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April 10, 2012
Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Hospital (NHH) and the State organization of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI NH) today announce that NHH’s Dr. Alex de Nesnera has been awarded the prestigious Exemplary Psychiatrist Award, an honor NAMI’s National Office gives to psychiatrists who have succeeded in improving the lives of people with mental illnesses. The recipients, all physicians who routinely go the extra mile, serve as role models for their professional colleagues and represent those psychiatrists who have made significant contributions to local or state NAMI activities.
“Dr. de Nesnera has dedicated his career to working in the public sector with adults who have serious mental illness,” said Ken Norton, Executive Director of the state organization of NAMI, which nominated de Nesnera for the award. “For more than two decades, he has worked on the units as a psychiatrist at New Hampshire Hospital, our only state psychiatric facility, and treats people whose symptoms are so severe that they are unable to be treated in a community setting. Dr. de Nesnera has a well-earned reputation of being a team player, and his selection as a 2012 Exemplary Psychiatrist Award winner is an extremely fitting tribute to his record of excellence.”
"Dr. de Nesnera looks at the entire system and includes family, community-service providers and the client equally in treatment planning,” said Norton. “He listens intently and has a gift for developing strong therapeutic relationships with all types of people. His personal qualities of being warm, compassionate, humorous, and approachable have earned him the respect of his colleagues, clients and their families, and I’m thrilled he has been recognized with this prestigious award.”
"Dr. de Nesnera has been an integral part of the shaping of our mental health care system in New Hampshire,” said NHH’s Chief Executive Officer Dr. Robert MacLeod. “I am pleased to see this impressive, empathetic, kind, accessible and humble man, not only nominated, but selected as a 2012 Exemplary Psychiatrist Award recipient, that his many contributions have been acknowledged, and that his colleagues recognize the difference he has made at the community, state and federal levels to better the quality of life for a vulnerable population.”
“This is a great honor, and I feel fortunate to be able to work with so many wonderful people in so many venues,” said de Nesnera. “And, while an extraordinary honor for me personally, I also believe it is important for New Hampshire Hospital, the Bureau of Behavioral Health, the Department of Health and Human Services, and Dartmouth. I think the word needs to go out that we do good work, and one reason for that is the people who provide services to our patients. When I accept this award I will be thinking of the individuals I work and interact with, in so many venues, every day.”
Dr. de Nesnera will be formally recognized by NAMI at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association being held in next month in Philadelphia.
Dr. de Nesnera serves as the associate medical director at NHH where he has worked for more than 20 years. He is a former board member of NAMI NH and has been a Distinguished Fellow with the American Psychiatric Association since 2003. Dr. de Nesnera is a past president of the New Hampshire Psychiatric Association. He has been a strong and effective advocate before the state and federal Legislatures on behalf of those with mental illnesses, and has advanced the NAMI perspective in shaping state and local services. Dr. de Nesnera is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, a role that provides him the opportunity to impart his knowledge and skills to students and residents, and to ensure that his legacy of delivering comprehensive treatment, which incorporates the medical, rehabilitative and social needs of the patient, continues.