Nationally renowned psychiatrist Dr. Gary Small has joined Hackensack Meridian Health in the newly created position of behavioral health physician in chief, the health system announced Monday.
Small will oversee all professional and administrative activities within the behavioral health care transformation services at HMH, as well as serve as chair of psychiatry at Hackensack University Medical Center.
Small, known nationally and internationally for his public work in promoting the practice of psychiatry and innovative research on brain health and aging, has authored more than 500 scientific publications as well as the international best-seller “The Memory Bible.”
Small’s research has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, London Times, Washington Post, Time magazine and Newsweek. He has also appeared as a frequent expert on television, including NBC’s “The Today Show” and on CNN and PBS.
Small is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Jack Weinberg Award from the American Psychiatric Association and the Senior Investigator Award from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Scientific American magazine also named Small one of the world’s Top 50 innovators in science and technology in 2002.
Don Parker, president, behavioral health care transformation services and integrative medicine for HMH and president of the Hackensack Meridian Carrier Clinic, said Small is a superstar among behavioral health care professionals.
“His arrival further cements Hackensack Meridian as a leading provider of psychiatric care services in our metropolitan region and the nation,” he said.
Among his numerous duties within the network’s behavioral health services, Small will oversee educational programs and training, be responsible for clinical operations of the department, develop and expand research and academic programs, and develop and maintain quality initiatives. He will also lead Hackensack Meridian’s recruiting efforts for physicians within the behavioral health field.
Prior to joining Hackensack Meridian Health, Small was a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences and Parlow-Solomon professor on aging at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, director of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior and director of the UCLA Longevity Center.
Small started in his new position Nov. 1.
