James M. Ellison MD MPH  is Clinical Director, Geriatric Psychiatry Service, at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts (1999-present). His clinical work at McLean Hospital focuses on mood disorders and cognitive impairment and he is Director of the hospital’s Memory Disorders Clinic.  At the Harvard Medical he is Associate Professor of Psychiatry

An active teacher of psychiatric residents, fellows, medical students, and other health care providers as well as of community groups, his research interests focus on late life depression and on noncognitive aspects of MCI and dementia.

In addition, he is a site investigator for two clinical trials testing anti-amyloid immunotherapies for Alzheimer’s Disease and Principal Investigator in a study assessing the efficacy of geriatric care management for demented patients and their family caregivers. He maintains an active private and consulting practice.

Among the organizations to which he belongs are the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (currently on Nominating Committee), the American Medical Association, Alpha Omega Alpha, the American Psychiatric Association (Distinguished Fellow), the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology (where he has served on the Curriculum Committee), and the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society (of which he was president in 2003-4).

He is a reviewer for several journals, has published in the areas of emergency psychiatry, clinical psychopharmacology, and geriatric psychiatry, and has edited six books on mental health topics.  His most recent book is Mood Disorders in Later Life, published by Informa HealthCare in 2008.  He is board certified in adult psychiatry with added qualifications in geriatric psychiatry.

Dr. Ellison received his MD from UCSF in 1978 and his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health in 1993.  His psychiatry residency training was at Massachusetts General Hospital (1979-1982), where he served as chief resident in Emergency Psychiatry (APS) during his final year.