more than 35 years and has developed and practiced in Geropsychiatry programs and ECT services at several large public and private hospitals.
Most recently, he served as director of the Memory Program and chief of geriatric psychiatry at NYU Langone Health, Brooklyn Campus, and the Psychiatry Consultation Service at NYU’s Augustana Center for Rehabilitation and Long-Term Care. He will continue in his role as clinical associate professor of Psychiatry at NYU School Medicine.
