About Dr. Weiss

Dr. Weiss’ Experience

Dr. Weiss pursued medicine after earning a degree in mathematics at MIT. At MIT he conducted research in nutrition with a medical focus and it soon became apparent to him that medicine was the more compelling calling than mathematics. In the ensuing decades, his love of medicine has continued to drive his practice to provide excellent patient-care.

Education

Dr. Weiss completed his Residency in Internal Medicine at the Henry Ford Hospital of the University of Michigan Medical School, Residency in Psychiatry at Michael Reese Hospital of the University of Chicago Medical School, Board-Certification in 5 complementary and interconnected specialties: Psychiatry, Forensic Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Brain Injury Medicine, and Fellowship in Nutrition at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center of New York Hospital, Cornell University Medical School. He obtained his medical degree at Wayne State University School of Medicine in his hometown of Detroit. placeholder

Added Specializations

Dr. Weiss was a practicing internist for many years when he decided to pursue a deepening interest in psychiatry. While maintaining Board-Certification in Internal Medicine, he completed residency and Board-Certification in Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry, and Forensic Psychiatry. He was recently Board-Certified in Brain Injury Medicine reflecting the psychiatric impact of brain injuries and diseases of the brain.

He treats a range of psychiatric conditions.  As a treating psychiatrist, Dr. Weiss draws on his background in internal medicine as needed.

Dr. Weiss offers insight-oriented psychotherapy, and medication if indicated. However, he finds that the most effective treatment depends on the patient as well as the mental health challenge the patient is facing.

Substance Abuse Disorders: A portion of Dr. Weiss’ practice is the treatment of addiction. He is skilled in this area and has served in leadership roles in programs for all phases of treatment:

  • hospital inpatient (detoxification)
  • residential (“rehab” or rehabilitation program)
  • intensive outpatient programs (“IOP”s)
  • partial hospital programs (J”PHP”s), and
  • outpatient clinic treatment

His long experience and credentials cover detoxification treatment and referral to rehabilitation programs and ongoing support for medication management and psychotherapy.

Typically, he treats addictions that include, but aren’t limited to, alcohol, street drugs, prescription medications, and nicotine.  He also treats “Process Addictions” like gambling, anorexia-bulimia, compulsive behavior (internet and pornography addiction) and overeating.

Dr. Weiss has presented and published extensively about the psychiatric impact of

  • stress
  • pain
  • addiction
  • the body and mind relationship/ connection
  • psychosomatic medicine
  • alternative and complementary medicine
  • geriatric psychiatry
  • diseases and injuries of the brain

Dr. Weiss has broad specializations that includes geriatric psychiatry. He served as faculty at Rush Medical School in geriatric psychiatry and is published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry. His interests apply to medical-legal issues of the elderly like the relationship between psychiatric and physical illness where there are allegations of Undue Influence, Testamentary Capacity, elder abuse, and/or susceptibility to forms of fraud.

Dual Diagnosis: Program Founder and Faculty

Dual Diagnosis is the treatment of psychiatric disorders and Addiction(s) together.

Dr. Weiss founded the Michael Reese Hospital Dual Diagnosis Group Psychotherapy Program in Chicago, IL, where he served as Chief and Group Leader. (More about “Dual Diagnosis.”) At St. Bernard Hospital he started the second largest outpatient aftercare program in Chicago.

Faculty Appointments

After completing psychiatric residency in the 1990s, Dr. Weiss was involved in teaching the first module of Problem-Based Learning to Northwestern medical students.  He then mentored social work and psychology psychotherapy students in the art of dual diagnosis group psychotherapy.  Dr. Weiss served as faculty and staff of Chicago Osteopathic Hospital and faculty of the associated Osteopathic Medical School, where he taught residents Group Psychiatry and was the head of the inpatient psychiatric unit. He taught geriatric psychiatry at Rush Medical School.

Dr. Weiss also taught residents and medical students at Michael Reese Hospital and Chicago Osteopathic Hospital for many years.

Forensic Psychiatry

In addition, from 1991 to 1999, Dr. Weiss did forensics work for the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation and Medical Disciplinary Board as well as the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).​

Nutrition

Dr. Weiss has been fascinated by the relationship between nutrition and physical and mental health for many decades. He minored in Nutrition at MIT and did bench research in the Division of Oral Science in the Nutrition Department. In medical school, Dr. Weiss did research on the hypothalamic glucose receptors.

After his educational and research years in Nutrition, he pursued a clinical Fellowship in Nutrition at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, one of the most respected hospitals in the world.

Since learning the benefits of the low-carbohydrate/ketogenic (“keto”) diet, Dr. Weiss studied with Karen Lee Raymond, Ph.D. in Brisbane, Australia, nutritionist researcher and clinician, and author of the book “Processed Food Addict: Is this Me?” (KLWR Publications, 2019). He has developed his medical practice to include this subspecialty. If they wish, the use of nutrition for general health and psychiatric conditions gives Dr. Weiss’ patients another option to explore to enhance their care.

Summary

  • 30+ years as a physician
  • B.S. in Mathematics from MIT, Minor in Nutrition (Cambridge, MA)
  • M.D. from Wayne State University School of Medicine, (Detroit, MI)
  • Post-graduate training in Internal Medicine at Henry Ford Hospital of the University of Michigan (Detroit, MI)
  • Post-graduate training in Psychiatry at Michael Reese Hospital (Chicago, IL)
  • Nutrition fellowship at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital (NY, NY)

Board-Certified in each of the following specialties: