Woburn, MA - Citing her extensive leadership experience in the field of behavioral health care management, Beacon Health Strategies, a leading NCQA and URAC accredited managed behavioral health organization, has named Dr. BJ Beck as Chief Medical Officer for the Company.

“I am very pleased to have Dr. Beck lead our Health Care Management team,” said Timothy Murphy, Beacon’s President. Murphy went on to say, “BJ’s extensive background in collaborative care models will advance Beacon’s position as an innovative, thought leading managed behavioral healthcare organization and her expertise in primary care psychiatry will be pivotal to our continuing efforts to improve and integrate behavioral health services with medical services.”

As Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Beck will be a member of the Senior Management Team and be responsible for the overall clinical operations of the company. She will work with the medical leadership of our health plan clients to ensure members receive high quality care. An actively practicing psychiatrist, Dr. Beck will also focus on the further development of existing as well as new clinical and quality programs and services. Among the many priorities for Dr. Beck will be to provide timely and relevant information about current health care industry trends as well as ongoing assessment of future opportunities as determined by market need.

Prior to joining Beacon, Beck served as Medical Director of Mental Health/Social Services at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center for 10 years where she developed a primary care-driven model of consultative psychiatry, trained and supervised both psychiatry and primary care internal medicine residents, and consulted with the Elder Service Plan. She will be leaving her current position on the inpatient psychiatry unit at Anna Jaques Hospital in Newburyport, where she has worked the past two years. Beck completed residency and fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital where she continues to treat outpatients in the Robert B. Andrews Unit, with a primary focus on patients with HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Beck holds an academic appointment at Harvard Medical School as an assistant clinical professor. She has authored chapters for several Massachusetts General Hospital psychiatry texts on topics such as collaborative care, community psychiatry, domestic violence, psychiatric considerations in patients with HIV/AIDS, and mental disorders due to a general medical condition.

Beck did her undergraduate work at the University of Illinois. She earned a Master of Science degree in nursing from Pace University/New York Medical College and practiced in Maine for several years as a family nurse practitioner. She earned her M.D. at the University of Vermont College of Medicine. Dr. Beck is Board Certified in General Psychiatry and the new subspecialty of Psychosomatic Medicine.

Dr. Beck will begin transitioning to her new role effective immediately and will assume a full time position in January, 2008.

Founded in 1996, Beacon Health Strategies is a leader in behavioral health care management with an unequaled reputation for customizing solutions that meet customer’s unique needs in the most cost-effective manner. The Company is URAC and NCQA accredited and believes that a new standard of clinical, quality and customer service is achievable. Beacon's expertise and ability to execute innovative service delivery systems in complex environments differentiate Beacon from other managed behavioral health organizations. Beacon is a privately held founder led company.