Frank A. Ghinassi, PhD, ABPP is President and CEO for Rutgers Health University Behavioral Health Care (UBHC). As CEO, he is responsible for a statewide system of academically based mental health and addiction services across New Jersey; managing an annual operating budget of $320 million and 2,200 staff and faculty. UBHC, one of the largest providers of behavioral and addictions healthcare in the country, offers a wide range of clinical services across all diagnosis, and across the lifespan, including inpatient units, partial hospitalization programs, intensive outpatient programming, case management, traditional outpatient treatment, correctional health care, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Center, peer operated helplines for service members, veterans, mothers of children with special needs, law enforcement officers and child protection workers, a statewide suicide prevention hotline and a clinical research and training institute, as well as an array of specialty and peer support services. Additionally, Dr. Ghinassi is a Professor at Rutgers Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology; an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; an Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; and a Core Faculty Member at Rutgers Global Health Institute.
Prior to joining UBHC, Dr. Ghinassi was the Vice President for Quality, Patient Safety, Regulatory Compliance and Health Information Management at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Presbyterian Shadyside, where he was a member of the Executive Management Group. Dr. Ghinassi also functioned as an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where he was actively involved in the training of Psychiatric Residents and Doctoral Psychology Interns.
In previous positions, he served as Director of Mood and Anxiety Partial Hospitalization and Residential Services at McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School. While in Boston, he was also an Instructor in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and was actively involved in the training of Pre- and Post-Doctoral Psychology Interns and Fellows.
As a frequent invited presenter at national professional meetings and conferences, Dr. Ghinassi has been an active member on SAMHSA planning committees, CMS commissioned technical expert panels, and acted as chairman of the Quality and Performance Measurement Committee for the National Association of Psychiatric Health Systems, where he was the 2007 recipient of the National Quality Award, recognized for his leadership on key projects, committees and expert panels aimed at improving the measurement and delivery of behavioral healthcare.
From 2003 to 2016, Dr. Ghinassi has served as a Player Development Educator and Evaluator for the National Football League and as a psychologist for the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Pittsburgh Penguins and for a number of local college and university departments of athletics. He has also long served as a member of the Adjunct Faculty at the Center for Creative Leadership, an international institute for the enhancement of corporate leadership and executive coaching.