Medical Director/CEO Announces Retirement in 2011

When I arrived at Riggs in 1991, I was struck by the challenges the Center faced. We had just entered the world of managed care, Riggs’ census was declining, and we needed to develop together a new vision that would preserve the intensive, psychodynamic treatment that was an institutional hallmark and link it to the changing context as we were entering the 21st century.

Now, 18 years later, I reflect on the extraordinary experience I’ve had in leading this institution. With a talented and caring staff and an exceptionally qualified, diverse, and committed Board, we have been able to achieve so much. That is why it is with many mixed emotions that I announce my upcoming retirement in June 2011. The Board will begin its search for the next Medical Director/CEO in November, 2009. You will hear more about this process in the coming months from our Chair of the Board, Lisa Raskin, Ph.D., and from the Board’s Search Committee, headed by Lansing Crane.

From the creation of the Erikson Institute for Education and Research and its productivity including the extensive 10-year Follow-Along Study, expanding outreach connections, the education of a generation of clinicians, and our developing academic links with Yale and Harvard, to the therapeutic use of the psychodynamics of human systems, including the increasing commitment to family and group work, the development of multidisciplinary teams and the expansion of the continuum of care, to the creation of an endowment and the development of our campus and new community center, I am very proud of the work we have done. The Austen Riggs Center is a jewel of an institution.

We will have many opportunities to think about what we have accomplished together and the opportunities and challenges that face the institution going forward. I look forward to a very stimulating discussion.