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Born and raised a New England native, and having grown up in Andover, Massachusetts, Dr. Alkesh N. Patel received his undergraduate degree in biology from Tufts University in 1998. He graduated from Ross University School of Medicine in 2001, having a keen interest, at that time, after medical school to pursue post-graduate training in the surgical/medical subspecialties. Initially having been accepted and matched into a very competitive anesthesiology residency training program with Albert Einstein School of Medicine at Montefiore Hospital in New York in 2003, Dr. Patel, inspired by the human condition and emotional reserve that came with listening to his patients at the bedside and often in the recovery rooms at Montefiore, later changed residency careers and subsequently completed an Internship Year in Internal Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in 2004 and completed Psychiatry Residency Training at the Chicago Medical School/Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science in 2008.
He believed a career in psychiatry was a much better fit for him and was a natural calling for his role as a healer in making a meaningful impact and contribution to the field and study of medicine. Immediately after completing residency, leaving the Windy City of Chicago, he relocated back to New Jersey and New York and worked in community psychiatry in New York City for a year. After much thought, inspired by those struggling, recovering, and living with substance use disorders and knowing in his heart that hope is always possible for his patients, Dr. Patel applied to addiction psychiatry fellowship training programs and later accepted a position and completed an additional year of Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship training at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City in 2010.
His clinical and academic interests include those that strongly support evidence-based initiatives in tackling the growing opioid epidemic and developing integrated multidisciplinary programs aimed at promoting community awareness, educating healthcare providers at all levels, and improving clinical competency when addressing addiction. Dr. Patel also supports initiatives that reduce the inappropriate prescribing of prescription opioids and other controlled or dangerously addictive substances often tied to the escalating overdose deaths so often tragically seen today in our country.
Dr. Alkesh N. Patel has held a number of clinical and administrative leadership positions in the field of both addiction medicine and addiction psychiatry throughout his career. He is a triple board-certified, fellowship-trained, academically affiliated, addiction psychiatrist. Recruited by Mount Sinai Hospital following graduation, Dr. Patel served as Director of Mental Health Services for the Comprehensive Health Program located in the heart of Chelsea district of NYC, serving the LGBTQ+ communities and those living with HIV/AIDS. His early-career work and inspiration focused on providing psychiatric and addiction expertise for the medically ill and growing a larger voice in breaking down the barriers and stigma associated with asking for help and improving access to treatment for all that wanted it and needed it. During that time, also pursuing a career in academia, Dr. Patel was nominated and later served as the Associate Director of the Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Training Program, the same program he graduated from, and was responsible for the administrative oversight of this program which continues to nationally attract a vibrant, diverse, and thoughtful group of talented psychiatrists each year who desire to pursue further specialized training in addiction psychiatry in the heart of New York City.
After 2015, venturing outward from New York City and expanding his horizons, having been a resident of Danbury, Connecticut, Dr. Patel worked in a variety of addiction rehabilitation centers in Connecticut, including Mountainside Treatment Center and High Watch Recovery Center, as well as garnered experience being a Medical Director for several outpatient addiction treatment programs based out of New York City. Being a small business owner himself and an entrepreneur, Dr. Patel also has a keen interest in the interfaces between business and medicine. He has several years of managed care experience specific to his expert role as an addiction specialist, embracing a deep dive understanding of various economic factors shaping the behavioral health and recovery landscape, understanding strategies of improving access to care and what it means to provide meaningful value-based addiction treatment, and demonstrating mastery, useful and practical application of medical necessity criteria, including the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s (ASAM) Criteria for Substance Use Disorders aimed at helping place patients at the safest, most clinically appropriate level of care.
Dr. Patel taught and trained hundreds of clinicians upon the start of their careers in managed care regarding these very important criteria and concepts related to best practices in addiction medicine. Dr. Patel has worked in the Insurance Sector through various state-wide lead roles, such as serving as the Health and Recovery Plan’s (HARP) Medical Director for FidelisCare/Centene in New York State and also as a Behavioral Health Medical Director for Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey. Dr. Patel, having worked in both private and public sectors on his professional journey, is well versed on various platforms in the addiction field, and only supports evidence-based solutions in tackling addiction, and has always taken an honest, objective, transparent, informed, and non-judgmental approach to the decision-making process when discussing treatment options for his patients.
He is a member of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP) and the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), and a triple board-certified psychiatrist in the specialties of General Psychiatry & Addiction Psychiatry (since 2009/2010, then later, recertified in both specialties) by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology (ABPN), as well as in Addiction Medicine initially certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine (2010) and now certified by the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM, 2022). He has held his board certifications for several years since residency and fellowship graduation and is proactive in keeping up with all educational requirements
He enjoys attending and speaking at national conferences, collaborating with thought leaders and those that think outside the box or have different, diverse clinical perspectives, whereby a fruitful discussion and better awareness is raised on addiction or mental health issues that are common in our communities. Dr. Patel enjoys teaching and mentoring trainees and staff, and holds an academic faculty appointment as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.
In his spare time, Dr. Patel enjoys gardening, journaling, in fact, lots of journaling, remodeling (a day, literally a second, at a time sometimes) his home in upstate NY (our small yellow house), and embarking on new home renovations, going for walks, hiking, Indian cooking, developing new recipes, starting his new YouTube channel, and spends time with his friends and family in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Hudson/Bergen/Atlantic Counties in New Jersey, and Greater Hudson Valley, New York (Orange, Rockland, Dutchess, Otsego, & Delaware Counties).
He is an avid animal lover and loves exotic birds, including amazon parrots and pet cockatoos (Mullican and Umbrella), and macaws.
Our practice is focused on providing individualized treatment for a variety of addiction and psychiatric conditions in a private setting.