Announcing our new Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Kelly Ann Underwood
Conifer News
January 10, 2024
It is our pleasure to announce the new Chief Executive Officer of Conifer Park, Inc., Dr. Kelly Ann Underwood, PhD, CASAC-Master. Dr. Underwood brings extensive behavioral health treatment experience and knowledge, most recently from St. Mary’s Hospital, in both inpatient and outpatient addiction and mental health treatment. Over the past several months, Conifer Park has experienced an evolving culture change with physical plant restructuring, multiple facility renovations and a rebranding of operations and treatment approaches. With these internal culture shifts and changes occurring in the field of Addiction Treatment, we are very excited to have Dr. Underwood as our Executive Director/CEO leading Conifer Park into the future.
– Patrice Wallace-Moore, LCSWR
Vice President of Substance Abuse Services
Arms Acres & Conifer Park
Hello I am excited to be part of this wonderful agency and very grateful for the warm welcome that I have received at Conifer Park. I want to share a little about myself as I have a long history of interest in addiction and the genetics of alcoholism. I have a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in criminal justice from SUNY Potsdam and earned my Ph.D. in biopsychology and behavioral genetics in 1995 from SUNY Albany. Given my interest in understanding the brain and behavior I took extensive coursework in statistics and neurobiology.
In 2015 I earned a certificate in chemical dependency counseling from SUNY Schenectady. I got my CASAC-T in 2016 and immediately started a position as an addiction detox counselor at St. Mary’s Healthcare in Amsterdam. I transitioned to an inpatient rehab counselor position, then was promoted to Clinical Supervisor of the inpatient rehab and quickly promoted to the Manager of St. Mary’s Montgomery County outpatient clinic/opioid treatment program, ancillary withdrawal walk-in clinic.
In my short tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Conifer Park I am struck by the hard work, dedication and passion of the Conifer community to our mission of delivering the highest quality professional treatment. In these challenging times with the pandemic in our rear view mirror, we are looking forward to continuing to evolve in our treatment approaches, including but not limited to medication assisted treatment, specialized group therapy, recreational opportunities and Peer services. I look forward to stronger coordination of care and communication with referring agencies, aftercare planning, and enhancing our ability to work with patients with co-occurring disorders and more acute medical challenges. A large project is in progress renovating and upgrading Conifer Park with another large renovation forthcoming.
I am truly honored to lead Conifer Park and its wonderful staff into a new post pandemic chapter of rebranding, clinical evolution and superior patient care.
