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Faculty

Howard Pratt

DO, MBA
Psychiatrist and Behavioral Health Medical Director
Community Health of South Florida, Inc.

Dr. Howard Pratt is a board-certified psychiatrist and child and adolescent psychiatrist whose career bridges clinical practice, healthcare administration, and health policy. He serves as medical director of psychiatric services at Community Health of South Florida Inc as well as in his private practice, maintaining an active clinical role across both adult and pediatric populations.

He is graduate of Northwestern university Kellogg School of Management and serves as a physician executive, a dual role that allows him to inform organizational and operational decision-making with clinical expertise while remaining engaged in day-to-day psychiatric practice. This combination of administrative and clinical perspective has positioned him as a valued voice on questions of care delivery, quality, and systems design within psychiatric health.
He serves on the National Boards, contributing to the credentialing and policy frameworks that help establish national standards of practice across the field, and holds committee appointments with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), where his work centers on expanding access to behavioral health services within underserved and community-based populations. This reflects a sustained professional interest in community health and health equity as core components of psychiatric care.
In addition to his clinical and administrative responsibilities, Dr. Pratt provides consulting services to healthcare organizations and community health systems, advising on the integration of behavioral health into broader care models and the development of sustainable approaches to psychiatric service delivery. His work consistently reflects a commitment to aligning clinical excellence with practical, system-level solutions.

2026 Sessions

Muscarinic Approaches in Schizophrenia: New Directions in Treatment to Address Unmet Needs

Supported by an educational grant from Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The treatment landscape for schizophrenia is expanding beyond traditional dopamine D2 receptor blockade, with muscarinic receptor-targeting therapies offering novel approaches to symptom management. This session will review the limitations of conventional antipsychotics, the science behind muscarinic receptor modulation, and the latest clinical data on available and emerging agents. Through expert insights and practical case-based discussion, participants will gain strategies for patient selection, treatment initiation, adverse effect management, and patient-centered communication to support the integration of these therapies into clinical practice.

Speaker

Saturday, January 16 3:50–4:50 PM
Program Chair

Ilan Melnick

MD
Chief Medical Officer, Passageway Residences of Dade County,
Passageway Residences of Dade County

Ilan Melnick, MD, is the primary psychiatrist in two outpatient clinics in the Miami, Florida area, as well as a staff psychiatrist and Chief Medical Officer at Passageway Residences of Miami-Dade County. In addition, Dr. Melnick is a staff psychiatrist and Medical Director for Jewish Community Services and performs independent medical and psychiatric evaluations for Miami-Dade County police, fire, transit and aviation departments.

Dr. Melnick received his medical degree in Bayamon, Puerto Rico and went on to do his residency in psychiatry and fellowship in geriatric psychiatry at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital.He continues to be involved in education as an Assistant Professor at Florida International University School of medicine. He continues to be involved in education through his role giving grand rounds at major universities and hospitals around the world.

Faculty

Howard Pratt

DO, MBA
Psychiatrist and Behavioral Health Medical Director
Community Health of South Florida, Inc.

Dr. Howard Pratt is a board-certified psychiatrist and child and adolescent psychiatrist whose career bridges clinical practice, healthcare administration, and health policy. He serves as medical director of psychiatric services at Community Health of South Florida Inc as well as in his private practice, maintaining an active clinical role across both adult and pediatric populations.

He is graduate of Northwestern university Kellogg School of Management and serves as a physician executive, a dual role that allows him to inform organizational and operational decision-making with clinical expertise while remaining engaged in day-to-day psychiatric practice. This combination of administrative and clinical perspective has positioned him as a valued voice on questions of care delivery, quality, and systems design within psychiatric health.
He serves on the National Boards, contributing to the credentialing and policy frameworks that help establish national standards of practice across the field, and holds committee appointments with the National Association of Community Health Centers (NACHC), where his work centers on expanding access to behavioral health services within underserved and community-based populations. This reflects a sustained professional interest in community health and health equity as core components of psychiatric care.
In addition to his clinical and administrative responsibilities, Dr. Pratt provides consulting services to healthcare organizations and community health systems, advising on the integration of behavioral health into broader care models and the development of sustainable approaches to psychiatric service delivery. His work consistently reflects a commitment to aligning clinical excellence with practical, system-level solutions.
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