BUSM Chair of Psychiatry Honored by Massachusetts Association of Mental Health

Domenic Ciraulo, MD, chief and chair of psychiatry at Boston Medical Center (BMC) and Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has been selected as one of the co-recipients of the inaugural Drew-Foley award by the Massachusetts Association of Mental Health (MAMH). The award was presented at the centennial anniversary of the MAMH Friend and Leader/Spirit of Compassion Reception on May 2.

This award is named after two former MAMH members, Paul Drew and Jim Foley, who were compassionate advocates for mental health care and advancement in the field of psychiatry. Drew served as the former executive vice president of BMC.

“I am honored to be a co-recipient of the first Drew-Foley Award. With their leadership and support our department was able to provide behavioral health programs to Boston’s neighborhoods,” said Ciraulo. “Whether responding to the drug problems with our city’s youth, or developing innovative programs for the mentally ill, we continue to support their work today,” he added.

With research support from the NIAAA, NIDA and the Department of Veterans Affairs, Ciraulo leads a research team that studies alcoholism and addiction with a focus on medication development, the interaction of psychosocial therapy and medication therapy, neuroimaging and clinical psychopharmacology. He has authored and co-authored more than 150 papers and has co-edited five books.

Ciraulo has served on national committees including FDA advisory panels, NIH scientific review groups and the American Psychiatry Association’s Council on Addiction Psychiatry. He is associate editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology and a member of the editorial board of the American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse.

A graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, Ciraulo completed his psychiatric residency at the Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital. Chief resident at the Somatic Therapies Unit of Massachusetts Mental Health Center, he also completed a Clinical Fellowship in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

The Massachusetts Association of Mental Health is a private, not-for-profit tax-exempt corporation that is a leading voice for the creation of services for people with mental illnesses. The MAMH helps promote and advance community based housing, education, health care, employment and treatment for children, adolescents and adults with mental illnesses or emotional disorders. Its aim is to increase knowledge about mental illnesses and the effectiveness of treatment through educational outreach to the public at large or to specific segments, and to promote healthy life styles and behavior through preventative services and programs directed at children and adolescents. Since 1913, the MAMH has been recognized as an independent information resource within the mental health community.