Staff

Under the leadership of Dr. Igor Galynker, M.D., Ph.D., The Family Center for Bipolar is a unique partnership of mental health professionals, support persons and patients who are deeply committed to providing the highest quality care to both patients diagnosed with bipolar illness and their loved ones. The multi-cultural and multi-lingual Family Center team of psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, nurses and volunteers works together to provide tailored interventions that fit the needs and values of our patients.

Igor Galynker, MD, PhD.,  Director

Dr. Galynker is Associate Chairman of Psychiatry, Chief of the Division of Psychiatric Brain Imaging, and Director of the Division of Biological Psychiatry at Beth Israel Medical Center. He specializes in Affective Disorders, including Major Depressive Disorders, Bipolar Mood Disorder, and Dysthymia.

Dr. Galynker was Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Psychiatry in 1993. He attended Medical School at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx where he is now a Professor of Clinical Psychiatry. His residency training in psychiatry was at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

Dr. Galynker is also the author of the richly acclaimed book Talking to Families About Mental Illness: What Clinicians Need to Know, as well as Choosing Right: A Psychiatrist's Guide To Starting A New Relationship

(212) 420-4535

Claire Bernard, MSW, Family Therapist

Claire Bernard is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker

who works as a psychotherapist at the Beth Israel Medical Center and in private practice. She holds a Masters Degree in Dance Therapy and Creativity Development from Pratt Institute and a Masters in Social Work from Adelphi University. She has also trained at the Ackerman Institute for Family Therapy.

She has 25 years experience working with various patients and their families, with emphasis on Mood Disorders, Trauma, Crisis Intervention and Geropsychiatry.

(212) 420-4446

Allison M. R. Lee, MD

Allison M. R. Lee, M.D. is an Attending Psychiatrist at the Family Center for Bipolar . She completed her psychiatry residency and was an ECRIP Research Fellow at Beth Israel Medical Center, and is currently a psychoanalytic candidate at the William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis, and Psychology. She studied Cognitive Science at Vassar College and graduated with Distinction in Psychiatry Research from Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

(212) 844-1884

Zimri Yaseen, MD

Zimri Yaseen, M.D. is a psychiatrist at the Family Center. Dr. Yaseen treats patients in the CUBSS program. Other special interests include Relational Psychotherapy and Hypnosis. He speaks Hebrew and Spanish. He completed his psychiatry residency and was an ECRIP Research Fellow at Beth Israel Medical Center, where he studied suicide and the interactions between attachment and depression. Dr. Yaseen is a graduate of the Sackler School of Medicine, and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Chicago where he majored in mathematics and philosophy.

212-420-3481

Gaiane Kazariants, Ph.D

Gaiane Kazariants, Ph. D. is a Clinical Psychologist who provides individual, couple, and group psychotherapy at the Family Center. As a relational psychotherapist she believes that the collaborative relationship between the therapist and the patient is the catalyst for positive psychological change such as increased emotional stability, relatedness, and life-satisfaction. Dr. Kazariants specializes in couple's therapy and runs the Practical Accelerated Couple's Therapy (PACT) program in the Family Center.

In addition, she also runs a weekly psychotherapy group, in which the Bipolar-spectrum patients work on their goals of emotional stability, interpersonal competence, and self-actualization. Dr. Kazariants is a graduate of the New School University here in New York City.

 212-844-1742 

Jena Bobish

Jena is the Program Coordinator at the Family Center for Bipolar. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Marymount Manhattan College.

(212) 420-2204

Deimante McClure

Deimante is a Research Coordinator currently working on several studies in the Family Center pertaining to the treatment of bipolar disorder. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania.

(212) 844-1742

Psychiatry Residents

Beth Israel Medical Center psychiatry residents are supervised by the staff of The Family Center for Bipolar. They provide both psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatment and support for patients with bipolar illness and their families.

 
Volunteers

Graduate and undergraduate volunteers at The Family Center for Bipolar assist with several ongoing research studies as well as administrative tasks of the Center.