Speaker Bio:

Steven A. Cole, M.D., M.A.

Steven Cole, MD, MA (Sociology) is a Professor of Psychiatry, Emeritus at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and Clinical Professor of Scientific Education at Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine. Trained at Harvard, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dr. Cole is Board Certified in Adult Psychiatry and has attained Added Qualifications in both Geriatric Psychiatry and Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry. He has received grants and contracts from the Jonathan D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and many others, most related to depression in primary care or in the medically ill.
Dr. Cole has achieved wide recognition as an expert on medical communication. He published a premier textbook on the medical interview, first published in 1990, with its fourth edition now in press, entitled, The Medical Interview: The Three Function Approach to Relationship Centered Care, Elsevier 2022. Dr. Cole is a member of MINT, (Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers) and with contributions from three MINT colleagues, developed Brief Action Planning (BAP), a pragmatic, evidence-informed, and versatile MI-consistent tool designed to support patient self-management and facilitate health behavior change (www.bapprofessionalnetwork.org). He has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, 35 book chapters, and 150 scholarly posters and presentations nationally and internationally.
Dr. Cole is the Founder and current Director of the BAP Professional Network. He is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and certified in BAP Core Competencies.

Deirdra Frum Vassallo PsyD ABPP

Dr. Frum-Vassallo has her doctorate of psychology from LaSalle University (2011) where she concentrated in health psychology. She has been working in health psychology with Veterans affairs for over a decade and now serves as the Health Behavior Coordinator at the Northport VAMC. She is the regional trainer for Motivational interviewing in VISN2 and a member of MINT. She is a member of the BAP- Professional Network and serves on the committee for certification. Dr. Frum-Vassallo is the Director of an APA accredited  Postdoctoral Training for a Fellowship concentrating in Primary Care Mental Health, Health promotion Disease Prevention and interdisciplinary work.