FACULTY OFFICE
The Faculty Office is presently located at 2, Square de Robiac 75007, Paris France.
The Faculty Office was formerly located at 9 Saint Michael’s Street, Oxford OX12RR, United Kingdom.
The Managing Director of the British Psychoanalytic Institute is the Acting Dean of the faculty. The Acting Dean is Mr. Stuart Seymour who shall carry on only until such time as a permanent replacement is found.
The Admissions Secretary is located in the Faculty Office in Paris. The Admissions Secretary is Ms. Salpi Suzemeian.
The Medical Director is responsible for the overall quality of the clinical instruction at all our affiliated clinical training sites. The Medical Director is Dr. Jerald Hansing, M.D.
The General Counsel for the British Psychoanalytic Institute is Dr. Peter Scott Geissler, M.D., Ph.D., Esq. The General Counsel is responsible for ensuring compliance with local laws that regulate the practice of psychoanalysis at all our clinical training sites, worldwide.
DR. PETER GEISSLER, MD, PHD
Dr. Geissler is well known as a registered research psychoanalyst, scholar, Commissioner-for-Oaths, court-appointed appellate mediator, professional engineer, licensed physician, advocate before the United States Food and Drug Administration, and an authority on international trademark registration.
Dr. Geissler has a broad background in civil and mechanical engineering, and the physical and biomedical sciences. He earned two bachelor’s degrees, a BS in civil engineering from Stanford University, and an AB in physics from University of California, Berkeley. Thereafter, he was awarded a United States Public Health Service Training Grant to attend Yale University where he received MS, MPhil and PhD degrees in physiology, all by the age of 24. Having received his PhD from Yale in the shadow (both literally and figuratively) of the famous Lars Onsager, Peter Geissler “messed around” for a few years trying to solve the 3-Dimensional Ising Model Problem.
Needless to say, those efforts were fruitless, but in the process, the young Dr. Geissler stumbled across a solution to another important theoretical problem, the Tethered Polymer Problem, that has broad application to Graph Theory [c.f. Geissler, P., “Configurational Entropy of Tethered Polymers and the Swelling Properties of Connective Tissue” in Solution Properties of Polysaccharides, 1981, American Chemical Society]. Thus, at the age of 24, Dr. Geissler started a twenty year career (1974, 1994) as lecturer at the University of California (Davis, Berkeley and Irvine) biomedical engineer and research scientist in the Division of Biology & Medicine at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. During this period, Dr. Geissler earned an MA degree in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, the MEng degree in civil engineering from the University of California, Davis, and MS and PhD degrees in civil engineering from the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Geissler was appointed Science Advisor to the California Energy Commission for the State of California. Dr. Geissler was appointed Special National Institutes of Health Research Fellow in Physiological Optics at the School of Optometry, University of California, Berkeley and Special National Institutes of Health Research Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, University of California, Davis.
Dr. Geissler was appointed Bio-radiology & Medical Physics Consultant to the Department of Physiology, New York University Medical School and served as a Lecturer in the Trauma Program, Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Yale University. Dr. Geissler was awarded an Alexander Von Humboldt Fellowship at the Institute for Physiology, Die Freien Universität, Berlin.
In 1994, Dr. Geissler studied clinical human anatomy at Oxford University as an academic visitor through Oxford’s ISIS Exchange Program.
In 1994-95, Dr. Geissler studied medicine at American University of the Caribbean whilst serving on the medical microbiology faculty and lecturing on clinical immunology and earned an MS degree in basic medical sciences. In 1995, Dr. Geissler completed his Doctor of Medicine degree at Grace University in St Kitts-Nevis, a medical qualification recognized by the General Medical Council in the United Kingdom.
In 1996, Dr. Geissler spent two months in residence at the London School of Tropical Medicine. However, prior to completing the requirements for the Diploma in Tropical Medicine, Dr. Geissler accepted an appointment as Director of the Cambridge Overseas Medical Training Program in Cambridge. In 1996-97, Dr. Geissler undertook postgraduate research within the Department of Anatomy at University of Cambridge and wrote a thesis on the role of bacterial endotoxin, a virulence factor expressed by most gram-negative bacteria known to have a stimulatory effect on host inflammatory mediators, and explained the biochemical mechanism of its destabilizing effect on the blood-clotting cascade that causes disseminated intravascular coagulation in severe cases of sepsis. In 1997, Dr. Geissler was awarded the MPhil(Cantab) degree in biological sciences from the University of Cambridge.
When asked what he considers his most significant intellectual contribution, Dr. Geissler responds without hesitation: “serving as Professor Howard Mel’s assistant” for twenty-odd years in Berkeley on the development of the Theory of Thermodynamics of Irreversible Processes [c.f. Mel, H. and Geissler, P., Global Thermodynamic Potential Function for Nonequilibrium, Open Chemical Reaction Systems” 1986 Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Technical Report No. LBL-22323]. When asked about what he considers his greatest failure, Dr. Geissler responds, similarly, without hesitation: “trying to start a medical school in war-torn Uganda.” After many years of effort, hundreds of thousands of dollars in fundraising and significant educational support from University of Cambridge faculty, only a handful of African physicians were ultimately trained in tropical medicine before the school finally closed its doors. En route, however, there were also triumphs, such as being appointed Chancellor of Saint Christopher’s College of Medicine in Senegal, serving as Director of the Cambridge Overseas Medical Training Program in Africa, serving as Managing Director of Kigezi International School of Medicine in Uganda, and presiding over graduation ceremonies at the United Nations in New York.
This time in Africa, however difficult, proved to be formative in developing Dr. Geissler’s appreciation of the environmental and public health aspects of clinical medicine, especially community mental health and the treatment of addiction disorders. Thereafter, he undertook specialty postdoctoral training in the treatment of addiction disorders and in-depth psychoanalysis under the auspices of the British Psychoanalytic Institute. In order to develop innovative community mental health programs, Dr. Geissler subsequently held the following health-related professional licenses:
Finally, Dr. Geissler was appointed Professor of Psychiatry at University of the Cumberlands to head a bold initiative to develop a PhD in Clinical Psychology degree program designed to be the first of its kind, worldwide, to educate medical psychologists capable of being granted prescription authority.
Recently, Dr. Geissler was appointed admissions secretary to the British Psychoanalytic Institute in Oxford. Dr. Geissler promised to commit a significant fraction of his time in the years ahead to serving as clinical supervisor for postdoctoral residents in training at the British Psychoanalytic Institute in Oxford. Dr. Geissler is a licensed physician in Zanzibar. Despite his best efforts, Dr. Geissler has been largely unsuccessful at making any significant contribution to the fields of community mental health and the treatment of addiction disorders.
Dr. Geissler holds the following engineering licenses.
Having submitted his first United States patent application at the age of 24, Dr. Geissler developed a life-long fascination for patent prosecution and trademark registration. Dr. Geissler is a recognized authority on international trademark registration and has many years of experience as a Trademarks Registrar. Currently, Dr. Geissler serves as (sometimes) Senior Tutor and Director of Academy of Intellectual Property Law.
Dr. Geissler has been appointed a court-approved general civil mediator in the following jurisdictions:
Most significantly, Dr. Geissler has recently been added to the mediation panel for the Sixth Appellate District Court of Appeal, State of California. As a public service, Dr. Geissler serves as a court-appointed general civil mediator for medical malpractice litigation, workers’ compensation appeals and, of course, trademark-infringement cases. Mediation seems to be a good fit for the uncommon Dr. Geissler. He makes light of the fact that for years people have told him that his opinion is of no value; now the Supreme Court of Tennessee agrees!” Indeed, Dr. Geissler has the broad perspective required of a good-humored mediator and yet is extremely well versed in the lexicon of interpersonal conflict. Dr. Geissler enjoys sailing adventures, intellectual conversations at The Travellers Paris, and reading truly insightful texts such as Elementary Principles of Statistical Mechanics (Chapters I & IV) by J. Willard Gibbs, The Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud, and Trade Mark Law, a Practical Anatomy by Jeremy Phillips. Dr. Geissler has devoted the second half of his career to the practice of European patent and trademark law. As a Maltese intellectual property attorney and principal of Geissler & Associates, the patents and trademarks registry, Dr. Geissler has become an authority on international trademark registration. His focus is trademark registration in Europe, Malta, Ireland, and the United Kingdom and his specialty is legal representation in ex parte administrative proceedings in relation to the registration, opposition, and cancellation of trademarks.
Dr. Geissler is Director of Academy of Intellectual Property Law that offers postgraduate training in European trademark law, British trademark law, Irish trademark law, United States trademark law, European patent law and United States patent law. Dr. Geissler is understandably proud that The Worldwide Academy of the United Nations World Intellectual Property Office (WIPO) has written inter alia “we attach great importance to the activities of the Academy of Intellectual Property Law” and has stated a willingness to collaborate in the promotion of IP education in the future.” The practice of European patent and trademark law allows Dr. Geissler to immerse himself into “this most wonderful of subjects.”
Personal Email: geissler@geissler-associates.com
Tel :+33 975 18 32 20
MR. STUART SEYMOUR
Mr. Stuart Seymour is a Swiss Patent Agent and Acting Dean of Faculty.
Mr. Seymour studied English, history and political science at Pinetown College, South Africa. Following his studies at university, he became a law enforcement officer at the local Police Constabulary. However, he became increasingly caught up in the political turmoil and civil unrest in South Africa during the 1990’s. Political events caused Mr. Seymour to emigrate from South Africa to the United Kingdom, then to Switzerland, and finally to the United States.
Mr. Seymour completed a six-year apprenticeship under the direction of a Chartered Engineer with the aim of practicing engineering. He trained in structural and mechanical engineering, telecommunications, computer networks, and software applications.
Although not particularly inventive, en route Mr. Seymour developed a keen interest in patents and in patent law. Mr. Seymour studied U. S. Patent Law and U. S. Patent Prosecution whilst enrolled in the Certificate Program in Intellectual Property Law at the University of California, San Diego. Mr. Seymour has continued his formal studies of the Legal Aspects of Electronic Commerce in the Intellectual Property Specialization Program at the Joint Program between the University of South Africa and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Worldwide Academy.
Mr. Stuart Seymour is also the Appointed Registrar to the Academy of Intellectual Property Law. He exemplifies the very traits required for success in the field of education: ability to thoroughly understand complex topics; an appreciation for rationale method; and attention to detail.
DR. JERALD HANSING
Dr. Hansing supports the British Psychoanalytic Institute in a variety of ways, including financial, political, and academic.
As an undergraduate, Dr. Jerald Hansing studied political science at Yale University. Thereafter, he attended Harvard Business School at Harvard University. Following completion of his university studies, he took a position at a major financial and accounting consultancy firm, Deloite & Touche and served as a consultant to the United States government on urban redevelopment financing for Puerto Rico. Later, Dr. Hansing joined the staff of a west coast bank, Wells Fargo Bank as a top-level consultant on urban redevelopment financing in San Francisco.
Dr. Hansing’s early success in financial affairs enabled him to be appointed Senior Administrator of Financial Affairs at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. As such, Dr. Hansing reported to the Dean of Yale University School of Medicine and the Provost of Yale University and this encompassed, among other Special Projects, work typically assigned to an Assistant Dean. This position at the highest level of academic medicine exposed Dr. Hansing to many emerging fields of medicine. After a year or two, Dr. Hansing became inspired to study medicine himself despite being considerably older than most medical students. Admission to any medical school was a challenge in the 1970’s, but in Dr. Hansing’s case, it was exceptionally difficult because of his liberal arts rather than scientific background. Dr. Hansing set about correcting that deficiency by studying chemistry, biochemistry, physics and physiology whilst working full time as Assistant Dean of Financial Affairs at Yale University School of Medicine.
In 1973, Dr. Hansing enrolled in a summer course on neurophysiology, physiological optics and vegetative physiology of the eye taught by Dr. Geissler of the Department of Ophthalmology at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Hansing recalls one fascinating lecture in particular about the landmark scientific discovery of Hubel & Weisel of how the lateral geniculate body converts neuronal action potentials emanating from the retina (i.e., optical stimulation) into sensory perception. This was a pivotal moment for Dr. Hansing. From that moment onward, he became a scientist and clinician rather than a financial analyst. Moreover, his scientific awakening sparked a friendship between Dr. Hansing and Dr. Geissler that has lasted more than forty years.
Dr. Hansing graduated from Yale University School of Medicine and entered a 1-year residency in internal medicine at Yale University followed by a 3-year residency in radiology at Yale University. Upon completion of the formal residency in radiology, Dr. Hansing completed advanced training in MRI, CT, Ultrasound, Nuclear Medicine, and Interventional Angiograhy and Neurological Procedures whilst in private practice to become a Board Certified Radiologist.
At the onset of his professional practice, Dr. Hansing held licenses in medicine and surgery in Connecticut and Washington D.C. However, with the advent of teleradiology, Dr. Hansing found it advantageous to hold licenses in a number of other jurisdictions including Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Florida, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Oklahoma and Georgia.
Dr. Hansing has dedicated much of his life to the direct support of international medical education. For a period of ten years, Dr. Hansing served as director of a medical school in Uganda and funded the construction of medical school buildings near Rwanda following the Hutu-Tutsi conflict in the 1990’s. In addition, Dr. Hansing funded a competitive fellowship in medicine whereby the brightest African students were able to study medicine at Cambridge.
Dr. Hansing has always had a keen interest in community public health, psychiatry and in-depth psychoanalysis. Dr. Hansing served as the Medical Director for the World Health Institute School of Public Health and funded programs for the treatment of addiction disorders and community mental health.
Most recently, Dr. Hansing has offered his financial, medical and administrative support to the British Psychoanalytic Institute. Located (formerly) in London and (currently) in Oxford, the British Psychoanalytic Institute had declined in recent years both in terms of enrollment and endowment. Now, with Dr. Hansing’s support, up to two dozen postdoctoral fellows can be admitted each year into the 5-year postdoctoral residency program approved by the Medical Board of California.
It is Dr. Hansing’s vision to “bridge the gap” between the diagnostic techniques and pharmaceuticals of modern clinical medicine with traditional methods of in-depth psychoanalysis as practiced by Freud and Jung. Perhaps it was Dr. Hansing’s professional experience with functional MRI’s that first lead him to appreciate that the tools of modern medicine could be combined with traditional forms of in-depth psychoanalysis to pinpoint the biological basis of behavioral problems and personality traits. In other words, understanding the biological basis for human behavior such as bipolar disorder, addictive behavior and aggressive behavior might be helpful when treating individual patients by in-depth psychoanalysis.
Dr. Hansing appreciates the history of in-depth psychoanalysis based on Freudian and Jungian theories of the subconscious. However, Dr. Hansing holds the opinion that society must find increasingly cost-effective methods for treating community mental health problems such as addiction disorders, depression, racial violence, bipolar disorder and violence against women. It is impractical to treat everyone in need of help by means of in-depth psychoanalysis. We need a variety of methods including group counseling, intervention techniques, mediation, and pharmaceutical treatments based on modern medical theories of the biological basis of mental health disorders.
In summary, Dr. Hansing supports the British Psychoanalytic Institute because it is the first postdoctoral residency program in psychoanalysis, worldwide, which incorporates the so-called medical model of mental illness for the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders.
Dr. Hansing is Acting Dean and Medical Director of the British Psychoanalytic Institute. As such, he has overall responsibility for the quality of the residency training program in Europe and the State of California and for compliance with the requirements set forth by the Medical Board of California. Dr. Hansing’s duties include, inter alia, the review and approval of all applications for faculty positions, clinical supervisor positions and postdoctoral fellows in the 5-year postdoctoral residency in psychoanalysis with an emphasis in neuropsychology and psychopharmacology.
MR. KEITH PAGAN
Mr. Pagan is Director of Admissions for the British Psychoanalytic Institute, a postdoctoral residency program in Oxford approved by the Medical Board of California.
Central to Mr. Pagan’s role, and the broad objective of the Admissions Office, is the identification of potential residents who can truly work independently. Residents do not need to travel to the British Psychoanalytic Institute. Over the course the 5-year clinical residency, there is no specific requirement for residents to be located at the Faculty Office in Oxford or the offices in San Francisco, California. Rather, it is essential that program residents have that ability to work and study remotely. Further, each resident is responsible for finding and engaging his or her own clinical supervisor and patients.
Candidates for residency have approached us from several regions of the world. One is the West Indies, including the broader geographical area that includes Venezuela, Columbia, Mexico. As a person of Caribbean decent himself, hailing from Puerto Rico, Mr. Pagan is delighted to travel throughout this region on behalf of the Admissions Office of the British Psychoanalytic Institute. Other areas of the world where we have identified independent, post-doctoral candidates include the region of South Asia as well as countries in the Middle East such as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and Tunisia, all places where we have encountered qualified candidates.
Admission to the 5-year postdoctoral residency is limited to candidates who hold earned doctorates from an accredited or approved educational institution. There is no restriction on the field of study or location of the degree-granting institution. Generally, candidates hold academic degrees (Doctor of Philosophy) in any field, theology or divinity degrees (Doctor of Divinity), medical degrees (Doctor of Medicine), or professional degrees (Doctor of Education).
The admissions process is competitive. Twenty-four postdoctoral fellows are admitted each September for Michaelmas Term. An additional twelve postdoctoral fellows are admitted each December for Hillary Term.
In addition to his role with the British Psychoanalytic Institute, Mr. Pagan has also been a long-standing member of the Princeton University Alumni Schools Committee, the group of alumni that interview the bulk of undergraduate applicants to Princeton University. He has also been a guest lecturer at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Keith Pagan is also a Law Costs Draftsman, accruing work experience in costs law whilst enrolled in the specialized law school for costs lawyers in England and Wales. In a related activity, in California, he is also engaged in advanced training in court-appointed and private mediation, with a focus on client/attorney issues rather than issues between the parties.
Mr. Pagan studied economics, American legal philosophy, and physics at Princeton University, earning an A.B. degree in economics and a certificate from the Program in American Studies.
Mr. Pagan is also a member of The Guardsmen, a volunteer group that enhances and improves the lives of at-risk youth in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In his spare time, Mr. Pagan enjoys travel, skiing, and spending time with his girlfriend, their children, and his dog.
To be considered for admission, please contact the Director of Admissions at the following email address.
MS. SALPI SUZEMEIAN
Ms. Salpi Suzemeian is a European Trademark Registrar.
Ms. Salpi Suzemeian has applied to by Her Majesty’s government in Gibraltar to become a Commissioner-for-Oaths. This commission shall enable Ms. Salpi Suzemeian to perform a key notary function, namely certifying as true and complete, copies of original documents and arranging for their legalization and/or Apostilles, depending on the jurisdiction where the certified copies are to be used. This is of great practical importance because in many jurisdictions neither attorneys nor notaries public are permitted to certify as true and complete, copies of original documents such as public records and academic transcripts. In many countries, this legal lacuna is filled by select diplomatic consular officers such as Honorary General Consuls or Adjunct Consuls.
Ms. Salpi Suzemeian is trained as a family and civil mediator. She is available for both court-appointed and private mediations.
Ms. Salpi Suzemeian is a member of the Corinthian Yacht Club of San Francisco, the Royal Swedish Yacht Club (Kungliga Svenska Segelsällskapet) and frequents the Yacht Club de Monaco.
Ms. Salpi Suzemeian’s goal is to continue to serve the worldwide Armenian community in whatever capacity she is needed most.
Email: registrar@british-
Telephone: +33 975 18 32 21
Email: admissions@british-psychoanalytic-institute.com
Telephone: +33 975 18 32 20