Noted Psychiatrist Dr. Victor Schwartz Joins The Jed Foundation as Medical Director

NEW YORK, April 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The Jed Foundation (TJF), the nation's leading organization working to promote emotional health and prevent suicide among America's college students, today announced that Dr. Victor Schwartz has joined as Medical Director.  A nationally recognized psychiatrist who has served the student populations of Yeshiva University and New York University for more than two decades, Dr. Schwartz will be responsible for overseeing a majority of TJF's programs and will also be available to speak on the organization's behalf as its resident medical expert.

"We are extremely pleased to welcome Dr. Victor Schwartz to our team and look forward to the positive impact he is sure to have on our mission," said John MacPhee, Executive Director of The Jed Foundation.  "Throughout a distinguished career leading the counseling services of some of the nation's finest campuses, Dr. Schwartz has always been a respected voice addressing the direct connection between the emotional health of students and their academic and personal success in life."

Prior to joining TJF, Dr. Schwartz served as Dean of Students for Yeshiva University and associate professor of clinical psychiatry at YU's Albert Einstein College of Medicine.  He had also established and served as director of Yeshiva's Counseling Center.  Previously, he was chief psychiatrist and medical director for NYU's University Counseling Service for 14 years.  He has also served as assistant director of residency training in psychiatry at NYU Medical Center.

Dr. Schwartz is a Distinguished Fellow, served as a member of the Presidential Task Force on College Mental Health, and has also been a co-chair of the working group on law and college mental health at the American Psychiatric Association.  He has also been a co-chair of the Committee on the College Student of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. Dr. Schwartz has written and lectured extensively on college mental health, particularly concerning the management of mental health crises in colleges and legal issues in the field.  He serves as an advisor to Active Minds on Campus, Gun Free Kids and Columbia University's Student Health and Mental Health system. Dr. Schwartz co-edited (with Dr. Jerald Kay) the text, Mental Health Care in the College Community (Wiley, 2010).

Dr. Schwartz is also deeply involved in community affairs. He is co-chair of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Greater NY Task Force on Mental Health and Wellness in Children, Youth and Families and is co-chair of the Mental Health Division of UJA-Federation.  He is also a member of the NYC Higher Ed Taskforce on Wellness and Anti-bullying.

Dr. Schwartz is a graduate of Yeshiva College where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree.  He earned his M.D. from SUNY Downstate Medical College and later completed his Residency in Psychiatry at NYU Medical Center-Bellevue Hospital.

About The Jed Foundation
Founded in 2000 by parents who lost a college-age son to suicide, The Jed Foundation (TJF) is the nation's leading organization working to promote emotional health and prevent suicide among college students.  TJF materials and tools are  available to all colleges and universities throughout the United States and the organization has also developed several programs, which include: ULifeline, an online resource that gives students access to campus-specific resources and allows them to take an anonymous emotional health screening; the Peabody Award-winning Half of Us campaign with mtvU, which uses online, on-air and on campus programming to decrease stigma around mental illness and encourage help-seeking; Love is Louder, a movement online and in communities to build connectedness and increase resiliency; and a portfolio of nationally-recognized tools, resources and training programs that help campuses effectively promote mental health and protect at-risk students.  Learn more by visiting www.jedfoundation.org, www.ulifeline.org, www.halfofus.com, or www.loveislouder.com.

SOURCE The Jed Foundation