Dr. Sands was born in the New York metropolitan area and attended college and medical school in upstate New York. After graduating from medical school in 1983, he was an intern in Internal Medicine and a resident in Adult Psychiatry at Tufts University School of Medicine-New England Medical Center. Post-residency, he completed a fellowship in Clinical Psychopharmacology then was appointed to the faculty at Tufts Medical School as an Assistant Professor. While in Boston, Dr. Sands was also appointed to the faculty of Harvard Medical School as a Clinical Instructor.
Dr. Sands is the Section Chief for Substance Abuse Services at the Veterans Administration New York Harbor Heathcare Network where he supervises Trainees in the NYU Psychiatry Residency Program and Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship. Prior to the VA, he was the Medical Director of the Wellness Works Mental Health Clinic, a new and innovative provider of patient-centered mental health care that is part of Services for the Underserved (SUS). Before this, Dr. Sands was the Director of Chemical Dependency (Recovery) Services at a Hospital within the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. There, he led the program through their first accreditation survey by the Joint Commission, introduced evidence-based practices including the use of empirically validated scales and introduced the clinical use of buprenorphine.
He was the Principal Investigator for a New York State Department of Health funded grant, establishing "Brooklyn Clear the Air". www.brooklyncleartheair.org Working with staff from this program, Dr. Sands assisted health care providers throughout Brooklyn in adopting better methods for screening and treating nicotine dependence.
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Dr. Sands maintains a private practice in addition to teaching, research and working in public health. It is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Most recently, he was made a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
