Woburn, MA In September 2008, Beacon Health Strategies, LLC (Beacon) announced the creation of its Behavioral Health Expert Advisory Panel, led by Beacon’s Chief Medical Officer, B.J. Beck, M.D. Beacon’s Expert Advisory Panel was created to evaluate and provide recommendations regarding clinical initiatives, programmatic developments and innovations, and to share their expertise pertinent to significant behavioral health conditions and topics. All panel members were selected based on their extensive experience and belief in Beacon’s clinical model of integrated care that takes into account the patient’s physical, behavioral, and social environment.

This month, Beacon is pleased to announce the addition of two new experts, Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD, and Elizabeth Childs, MD, to this illustrious group.

Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD is a Board Certified Psychiatrist with added qualifications in Psychosomatic Medicine and is admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. She is currently the Associate Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship and instructor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brendel also serves on several ethics committees, the Law & Psychiatry Service and the Consultation Psychiatry Service at Massachusetts General Hospital, and on a specialized interdisciplinary medical team at Massachusetts General Hospital that provides treatment to patients with complex psychosocial problems.

Elizabeth Childs, MD holds Diplomates in Adult, as well as in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry from the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and an active member of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, having served as its president and as chair of its Legislative Committee. Dr. Childs has held academic appointments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and the University of Cincinnati and has an extensive background in providing services to people with serious mental illness. Currently in private practice in Brookline, Dr. Childs also serves on the National Institute of Mental Health Advisory Council and the state Board of Early Education and Care. In past roles, she was Chief and Director of Psychiatry at the Carney Hospital, Massachusetts Mental Health Commissioner and a consultant in Child Psychiatry at the Dana Farber Institute and Children’s Hospital.

Drs. Brendel and Childs join other leaders in their fields, including Michael Angelini, Pharm. D., Alexander Blount, Ed.D., Oliver Freudenreich, M.D., Philip Gottlieb, M.D., Charles Henry, M.D., Tom Oxman, M.D., Peter Smith, M.D., MSc., and Buck Woo, Ph.D, as members of Beacon’s Expert Advisory Panel.

Founded in 1996, Beacon Health Strategies is a recognized leader in behavioral health care management, accredited by both URAC and NCQA. Beacon is growing rapidly, having recently added a 3rd health plan partner in New York and two health plan partners in the District of Columbia. Beacon’s success has been achieved through its superior clinical and administrative expertise, its unique integrated partner module, and consistent delivery of innovative programming tailored to meet the specific needs and objectives of each health plan partner.

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