Medical StaffDonald E. Rosen, M.D.
Dr. Rosen is a member of the National Advisory Council on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the Department of Health and Human Services; he is also Vice Chair of the Residency Review Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. He is an Examiner of the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology and served on the Executive Committee of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training. A leader in the field of medical education, Dr. Rosen speaks internationally on topics ranging from physician wellbeing, stress in the workplace and professional boundary violations, to specialized treatment of professionals in crisis, addictions, and medical marriages. Dr. Rosen received his B.A. and his M.D. from the University of Kansas, his postgraduate education in psychiatry at the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry and his certification in psychoanalysis from the Topeka Institute for Psychoanalysis. James L. Sacksteder, M.D.
Dr. Sacksteder has written over twenty articles and book chapters on the treatment of anorexia nervosa, long-term psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy of severely disturbed patients, narcissism, object relations theory, and ego psychology. He is co-editor of Attachment in the Therapeutic Process with Daniel P. Schwartz, M.D. and Yoshiharu Akabane, M.D.: (International University Press, 1987). Dr. Sacksteder received his M.D. from Northwestern University Medical School. He completed a psychiatric residency at Strong Memorial Hospital at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry before completing a Fellowship and Advanced Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Riggs. M. Gerard Fromm, Ph.D., ABPP
Dr. Fromm is certified in Psychoanalysis by the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is a member of the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and has served as guest faculty member of the Southeast Florida Institute for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, and the Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute. He is the past President of the Board of the Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems, the Boston Affiliate of the A.K.Rice Institute. He is on the Editorial Board of Psychoanalytic Psychologist. Dr. Fromm has co-edited, (with B.L. Smith, Ph.D.), The Facilitating Environment: Clinical Applications of Winnicott’s Theory (International Universities Press, 1989), published more than twenty papers, chapters and reviews, and presented in this country and in Europe and in Asia on psychoanalytic psychotherapy, object relations theory and therapeutic community. In 1999 and 2000, he was a Visiting Fellow in the Psychotherapy Department of University College Hospital, London. Eric M. Plakun, M.D., DFAPA, FACPsych
Dr. Plakun graduated from Hofstra University and received an M.D. from the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons. After an internship in medicine at Dartmouth, Dr. Plakun worked as a rural general practitioner in Vermont before completing a psychiatric residency at Dartmouth and a Fellowship and Advanced Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Riggs. Steven Ackerman, Ph.D.
Dr. Ackerman received his Bachelors Degree in clinical psychology from Rutgers University where he was a Paul Robeson Scholar, a Masters Degree in clinical psychology from Fairleigh Dickenson University, and a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Arkansas. Dr. Ackerman completed his pre-doctoral internship at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School system prior to completing his four-year advanced postdoctoral fellowship in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at the Austen Riggs Center. Christina Biedermann, Psy.D.
Spencer Biel, Psy.D.
Dr. Biel attended the University of Vermont for his undergraduate studies in philosophy and art history, and received his MA in Philosophy and Social Policy from American University. He obtained his doctorate in clinical psychology from George Washington University. After completing his pre-doctoral internship at the McGill University Health Center, he participated in an advanced postdoctoral fellowship in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at Austen Riggs Center. Marilyn Charles, Ph.D., ABPP
Dr. Charles received her undergraduate degree from the University of New Mexico and earned her MA and PhD in clinical psychology at Michigan State University. Her internship year was spent at the Michigan State University Counseling Center, where she was also part of the Multi-Ethnic Counseling Center Alliance (MECCA). As the Co-Chair of the Association for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and Society (APCS) and also Co-Chair of the APA Division 39 Early Career Committee, she is actively engaged in mentoring and promoting community involvement for those in the helping professions. A poet and artist herself, Dr. Charles has worked extensively with artists, writers, and musicians. She has a special interest in the creative process and is currently investigating factors that facilitate and inhibit creativity. She also has a particular interest in the study of psychosis. She is the head of the Berkshire Chapter of the International Society for the Psychological Treatments of the Schizophrenias and Other Psychoses (ISPS) and is the co-founder of the Psychosis Research Lab at Austen Riggs. E. Virginia Demos, Ed.D.
Dr. Demos graduated from Radcliffe College, and received an Ed.D. from Harvard Graduate School of Education. She received postdoctoral research training at the Children’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, postdoctoral clinical training at the Solomon Carter Fuller Community Health Center, and the inpatient children’s unit at New England Memorial Hospital in Stoneham, Massachusetts, and completed course work at the Chicago Institute for psychoanalysis. Donna M. Elmendorf, Ph.D.
Dr. Elmendorf received her undergraduate degree from Wellesley College. She earned an MA and PhD. in child clinical psychology from the University of Denver. Following her internship in adult clinical psychology at Harvard Medical School’s McLean Hospital she completed two year-long fellowships at McLean in adolescent and family treatment and psychological assessment. Dr. Elmendorf is actively involved in the Berkshire community, having served on the board of several local and state organizations involved with mental health, education, and environmental conservation. Nicholas A. Holliday, M.D.
Dr. Holliday graduated from Brown University before receiving his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine on a U.S. Army Health Professions Scholarship. After a medical internship at St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York City, he fulfilled his four-year service commitment with the Army as a general medical officer. This included tours in Germany and Brooklyn, and deployment to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. Dr. Holliday then completed his psychiatric residency at New York Hospital’s Payne Whitney Clinic followed by a Fellowship and Advanced Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at Riggs. Cecilia Jones, Ph.D.
Sharon E. Krikorian, Ph.D.
David Mintz, M.D.
Voted by the faculty as the outstanding member of his class, Dr. Mintz is a graduate of the University of Miami School of Medicine, where he was inducted into the National Medical Honor Society. He completed his residency through the Cambridge Hospital/Austen Riggs Center Combined Residency Program and the Psychotherapy Fellowship at the Austen Riggs Center. He is a Psychoanalytic Fellow of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry, where he is also on the Education Committee. He is on the Medical Student Education Committee of the American Psychoanalytic Association. John P. Muller, Ph.D.
Dr. Muller is the author of Beyond the Psychoanalytic Dyad: Developmental Semiotics in Freud, Peirce, and Lacan (New York: Routledge, 1996). He coauthored (with W. J. Richardson) Lacan and Language: A Reader’s Guide to Ecrits (New York: International Universities Press, 1982) and (with W. J. Richardson), Ouvrir les Ecrits de Jacques Lacan, a translation of Lacan and Language by P. Julien ( Paris: Eres, 1987). Dr. Muller co-edited (with W. J. Richardson), The Purloined Poe: Lacan, Derrida, and Psychoanalytic Reading (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988) and (with J. Brent) Peirce, Semiotics, and Psychoanalysis ( Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000). Dr. Muller twice received the Felix and Helena Deutsch Scientific Award from the Boston Psychoanalytic Society. He was the Erikson Scholar at Riggs in 1992-1993. Dr. Muller graduated from the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute and received his Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has published over 40 articles and chapters in the field of semiotics and psychoanalysis. He is coordinator of the Lacanian Clinical Forum, and has presented his work nationally and internationally. He is a founding member of the Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute. Margaret Parish, Ph.D.
Jane Tillman, Ph.D., ABPP
Active in many professional organizations, Dr. Tillman is a member of the Board of Trustees for the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education, Inc., Chair of the Ethics Committee for Division 39, and on the Scientific Activities Committee for the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is a member of the Committee for the Evaluation of Research Proposals (CERP) for the International Psychoanalytic Association. Dr.Tillman is the past-president for the Section on Women, Gender and Psychoanalysis for Division 39 (Psychoanalysis). A reviewer for several professional journals, Dr. Tillman is on the Editorial Board of Psychoanalytic Psychology. She has published and presented papers on a wide variety of topics including: dissociation, psychosis, religion, impasses in treatment, clinical and professional ethics, research methodologies, and the effect of patient suicide on clinicians. Dr. Tillman attended the University of the South and received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. She earned a M.Div. from Duke University, and a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. Following her internship in clinical psychology at the Dartmouth Medical School. Dr. Tillman completed a Fellowship and Advanced Fellowship in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy at the Austen Riggs Center. She is a graduate of the Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute. Elizabeth Weinberg, M.D.
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Donald E. Rosen, M.D., is the Medical Director/CEO of the Austen Riggs Center. A board certified psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Dr. Rosen was previously Associate Professor and Director of Residency Training, Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) in Portland, Oregon. Before joining OHSU in 1999, he served in many administrative and teaching positions during the 15 years he was at Menninger Clinic, including: Director of Psychiatry; Medical Director, MenningerCare Systems; Director of the Menninger Leadership Center; and President of the Active Medical Staff. He was also the Founding Director of the Professionals in Crisis Program, Director of Athletic Services, and Director of Addiction Services.
Dr. James L. Sacksteder is the Associate Medical Director and Director of Patient Care at the Austen Riggs Center. A board certified psychiatrist, he is also a Lecturer at Smith College, School for Social Work and an Associate in Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts.
Dr. M. Gerard Fromm is the Evelyn Stefansson Nef Director of the 
Dr. Eric M. Plakun is the Director of Admissions and Professional Relations at the Austen Riggs Center, where he is a member of the Senior Management Group and the Erikson Institute Management Group. A board certified psychiatrist, psychoanalytic psychotherapist, researcher and forensic psychiatrist, Dr. Plakun is the editor of New Perspectives on Narcissism (American Psychiatric Press, 1990) and Treatment Resistance and Patient Authority: The Austen Riggs Reader (Norton Professional Books, 2011), and author of more than thirty-five articles and book chapters on the diagnosis, treatment, longitudinal course and outcome of patients with borderline personality disorder and treatment resistant disorders. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a member of the APA Assembly, chair of the APA Assembly Allied Organizations Committee, a member of the APA Assembly Executive Committee, past chair of the APA Committee on Psychotherapy by Psychiatrists, a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists and an Honorary Fellow of the American College of Psychoanalysts. He is a former Trustee and a Psychoanalytic Fellow of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and Dynamic Psychiatry. Dr. Plakun also served for over a decade with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology as a member of the written test committee and as an oral examiner. In 2003 Dr. Plakun was selected by the 1700 member Massachusetts Psychiatric Society as the “Outstanding Psychiatrist in Clinical Psychiatry.”
Dr. Steven Ackerman is a treatment team leader, a psychotherapist, a consultant to the therapeutic community program, the Accreditation Manager, and the Manager of Clinical and Organizational Evaluation at the Austen Riggs Center. Active in research, Dr. Ackerman’s primary interest is studying the therapeutic alliance through examining the interaction between personality, psychopathology, and psychotherapy process. He has presented and published on a variety of topics including: personality assessment, psychopathology, psychodynamic theory, psychotherapy process, treatment outcome, early termination, and long-term psychoanalytically oriented residential treatment.
Dr. Christina Biedermann is a clinical psychologist who provides psychotherapy and psychological testing at the Austen Riggs Center. She attended Davidson College (Davidson, NC) for her undergraduate studies (BA) in psychology and gender studies before earning her doctorate in clinical psychology (Psy.D.) from the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology in 2006. Specializing in the treatment of trauma, she completed predoctoral training at the Victims of Violence Program at Cambridge Hospital/Harvard Medical School (Cambridge, MA) and the Northampton Veterans' Affairs Hospital, Northampton, MA. After completing an advanced postdoctoral fellowship in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at the Austen Riggs Center, she joined the staff in 2010. She has lectured about Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, the intergenerational transmission of trauma, psychological and neuropsychological testing, and treatment resistance, and is involved in research using psychological assessment measures to identify risk factors for suicidality. She is a Contributing Editor for the Division/Review, a publication of the Division of Psychoanalysis (Division 39) of the American Psychological Association and has a private practice where she works with war veterans..jpg)
Dr. Spencer Biel is a staff psychologist who provides psychotherapy at the Austen Riggs Center. He also conducts psychological testing, works with groups and families, and is a consultant in the therapeutic community program. He has lectured and taught brief courses on history and systems of psychology, childhood precursors of adult psychopathology, and treatment resistance. Dr. Biel is involved in research using psychological assessment measures to identify risk factors for suicidality, and is contributing to a study on psychosis and creativity.
Dr. Charles is a staff psychologist and member of the therapy staff. She is also a Training and Supervising Analyst with the Michigan Psychoanalytic Council, Adjunct Professor of Clinical Psychology at Michigan State University, faculty at several psychoanalytic institutes, and a member of the editorial boards of numerous psychoanalytic journals. Dr. Charles has published over 60 papers, three books, and three book chapters, presenting her work nationally and internationally. Her books include: Patterns: Building Blocks of Experience (The Analytic Press, 2002), Constructing Realities: Transformations Through Myth and Metaphor (Rodopi, 2004) and Learning from Experience: a Guidebook for Clinicians (The Analytic Press, 2004). A sequel to Learning From Experience is forthcoming from Jason Aronson.
Dr. E. Virginia Demos is a member of the therapy staff and a past Erikson Scholar at Riggs. A clinical and developmental psychologist, infant researcher and teacher, she is Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Demos has been a teacher of early development and a clinical supervisor for over twenty years in training hospitals and at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where she was the director of the Program in Counseling and Consulting Psychology. She was also the director of a private psychotherapy clinic in Boston. Dr. Demos has published over twenty articles and book chapters on affective development in early childhood and the central role of affect in shaping psychic organization. She has also edited a book entitled Exploring Affects: The Selected Writings of Silvan S. Tomkins. She has received several research fellowships and is a founding member of the International Society for Research in Emotion (ISRE). She has recently served on the board of the Children’s Health Program in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Dr. Donna M. Elmendorf is a clinical psychologist, Director of the 
Dr. Nicholas A. Holliday is the Associate Director of Admissions at the Austen Riggs Center. A board certified psychiatrist, as well as an artist, Dr. Holliday has presented at the Riggs Summer Creativity Seminars and conducted workshops for patients.
Dr. Jones is a clinical psychologist and supervisor of individual psychotherapy. She received her undergraduate degree from Bryn Mawr College and her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University. Following a four-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Austen Riggs Center, Dr. Jones worked for twelve years at the Harvard University Health Services before returning to join the staff at ARC in 1995.
Dr. Krikorian is a clinical psychologist, treatment team leader, and consultant in the therapeutic community program at the Austen Riggs Center. She received her undergraduate degree from the Boston University School of Fine Arts. After obtaining a master’s degree in marriage and family counseling from Antioch University, Dr. Krikorian worked with the Los Angeles County Department of Child Services. She earned a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. During her two-year clinical fellowship at Harvard Medical School’s Beth Israel Hospital, she specialized in the treatment of eating disorders. Dr. Krikorian completed a four-year, post-doctoral fellowship at the Center and has also served as consulting psychologist for twelve years at the Connecticut Junior Republic.
Dr. David Mintz is a board certified staff psychiatrist and Director of 
Dr. John P. Muller is Director of 
Dr. Margaret Parish is a treatment team leader and a supervisor of psychotherapy, psychological assessment, and consultation in the Therapeutic Community Program. She has conducted seminars in psychopathology and social psychology, written and presented papers about the therapeutic community, and consulted to outside organizations through the Erikson Institute Consultation Service. She earned a BA from the “great books” program at St. John’s College, an MA in existential-phenomenological psychology from Duquesne University, and a PhD in clinical psychology from the Derner Institute at Adelphi University, where she studied the relevance of attachment theory to understanding the process of psychotherapy. In addition, she completed the postdoctoral fellowship in psychoanalytic psychotherapy at Austen Riggs. A qualified group relations consultant, she is the President of the Board of the Center for the Study of Groups and Social Systems, Boston’s A. K. Rice affiliate. Her current interests include exploring the interface between psychoanalysis and social systems; and understanding conditions that foster learning from experience in educational, therapeutic, creative, and other endeavors.
Dr. Jane G. Tillman is a treatment team leader and supervisor of psychotherapy and psychological testing. A board certified clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst, she also chairs the Erikson Scholar Search Committee and is the Principal Investigator on an externally funded study of States of Mind Preceding a Near Lethal Suicide Attempt..jpg)
Dr. Elizabeth Weinberg is a staff psychiatrist at Riggs. Dr. Weinberg is a board certified psychiatrist, and is certified by the American Psychoanalytic Association in adult psychoanalysis. Dr. Weinberg is on the voluntary faculty of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, is a member of the faculty of the Berkshire Psychoanalytic Institute and of the faculty of the Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Institute. Dr. Weinberg completed her undergraduate education at Harvard University, and graduated medical training at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. She completed her medical internship at Massachusetts General Hospital, and her psychiatry residency at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. After residency, she joined the full-time faculty at the psychiatry department at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, and among other duties, developed and lead an intensive outpatient program for the treatment of personality disorders. Following this, she worked at The Menninger Clinic in Houston, and then left to focus on her psychiatric and psychoanalytic practice. She joined the staff of Austen Riggs in 2010. She has lectured and written on the treatment of personality disorders.