This week, Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County introduces Dr. Charles Bongiorno, new Medical Director of the Behavioral Health Clinic.
Dr. Bongiorno has sub-specialty training in child/adolescent psychiatry and brings with him a passion to assist families that are experiencing the pain of emotional stress. He joins the Behavioral Health team that includes David Mischel, APRN, and Joan Magill, APRN. He is now taking referrals and an appointment can be scheduled by calling 307-352-8125.
“My family and I are looking forward to seeing all of the natural beauty that Southwest Wyoming has to offer!” – Charles Bongiorno, MD
Dr. Charles Bongiorno was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Moorestown, NJ, a local suburb. He completed his undergraduate training at Villanova University with a degree in Psychology as well as an Independent Honors Study in Medical Ethics. He attended medical school in Richmond, VA at Virginia Commonwealth University-Medical College of Virginia, which served our country’s wounded during the Civil War.
Dr. Bongiorno completed a year in internal medicine at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia and then became fascinated by Psychiatry. He completed residency in General and Adult Psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital where he was fortunate to be inducted into AOA and to have earned a top distinction for the teaching of medical students. At Jefferson, he learned about the disparity between services available to the “medically ill” and the “psychiatrically ill” and worked to help his patients overcome the unfortunate and innapropriate “stigma” associated with behavioral illnesses.
During his residency years, he was trained in acute and chronic management of psychiatric disorders, crisis management, psychopharmacology, and consultation-liaison medicine. While his practice is more focused on medication-management, he is proud to note that he was exposed to psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, and eclectic therapy modalities. Dr. Bongiorno was escpecially fortunate to be trained by the internationally renowned psychoanalyst, poet, and prolific author, Dr. Salman Akhtar.
Dr. Bongiorno then completed a two-year subspecialty fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, where he served as the Chief Fellow for the department during his final year of training. In this role, he honed his skills in organizational hospital leadership, as well as in the coordination of department-specific physician services.
Dr. Bongiorno is coming to Memorial Hospital both as a Psychiatrist and as the Medical Director of the Department of Behavioral Health and is excited to take on this new role. His main focus as a clinician will be as an outpatient provider with availability for inpatient consultation. He is very excited and honored to begin to meet the needs of the people in the community.
Whether it’s struggling with the stress of everyday life, dealing with a child whose behavior has become unmanageable, or coping with a serious mental illness, the trained professionals in our Behavioral Health Clinic are available to help sort out the pieces and get things back on track. Call today for a consultation.
Memorial Hospital Behavioral Health
307-352-8125
