Dr. Regine Bruny-Olawaiye is a board certified Adult as well as Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist with almost 15 years’ experience in psychiatry and administration. She was born in NYC but grew up in Queens. She attended St. John’s Preparatory High School in Astoria where she was an active Scholar/Athlete, attaining awards in both arenas and graduated Valedictorian. She went on to get her Bachelors of Arts at New York University in Humanities & Broadcast Journalism while concurrently pursuing the Pre-Med curriculum. Setting her sights on combining her journalistic skills with her future medical knowledge she secured an internship with Channel 7 Eyewitness News in NYC where she worked with Dr. Jay Adlersberg. Dr. Bruny-Olawaiye attended medical school at The University at Buffalo School of Medicine and & Biomedical Sciences. While still a medical student she concurrently enrolled and pursued her Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at The University at Buffalo School of Management, graduating after a total of 5 years with both her MD and MBA degrees. She then returned to NYC for Residency and Fellowship Training at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine Long Island Jewish Health System (now known as “Northwell”) where she served as Chief Resident. Wanting to be where she would do the most good Dr. Bruny-Olawaiye took a position at the Kings County Psychiatric Emergency Room or "CPEP" as their first in house Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist immediately after concluding her training. In recognition of her talent and dedication, one year later she became the beloved Medical Director of the same department. Regine worked tirelessly over a 5 year period to bring the department into substantial compliance during a very critical time of both clinical and corporate culture change. These changes came about secondary to the public outcry over the death of Esmin Greene and the consequent oversight of the Civil Liberties Union, Plaintiff Lawyers and the Department of Justice. To date, Dr. Bruny-Olawaiye remains connected to the public health system as a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the State University of New York at Downstate as well as St. George’s University Medical School and teaches new doctors the art and science of Emergency Psychiatry across the lifespan. Dr. Bruny-Olawaiye has presented academic discussions on The Role of Spirituality in Medicine, Experiences of the Pregnant Therapist, Cuttings, Mutilations and Tattooing in Adolescents and a host of other topics. In keeping with her desire to remain challenged, fulfilled and inspired by the work she does, Regine was recruited and joined Mayor DiBlasio's THRIVE NYC Initiative in early 2016 as Medical Director where she created, in partnership with the Department of Health & Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) a successful Collaborative Care Program across the five boroughs. In her capacity as Medical Director, Dr. Bruny-Olawaiye oversaw the placement of 110 early career psychologists and social workers within private and clinic practices across the city found to have the highest socio-economic needs. New York City developed and created the model for this first-of-its-kind initiative, making New York City a nationwide leader in expanding and diversifying access to mental health resources and integrating mental and physical health care. Dr. Bruny-Olawaiye was responsible for oversight of clinician training and mentorship in several evidence-based practices such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), and Collaborative Care innovations. In seeking to reconnect with more direct clinical activities, and in response to society's need for suicide and violence prevention on college campuses, Regine has most recently returned to her Alma Mater as the Associate Director of Wellness Emergency Response at New York University. In this role Dr. Bruny-Olawaiye manages and directly supervises all aspects of emergency response in the Counseling and Wellness Services Unit of the Student Health Center, serving over 50,000 undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to these responsibilities, Dr. Bruny-Olawaiye also heads her own health care consulting and direct patient care businesses.