Merrill Rotter, MD
Program Director
Dr Rotter is a forensic psychiatrist with the NYS Office of Mental Health (NYS OMH) and on faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine where he is Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Division of Law and Psychiatry for the Department of Psychiatry. In his OMH role, Dr. Rotter is Senior Forensic Advisor to the Commissioner of Director of NYS OMH, Director of the Division of Forensic Services at Bronx Psychiatric Center and co-chair of the NYS OMH Social Determinants of Mental Health Workgroup. Dr. Rotter received his B.A./M.D. from the Boston University Six-Year Combined Liberal Arts Medical Education Program. Trained in clinical psychiatry at Columbia and in forensic psychiatry at Yale, Dr. Rotter leads a program of teaching, research and clinical service for Einstein as well as for OMH. Dr. Rotter is creator and Project Director of SPECTRM, a research, training and treatment program aimed at helping to meet the needs individuals with mental illness who have a history of incarceration. He helped design and implement the curriculum for the CUCS Academy for Justice Informed Services, established in 2012 and provides clinical oversight for the mental health diversion, reentry and health home care coordination services at EAC, Inc. In 2009, Dr. Rotter received the Award for Outstanding Teacher in a Forensic Fellowship Program from the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law; in 2017 Dr. Rotter was awarded Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship Teacher of the Year from the NYU School of Medicine for his contributions to the didactic curriculum shared by all the NYC-based Forensic Fellowships. Dr. Rotter’s research interests include risk assessment, violence risk management, mental health diversion, assessing and addressing the medical, behavioral health, social service and engagement challenges of individuals with seriously mental illness and criminal/legal contact, as well as the social determinant and social justice aspects that relate to all of the above areas.
Maryam Jahdi, MD, MPH
Associate Program Director
Dr. Jahdi is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center and the Associate Program Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship. She completed her psychiatry residency at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus, OH and served as Chief Resident during her fourth year. She then completed fellowship training through the Montefiore/Albert Einstein College of Medicine Forensic Psychiatry program. After graduating from fellowship, she remained at Montefiore Medical Center to work at the Wakefield Division as an inpatient psychiatrist and Site Director of Forensic Services. before moving to Bronx Psychiatric Center in the position of Assistant Director of Forensic Services. She is Board Certified in General and Forensic Psychiatry. Her clinical interests and experience include psychiatry and the law; education of medical students, residents, and fellows; and media and public relations within the sphere of mental health and psychiatry.
