Karen Singleton, Ph.D., named chief of MIT Medical’s Mental Health and Counseling Service

Dear Members of the MIT Community,

I am writing to announce the appointment of Karen Singleton, Ph.D., as chief of MIT Medical’s Mental Health and Counseling Service. Dr. Singleton, who will begin her new position in mid-January, replaces current chief, Dr. Alan Siegel, who is retiring at the end of the year. 

Dr. Singleton comes to us from Columbia University, where she is currently serving as interim executive director of the Student Health Service at Columbia University Medical Center and director of Student Mental Health Services. In addition to her leadership experience, Dr. Singleton has demonstrated outstanding clinical proficiency. She is a practicing clinical psychologist with expertise in sexual trauma, grief, eating disorders, and issues related to race/ethnicity and sexual orientation.

Dr. Singleton holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Women’s and Gender Studies from Barnard College, Columbia University, and completed her doctorate in Clinical Psychology at the City University of New York. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in psychology at Columbia University’s Counseling and Psychological Services, and is currently a postdoctoral candidate in psychoanalysis at New York University. In her current role at Columbia, she co-chairs the Students-at-Risk Committee, and is a member of the Student Life Task Force Steering Committee, the Student Health Insurance Task Force, and the Gender-based Misconduct Prevention Task Force. She is also a former chair of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Sexual Assault. 

The search committee for this position included a cross-section of the Institute community—MIT students, faculty, and staff, as well as current MIT Medical clinicians. Committee members who participated in the interview process, as well as current staff members of the Mental Health and Counseling Service, told me how impressed they were with Dr. Singleton’s warmth, the thoughtfulness with which she answered questions and laid out her vision, and her unwavering commitment to providing students with easily accessible and excellent mental health services. 

MIT Medical’s Mental Health and Counseling Service provides a variety of services to MIT students and to those who work with them. Direct student services include everything from formal evaluation and treatment to informal drop-in chats and group counseling. The Service also consults with staff and faculty who may have concerns about particular students. We believe that Dr. Singleton will find ways to build on this foundation of excellent service to find additional ways to provide our students with the access they need and the first-rate care they deserve.

Please join me in warmly welcoming Dr. Singleton to MIT.