News Release
Department of Marketing and Communications
11100 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106
Date February 1, 2017
Contact Mike Ferrari
Phone 216-844-7239
mike.ferrari@uhhospitals.org
Robert J. Ronis, MD, MPH, is the first Cleveland psychiatrist elected to the position
CLEVELAND - Robert J. Ronis, MD, MPH, will serve as 2017 Vice Chair of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. (ABPN), the organization responsible for assessment and maintenance of Board-certification status for all U.S. neurologists, psychiatrists, and 14 related subspecialties. During his term, Dr. Ronis will be the organization’s ranking psychiatrist on the board of directors. Dr. Ronis, who is Chief Psychiatrist at University Hospitals, is the first psychiatrist in Cleveland to hold this position.
“The ABPN is indeed very fortunate to have Dr. Robert Ronis as its Vice Chair this year,” said Larry R. Faulkner, MD, ABPN, President and CEO when announcing the appointments. “He has been an excellent director of the ABPN in the past and will bring a wealth of relevant professional experience to the new role.”
As an ABPN Director, Dr. Ronis chairs the Psychiatry Council and five additional committees: Bylaws, Psychiatry Appeals Review, Alternative Pathways Oversight, MOC Examination - Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry Steering. He also is a liaison to the American Board of Family Medicine and serves on its Board of Directors. He will hold the position of ABPN Vice Chair until December 2017.
"In this time of rapid change in health care, the constants are likely to be the need for doctors and hospitals to be accountable for the quality of their care," said Dr. Ronis. "It also seems likely that psychiatry will increasingly be practiced in primary care settings. I'm in a unique position, serving on both the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Board of Family Medicine, to have a significant role in helping to shape these issues.”
Dr. Ronis is the Douglas Bond Professor and Chair of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. He was elected as a psychiatry director for the ABPN in 2010. He is a graduate of the Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, completed his residency in Psychiatry at University Hospitals, and received a master’s degree in public health from the Ohio State University. He is a board certified psychiatrist with additional certification in addiction psychiatry, and has served as a senior examiner for the ABPN certification exams for more than 20 years. Dr. Ronis is a past president of the Cleveland Psychiatric Society and the Ohio Psychiatric Association and is past chairman of the medical advisory board of NAMI-Greater Cleveland. He also serves on the boards of the Woodruff Foundation and the Positive Education Program in Cleveland.
The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to serving the public interest and the professions of psychiatry and neurology by promoting excellence in practice through certification and maintenance of certification processes. The ABPN is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties.
About University Hospitals
Founded in 1866, University Hospitals serves the needs of over 1 million patients per year through an integrated network of 18 hospitals, more than 40 outpatient health centers and 200 physician offices in 15 counties throughout northern Ohio. The system’s flagship academic medical center, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, located on a 35-acre campus in Cleveland’s University Circle, is affiliated with Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The main campus also includes University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; University Hospitals MacDonald Women's Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. UH is home to some of the most prestigious clinical and research programs in the nation, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health, orthopedics, radiology, neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular surgery, digestive health, dermatology, transplantation and urology. UH Cleveland Medical Center is perennially among the highest performers in national ranking surveys, including “America’s Best Hospitals” from U.S. News & World Report. UH is also home to Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals – part of The Harrington Project for Discovery & Development. UH is the second largest employer in northern Ohio with 26,000 employees. For more information, go to UHhospitals.org.