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WHEN NE W YORK CANCER & BLOOD SPECIALISTS PSYCHOLOGIST WILLIAM DISCIPIO, PHD, DIP.PSYCH, WA S A COLLEGE STUDENT, HE STUDIED PSYCHOLOGY TO FIND A PROFESSION COMPATIBLE WITH HIS SKILLS AND HUMAN VALUES. NOW, 50 YE ARS L ATER, HE USES IT TO HELP INDIVIDUALS WITH A FACE T OF CANCER THAT IS TOO OF TEN IN THE SHADOWS: THE MENTAL HE ALTH DISTURBANCES CAUSED BY THE TR AUMA OF THE DISE A SE. A S A HIGH school student, DiScipio was like many young people who contemplate the blank canvas of the future — he won- dered how to fill it. "I wa sn't sure where I wa s going," DiScipio says. "I thought taking psychol- ogy classes in college would help me figure out where to direct my life. I found out that psychology was a very broad and diverse field of study, so I continued my education until I earned my doctoral degree." DiScipio received a bachelor's degree in general psychology and a master's degree in experimental analysis of behavior from Queens College of the City University of New York before moving to London to con- tinue behavioral research and complete a clinical psychology internship at The Maudsley Hospital. He went on to earn a PhD in the psycholog y of personality typology from the University of London, and then returned to the United States to embark on a distinguished career in medical, community and academic set- tings, as well as private practice. Over the yea rs, DiScipio ser ved as chief psychologist at Bronx Children's Psychiatric Center and chief psychologist and director of the Psychology Internship at Westchester Jew ish Com mu n it y S er v ic e s . He held fa c u lt y appoi nt- ments at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Long Island University at Southampton, as well as adjunct pro- fessorships at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psycholog y. Prior to joining New York Cancer & Blood Specialists in December, DiScipio served as executive director of Long Island not-for-profit organization Fighting Chance, which offers free services — including wellness programs DiScipio founded — to individu- als with cancer. CALLED TO CARE DiScipio has retired four times, but his abiding desire to help patients spurred him to return to the working world on each occasion. Most recently, he came out of retirement to join New York Cancer & Blood Specialists, a practice he felt was ideal for his skill set due to its interdis- ciplinary nature and the high esteem in which it was held by many of the patients he had treated over the years. DiScipio sees patients two days a week at offices in Southampton and Riverhead. "Psychologists have tended to avoid mental health in oncology because many individuals go into psychology wanting to study human behavior, and not align too closely with the scope and practice of medicine," DiScipio says. "I have become an advocate for early career psychologists to consider a practice in close partner- ship with our medica l colleagues and specialties in order to make a difference in meeting both the emotional and medical care of our patients." At New York Cancer & Blood Specialists, every patient receives a mental health screening, a factor that distinguishes the group from many others of its kind, according to DiScipio. He says a single, Helps Patients Cope With Cancer's Mental Health Burdens BY THOMAS CROCKER New York Cancer & Blood Specialists Psychologist William DiScipio, PhD, Dip.Psych., 1 4❱❱❱❱❱ P H Y S I C I A N S P O T L I G H T