Talk:William Breitbart

COI Edits

There is a lot of seemingly unverifiable information about Breitbart's family and childhood that could only have come from a source with intimate knowledge of Breitbart himself. I plan on removing it, but am open to suggestions on how to treat it or else for sources that might provide the specific information about his family that is missing. Please advise if you have this info.Brewspoker (talk) 01:14, 9 December 2016 (UTC)

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BetacommandBot (talk) 06:41, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Edit Request #1: Lead section - current titles

• What I think should be changed: Replace the first paragraph with: William S. Breitbart (born 1951) is an American psychiatrist specializing in consultation-liaison psychiatry, psycho-oncology, and palliative care. He holds the Jimmie C. Holland Chair in Psychiatric Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in New York City, where he is an attending psychiatrist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and served as chairman of that department from 2014 to 2025. He is also Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Vice Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College. He is the founding editor-in-chief of the journal Palliative and Supportive Care and a past president of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine and the International Psycho-Oncology Society.
• Why it should be changed: The lead is internally inconsistent with the article's own body text and is out of date in three ways. It identifies him as "Chief of the Psychiatry Service," a role he held from December 1996 to September 2017; the Career section already states he was appointed department chairman in 2014. He stepped down as chairman in August 2025 and now holds the endowed chair and attending role. His Weill Cornell vice-chairmanship (2014–present) is omitted entirely. "Psychosomatic Medicine" as a subspecialty name was retired in 2018 in favor of consultation-liaison psychiatry. The "FAPM" post-nominal should also go: the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine no longer exists under that name, and Wikipedia's manual of style discourages post-nominals for professional society fellowships in any case.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #2 - Institution name, subspecialty name, typos

• What I think should be changed: Institution name, subspecialty name, typos

Change all instances of "Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center" to "Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center". In the Early life and education section, change "Breitbart is Board Certified in Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, and Psychosomatic Medicine" to "Breitbart is board certified in internal medicine, psychiatry, and consultation-liaison psychiatry." In the Publications section, change "Gionale Italiano di Pscico-Oncologia" to Giornale Italiano di Psico-Oncologia. In the fourth paragraph of the lead, "and a president. ." — remove the stray duplicate period and the dangling fragment.

• Why it should be changed: MSK dropped the hyphen from its name in 2011. The American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology renamed the Psychosomatic Medicine subspecialty to Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and his certificate is now issued under that name. The remaining items are typographical errors.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #3: Career section: dated and incorrect roles

• What I think should be changed:Replace the first paragraph of "Career and research" with: Breitbart joined the attending staff of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 1986 and served as Chief of its Psychiatry Service from 1996 to 2017. He directed the center's clinical fellowship training program from 1995 to 2005 and, in 2005, obtained Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education accreditation for a joint MSK–New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell fellowship in psychosomatic medicine, which he directed until 2007. He was vice-chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences from 2009 to 2014 and interim chairman from 2012 to 2014, becoming chairman in October 2014 and holding the post until August 2025. Since 2015 he has been founding director of MSK's Psycho-Oncology Education and Training Institute.
• Why it should be changed: The current text is written in the present tense for roles that have ended ("has been the chief of psychiatry at MSKCC since 1996," "has been vice-chairman... since 2009") and stops at the 2014 chairmanship appointment. It also omits the 2005 ACGME accreditation, which is a substantive career accomplishment, and the training institute directorship.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #4 - Research funding description

• What I think should be changed:Replace "He has received continuous funding for investigator initiated research since 1989, including eight National Institute of Health funded projects, four National Institute of Mental Health funded projects, four National Cancer Institute funded projects, and seven privately funded research projects" with:

He has received continuous National Institutes of Health funding for investigator-initiated research since 1989, serving as principal investigator on seven R01 grants and co-principal investigator on three others, as well as on two R21 grants and two R25 training grants from the National Cancer Institute, alongside foundation support from bodies including the American Cancer Society, the Fetzer Institute and the Open Society Institute.

• Why it should be changed: The current sentence double-counts — NIMH and NCI projects are NIH-funded projects, so "eight NIH... four NIMH... four NCI" describes overlapping sets as though they were distinct. It also omits the training grants, which are a significant part of his funding history.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit request #5 - Corrections to Honors and awards

• What I think should be changed: Change "Breitbart has been recognized as one of New York Magazine's 'Best Doctors' every year since 2002" to: "Breitbart appeared on Castle Connolly's Top Doctors lists, published in New York magazine, from 2001 to 2023, and has been named to Castle Connolly's America's Top Doctors list annually through 2026."

Change "the 2006 Donald Oken Award from the American Psychosomatic Society" to "the 2007 Donald Oken Award." Change "president of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (2007-8)" to "(2006–2007)." Change "the 2011 Eleanor & Thomas Hackett Award" to "the 2011 Eleanor and Thomas P. Hackett Memorial Award for Lifetime Achievement." Move the American Pain Society board membership, the APA delirium guidelines panel role, the IASP membership, and the NIH study section service out of "Honors and awards" and into "Career and research."

• Why it should be changed: The magazine listing is misattributed and misdated — the ranking is Castle Connolly's, appearing in New York magazine, and it ran 2001 to 2023 rather than "every year since 2002." The Oken Award year and the presidency dates are each off by one year against the record. The remaining items are professional service rather than honors.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #6 - Awards to add

• What I think should be changed: Add to the Honors and awards section: Breitbart received the Willet F. Whitmore Award for Clinical Excellence from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in 2009 and the Arthur Sutherland Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Psycho-Oncology Society the same year. He was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award of the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (2013), the American Cancer Society's Trish Greene Quality of Life Award (2017), the International Psycho-Oncology Society's Jimmie Holland Award for lifetime contributions to psychiatric oncology (2019), and the MD Anderson Cancer Center Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contributions to Palliative Care (2023).
• Why it should be changed: The article's awards coverage effectively stops in 2011 and omits four subsequent honors, including two lifetime-achievement awards and a named society award. The Whitmore and Sutherland awards are already mentioned but scattered across two separate paragraphs; consolidating them chronologically improves readability.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #7 - Research section: specific contributions

• What I think should be changed: Add to "Career and research," after the existing paragraph on HIV research:

Breitbart conducted the first double-blind randomized controlled trial of antipsychotics for the treatment of delirium, and developed the Memorial Delirium Assessment Scale, a rating instrument used in oncology and palliative care settings. He also led early randomized trials of psychostimulants for fatigue in patients with AIDS and cancer, and an epidemiological study of pain in HIV disease. Subsequent work examined the role of proinflammatory cytokines in depression among patients with pancreatic cancer, finding an association between interleukin-6 levels and depressive symptoms.

• Why it should be changed: The article describes his research thematically but names almost none of his specific contributions. The delirium trial, the assessment scale, and the cytokine work are among his most-cited outputs and are absent.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #8 - Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy

• What I think should be changed: Add to the Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy discussion:

Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy has been tested in randomized controlled trials in both group and individual formats, and has been adapted for cancer caregivers, for bereaved parents, for breast cancer survivors, and for home hospice patients. Breitbart was principal investigator of the Network Project, a National Cancer Institute training program that ran from 1992 to 2002 and trained clinicians in cancer pain management and psycho-oncology, and is principal investigator of a subsequent NCI grant training clinicians in Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy.

• Why it should be changed: The MCP material is the strongest part of the article but is framed as though the work were still at development stage. The trials have been completed, published, and extended into adapted forms, and there is now a federally funded dissemination program. His earlier NCI training grant is not mentioned at all.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #9 - Publication counts and book list

• What I think should be changed: Replace "Breitbart had published over 160 peer reviewed publications and 200 chapters and review papers" with "Breitbart has published more than 240 peer-reviewed articles and over 170 book chapters and review papers."

Replace "He has edited/co-edited five textbooks including..." with "He has edited or co-authored sixteen books," followed by a trimmed selected list. Replace the entire "Bibliography" section at the foot of the article with a "Selected books" list:Psychiatric Aspects of Symptom Management in Cancer Patients (1993, with Jimmie C. Holland) Psycho-Oncology (Oxford University Press; 1st ed. 1998, 2nd ed. 2010, 3rd ed. 2015, 4th ed. 2021) Handbook of Psychiatry in Palliative Medicine (Oxford University Press; 1st ed. 2000, 2nd ed. 2009, 3rd ed. 2023, with Harvey Chochinov) Psychosocial Aspects of Pain: A Handbook for Health Care Providers (2003, with Robert Dworkin) Meaning-Centered Group Psychotherapy Treatment Manual (2014) Individual Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Patients with Advanced Cancer: A Treatment Manual (2014) Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy in the Cancer Setting (2017) Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy for Cancer Caregivers (2024, with Allison Applebaum)

• Why it should be changed: The publication counts are roughly fifteen years out of date, and the book count of "five" omits eleven volumes, including three editions of Psycho-Oncology and all of the Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy manuals. The existing Bibliography section is a raw curriculum-vitae extract that duplicates the journal editorship entry twice, includes a 1994 federal guideline document among the books, and stops at 2010.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #10 - Fellowship and scholarship attribution

• What I think should be changed:Change "receiving both a Clinical Fellowship Award (1985–1986) and a Career Development Award (1986–1989) from the American Cancer Society" to:

receiving a Clinical Fellowship Award (1985–1986) from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and a Clinical Oncology Career Development Award (1986–1989) from the American Cancer Society.

And in Honors and awards, add dates to the Soros scholarship: "(1995–1998).

• Why it should be changed:The current sentence attributes both awards to the American Cancer Society; the clinical fellowship award came from MSK. The Soros scholarship is undated, leaving the reader unable to place it in his career.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Change #11

• What I think should be changed:In "Career and research," replace the sentences about board and panel membership with:

Breitbart served on the board of directors of the American Pain Society from 1994 to 2003 and was a panel member for the American Psychiatric Association's guidelines for the management of delirium, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research cancer pain management guidelines, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines panels on psychological distress and on cancer-related fatigue. He was a permanent member of the National Institutes of Health Behavioral Medicine study section from 2003 to 2009.

• Why it should be changed: The article mentions the APA delirium panel and the NIH study section but omits the AHCPR cancer pain guidelines and both NCCN panels, and gives no dates for any of it. He was also a co-author of the 1994 AHCPR cancer pain guideline, which the article's own bibliography lists but the career section does not connect to him.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

Edit Request #12

• What I think should be changed: Add:

He was vice-president of the International Psycho-Oncology Society from 2006 to 2008 and president from 2008 to 2010, and has held the title of President Emeritus since 2019. He helped establish IPOS Press, the society's publishing arm, and co-edited its volume Psychosocial Palliative Care (2014).

• Why it should be changed:The article notes his IPOS presidency but omits the vice-presidency, the President Emeritus title, and his authorship of the IPOS Press volume, though it does mention that he helped found the press.
• References supporting the possible change (format using the "cite" button):

~2026-44499-67 (talk) 16:08, 13 August 2026 (UTC)

References