As a resident of Mather Hospital, you will have the distinction of working with, and being mentored by, a remarkable group of board-certified physicians. Our faculty includes nationally recognized clinicians and researchers, with vast levels of experience teaching and guiding students in their journey to becoming a licensed physician. All of our faculty are board certified, some in in multiple specialties, bringing a well-rounded knowledge to each rotation they supervise. The physicians listed below are considered the core faculty of the residency program.
Jenna Taglienti, MD serves as the Program Director of the Psychiatry Residency at Mather Hospital, Northwell Health. A proud graduate of the University at Buffalo, she earned her M.D. in 2008. She completed her residency at Stony Brook Hospital in 2012, where she distinguished herself as Chief Resident. Following her residency, Dr. Taglienti worked in CPEP and at the outpatient site. She also served as Associate Program Director at Stony Brook from 2014 to 2016, honing her leadership skills and commitment to resident education. Since joining Mather Hospital in 2016, Dr. Taglienti has held key roles as Associate Program Director and Medical Director of the Outpatient Mental Health Clinic before transitioning to her current position as Program Director in August 2019. She is passionate about fostering wellness among residents and has implemented numerous initiatives, including optional anonymous wellness checks through the Employee Assistance Program, the promotion of wellness resources and encouraging the utilization of wellness days. Northwell Health provides several confidential avenues which are widely publicized to the residents so that they can choose to seek out mental health treatment. Currently, Dr. Taglienti is focused on revamping the residency curriculum to incorporate elective opportunities early in the training, allowing residents to explore diverse career paths within psychiatry. Her commitment to education and mentorship has been recognized through multiple “Educator of the Year” awards, and she was a nominee for the Northwell Health Truly Award in 2023. In addition to her administrative and teaching roles, Dr. Taglienti is actively engaged in scholarly activities, with a particular interest in understanding the values and learning styles of Generation Z in the medical field. Through her leadership, she strives to create an enriching, supportive, and innovative environment for the next generation of psychiatrists.
Erin Dainer, MD serves as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Mather Hospital Northwell. Prior to joining Mather Hospital Dr. Dainer served as Regional Medical Director of Mental Health for Teladoc Health with the mission to integrate psychiatry in all aspects of medicine and to provide services to all regardless of their geographical locations. Prior to her employment at Teladoc Health, she directed the Adult Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic, Telepsychiatry, and Integration at Stony Brook University Hospital. While serving at Stony Brook she expanded ambulatory services from one outpatient clinic to three, and conceived and implemented its Telepsychiatry program. She further expanded psychiatric and behavioral health integration services to encompass adult primary care clinics as well as subspecialty and pediatric clinics. Within the Family Medicine clinics, she implemented collaborative care services.
Dr. Dainer earned her Bachelor of Sciences degree in Biology with highest honors from Georgia Institute of Technology and her MD from the Medical College of Georgia. She trained in Internal Medicine and Psychiatry at Tulane University, which led to board certification in both specialties.
As Department Chair of Psychiatry at Mather Hospital, Dr. Dainer will have oversight of psychiatric services and will identify and develop new clinical programming to enhance access and utilization of high-quality psychiatric care.
Joanna Stanczak, MD is the Associate Program Director of the Psychiatry Residency Program, where she combines her passion for education with her clinical expertise as an outpatient clinic psychiatrist. She completed her residency at the Zucker School of Medicine at Northwell Health, where she distinguished herself as Chief Resident from 2021 to 2022. Her commitment to education and mentorship during this time earned her the prestigious Northwell Teacher Associate in Psychiatry award.
Following her residency, Dr. Stanczak worked for two years in a hybrid model as both an inpatient adult psychiatric attending and an outpatient psychiatric attending, which has provided her with a comprehensive understanding of diverse patient needs and care settings.
A strong advocate for resident wellness, Dr. Stanczak served as Co-chair of the Wellness Committee from 2020 to 2022 and has been an active member of the Promoting Physician Excellence Committee at Mather Hospital since 2021. Her dedication to patient care has been recognized through multiple Service Excellence Awards, nominated by patients who value her compassionate approach. In 2023, she was honored with a nomination for the Truly Award, which celebrates Northwell Health physicians who exemplify the organization’s core values of compassion, teamwork, and innovation.
As Associate Program Director, Dr. Stanczak is dedicated to training residents in integrating medical knowledge with therapeutic interventions, promoting a holistic approach to patient care. She graduated from the American University of Antigua School of Medicine and is an alumna of Stony Brook University.
Outside her professional commitments, Dr. Stanczak enjoys a variety of activities, including tennis, travel, Zumba, floral design, and cooking. She treasures spending quality time with her friends and family, further enriching her life and work.
Jessica Cosgrove, DO is an Associate Program Director for the Psychiatry Residency Program at Mather Hospital. Prior to this role, she served as Physician-in-Charge of Zucker Hillside’s Perinatal Psychiatry Center, where she was dedicated to ensuring the delivery of evidence-based care to pregnant and postpartum patients. In this capacity, Dr. Cosgrove led multidisciplinary education programs, coordinated journal clubs, and provided clinical supervision to medical students, residents, and fellows. She also played an instrumental role as Faculty Lead for the residency’s reproductive psychiatry curriculum, resident advisor, and a member of the residency program selection committee. Previous to this, she served as an attending psychiatrist on Zucker Hillside’s Women and Perinatal Unit, where she worked with a multidisciplinary team to provide DBT-informed psychiatric care.
Dr. Cosgrove attended medical school at Touro University California and completed her adult psychiatry residency with a focus on perinatal psychiatry at Northwell Zucker Hillside Hospital. During her residency she was distinguished as Chief Resident of Inpatient Services and received the Charlotte Marker Zitrin, MD best paper award for her project “Creating Online Medical Education Resources for the Diagnosis and Treatment of Perinatal Mood and Anxiety Disorders” which focused on the creation of online resources to further education of reproductive psychiatry.
Dr. Cosgrove is passionate about medical education and is dedicated to teaching and mentoring medical students and psychiatry trainees. She has presented nationally on perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and is an active member of the Katz Institute of Women’s Health. Her clinical interests include integrative reproductive psychiatry, psychotherapy, and the management of borderline personality disorder.
Hammad Mohsin, MD is a core faculty member of the Psychiatry Residency Program and is a Medical Director at Chemical Dependency Clinic. He is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at NYU Langone health. A graduate from Nishtar Medical College, Multan, Pakistan, he completed his Psychiatry residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx Lebanon, where he also served as Chief Resident for the academic year 2013-2014. He also completed two Fellowships in Addiction Psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Medical Center and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy, New York Medical College. He is double board certified in adult and Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Mohsin previously worked as an Assistant Professor and Medical Director at Montefiore Medical Center, Chemical Dependency program. His areas of interest and expertise is working with patients with substance use disorder and comorbid behavioral problems.
Andrea Carr, MD,MS is the Medical Director of Ambulatory Psychiatry and core faculty member of the Psychiatry Residency Program at Mather Hospital. She is also an Assistant Professor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra / Northwell. Dr. Carr earned her Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Molecular Biology from the University of Central Florida and completed an accelerated master’s program in Biomedical Sciences with honors at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She received her medical degree from St. George’s University School of Medicine and is a graduate of Mather Hospital’s Psychiatry Residency Program’s inaugural class. Prior to rejoining Mather, Dr. Carr was a staff psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai South Nassau Hospital. She is board-certified in Adult Psychiatry. In her personal time, Dr. Carr enjoys football, traveling, reading, and spending quality time with family and friends.
Saad Khan, DO serves as a Tele Psychiatry Attending for the Mather Hospital Northwell Health Psychiatry Residency Program. Born and raised in Smithtown, New York, Dr. Khan is a native Long Islander, who joined the department in November 2020. He completed his medical education at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California. He then went on to complete his General Psychiatry Residency at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts, where he served as the Administrative Chief Resident during the 2016-2017 academic year. After completing his residency, Dr. Khan went on to complete his fellowship training in Consultation & Liaison Psychiatry at NYU Langone in 2018. He is board certified in both General Adult Psychiatry and Consultation & Liaison Psychiatry. He has previously worked for other health systems and served as a faculty member at the rank of Assistant Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Baylor College of Medicine, and Texas A&M College of Medicine teaching medical students and training Psychiatry residents and fellows.
.
George Lasker, MD, PhD is a core faculty member of the Psychiatry Residency Program and an inpatient attending at Mather Hospital. A graduate from the Georgia Institute of Technology, he received the John H Ridley award for achievement in science during his undergraduate studies. He was a recipient of the Physician Scientist Program Scholarship at the Tulane University School of Medicine where he completed his MD as well as a PhD in pharmacology. Following medical school, Dr. Lasker attended Johns Hopkins Hospital for completion of his psychiatry residency in Baltimore, Maryland. He is board certified in Adult Psychiatry. He is active in the area of publication surrounding pharmacology, neurology and psychiatry with over 30 peer reviewed papers. His areas of interest involve teaching, utilization of new pharmacologic agents and novel modalities for treatment resistant depression.
.
Soha Salman, DO serves as the Director of the Inpatient Psychiatric Unit and is a core faculty member of the Psychiatry Residency Program at Mather Hospital. She completed her bachelor’s in psychology from Hofstra University and went on to complete medical school at New York College of Osteopathic Medicine. She completed her Psychiatry Residency at Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where she served as Chief Resident in her final year and won the Joseph Miller Leadership Award. She is Board Certified in Adult Psychiatry. As director of the inpatient unit, Dr. Salman works towards enhancing the Psychiatry Unit for the hospital. Her interests include spending time with her family, and her cat, Noni.
.
Mohamed Ahmed, MD serves as an outpatient psychiatrist and core faculty member in the Mather Hospital Psychiatry Residency Program. Originally from Sudan and raised in Northern Virginia, he attended medical school at the American University of the Caribbean and completed his residency at the University of Virginia. Dr. Ahmed initially explored careers in engineering before realizing his true calling was in medicine, where he could directly help others and form meaningful connections. His interest in psychiatry was sparked during his first medical school rotation, and he knew it was the field he wanted to pursue. In his free time, Dr. Ahmed enjoys mountain biking.
.
Richard Jason Lewis, MD serves as Director of Emergency Psychiatry. He is a native New Yorker, born in Bay Ridge Brooklyn and living much of his adulthood in Manhattan and Nassau County. While pursuing his interests in music, science and philosophy, he completed his individualized major in “Pharmaceutical Ethics” from New York University. After considering a career in basic science research – exploring the chemistry labs of NYU and biology lab of UCLA – he discovered working with people was what inspired him the most, leading to his choice to pursue clinical medicine. He graduated from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and – after being drawn to the interdisciplinary and deeply human nature of Psychiatry – pursued and completed his Psychiatry residency at Mount Sinai Morningside/West. He continued his career at New York Presbyterian – Columbia University Medical Center as an Assistant Professor and Inpatient Psychiatry Attending, working as the Associate Unit Chief of Inpatient Psychiatry for the four years prior to his joining us at Northwell. In his new role as Director of Emergency Psychiatry at Mather Hospital, he looks forward to continuing to provide compassionate care and excellent teaching to residents.
Zubair Ali, MD is the Chief of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry at South Shore University Hospital. Dr. Ali completed residency at Richmond University Medical Center, where he served as Chief Resident from 2017 to 2019. As Chief Resident, he played an active role in the education of medical students and junior residents. Dr. Ali went on to complete a fellowship in Consultation Liaison Psychiatry at Stony Brook University Hospital, where he furthered his education in palliative care, neurology, critical care, and transplant psychiatry.
As chief of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry at South Shore University Hospital, Dr. Ali has expertise in delirium and psychiatric care for patients with complex medical conditions. His interests include photography, technology, and spending time with his dog, Benji.
Alan T. Kaell, MD serves as the Director of Resident Scholarly Activity and Faculty Development at Mather Hospital. Board certified in Internal Medicine, Rheumatology and Geriatrics, Dr. Kaell has been an active investigator since 1983, focusing on rheumatology and immunology, resulting in numerous published research articles and chapters. He has lectured on his findings internationally, has had privileges at 4 major hospitals in Suffolk County and has been a reviewer and editor of various national journals for over 30 years. Dr. Kaell has conducted over 20 Phase II, III and IV clinical trials for anti-rheumatic therapies and has been the recipient of NIH and Fetzer research grants. He has taught medical students, residents and fellows for the past 30 years and is currently a participant in the Academy of Rheumatology Medical Educators, whose mission is to develop, implement and assess novel teaching techniques by incorporating Patient Reported Outcomes and evaluating patient and physician behavioral changes.
Greg Haggerty, Ph.D., received his B.A. in psychology from St. John’s University and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Adelphi University. His completed his APA-Accredited clinical psychology internship at Zucker Hillside Hospital/Northwell Health (formally North Shore-LIJ Health System) and received post-doctoral research training at Zucker Hillside Hospital’s Division of Psychiatric Research. Dr. Haggerty has served as the director of research for Nassau University Medical Center’s Psychiatry department and was chair of the hospital’s Institutional Review Board (IRB). He has worked as chief psychologist for NUMC’s adolescent inpatient unit and as supervising psychologist in NUMC’s adult outpatient clinic where he supervised child and adolescent psychiatry fellows, psychiatry residents, psychology externs and psychology interns (as part of an APA-accredited psychology internship). He maintains an active research program focusing on personality assessment, training, psychopathology classification, and treatment outcome. Dr. Haggerty has received funding for his research from the NIMH and American Psychoanalytic Association and has active research collaborations with Massachusetts General Hospital, University of Michigan, St. John’s University, Adelphi University and Austin Riggs Hospital.
Brandon R. Theodule, MBA serves as the Program Administrator for the Psychiatry Residency Program. Brandon has worked in the healthcare industry for several years in different roles. Before coming to Mather Hospital, Brandon worked as an Operations Manager for a surgical practice on Long Island. Prior to that, he worked at South Oaks Hospital Northwell Health in Amityville, NY as a Behavioral Health Associate, while also doing Practice Management for Keep Smiling Therapy PLLC in Melville, NY.
Brandon holds a bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, a Masters Degree in Business Administration, and is currently enrolled in a second Masters Degree program in Healthcare Administration at Hofstra University. He is a member of the Project Management Institute, Healthcare Financial Management Association, and American College of Healthcare Executives.
In Brandon’s spare time, he enjoys fitness, sports, outdoor activities, motorcycling, and spending time with friends and family.