About this role
Lighthouse Guild is the leading not-for-profit healthcare organization dedicated to addressing and preventing vision loss. Our mission is to provide exceptional services that inspire people who are visually impaired to attain their goals. With Lighthouse Guild, people who are at risk for, or affected by, vision loss have access to all the resources necessary to lead full, independent and productive lives. We provide services, research and education, and advocate to help people with low vision and blindness. Our vision is a world in which no person is limited by their visual capacity. Our Behavioral Health Center seeks Part-Time Psychiatrists to provide comprehensive care for adults with vision loss and complex medical conditions. Bilingual preferred; 2–3 days/week, 5 hours/day.
Position Summary:
The Clinic Psychiatrist provides comprehensive psychiatric evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment for adults experiencing vision loss, low vision, or blindness, alongside co-occurring acute or chronic complex medical conditions. Operating within a multidisciplinary outpatient model, this role addresses the intersection of sensory loss, physical illness, and psychiatric distress (e.g., adjustment disorders, severe depression, anxiety, trauma, psychosis, and cognitive changes). The position requires expertise in psychopharmacology tailored to patients with vision disease as well as medically fragile populations, integration with primary care systems, and an understanding of the psychosocial impact of disability.
Key responsibilities include conducting evaluations, medication management, approving treatment plans, monitoring patient progress, and coordinating care with social workers, psychologists and practitioners of the healing arts working in the behavioral health clinic as well as in other Lighthouse Guild programs.
Duties/Responsibilities:
• Provides comprehensive mental status evaluations and assessments.
• Supervision and monitoring of patients' treatment through treatment plans documented by social workers and psychologists.
• Prescribe and manage psychotropic medications with diligence regarding drug-disease and drug-drug interactions common in complex medical regimens.
• Order and interpret necessary laboratory tests, metabolic screenings, and therapeutic drug monitoring.
• Counsel patients and families regarding diagnoses, prognosis, treatment adherence, and the physiological/psychological relationships of their conditions.
• Contact with other providers, physicians, and staff within the clinic and the Lighthouse Guild Health Center to coordinate medication and related treatment issues and provide consult-liaison style guidance to primary care and vision teams.
• Review of health screens in terms of care needs and recommendations for referrals to primary care and specialists, as needed.
• Participates in team and administrative meetings.
• Educational seminars for staff about new treatments and findings in the field.
• Maintain accurate, complete, and timely clinical documentation within the clinic's electronic health record (EHR) system.
• Performs other duties as may be assigned.
Required Skills/Abilities:
• Demonstrated experience, interest, or training in treating patients with physical disabilities or low vision preferred, and/or background in geriatric psychiatry or handling patients with complex, multi-systemic medical illnesses.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills.
• Excellent interpersonal and patient service skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Excellent time management skills with a proven ability to meet deadlines.
• Ability to function well in a high-paced and at times stressful environment.
• Proficient with Electronic Medical Records systems.
Education and Experience:
• MD or DO from an accredited institution.
• NY State licensure
• Minimum of 2 years of post-residency experience in outpatient, consult-liaison, or psychosomatic medicine.
• Bilingual Spanish strongly preferred
Certifications:
• DEA Certificate
• Board Certified or Eligible, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology