Charlie Wittenberg, MD, is the Medical Director for the Bellevue Juvenile Justice Mental Health Service, where he has been an active clinician and leader since 2016. He oversees and supervises all mental health clinical services for Secure Detention (SD) facilities across New York City, including Crossroads Juvenile Center in Brownsville, Brooklyn and Horizon Juvenile Center in the Mott Haven area of The Bronx, as well as all Non-Secure Detention (NSD) facilities across the city. He collaborates and consults with staff and leadership throughout the ACS Department of Youth and Family Justice (DYFJ) to facilitate excellent, informed and equitable clinical care across the Juvenile Justice Continuum in NYC, serving a population of disenfranchised and under-resourced NYC youth. He is a faculty member and assistant clinical professor in the Department of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at New York University. 

Charlie obtained his undergraduate degree at Williams College and his medical degree from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Charlie continued his medical training at NYU/Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatry residency and subsequent fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry, with focus on high-acuity patients, substance use, trauma, school-based mental health, and patients with multiple mental health and medical comorbidities.

Prior to medical school, Charlie spent several years in Guatemala, creating, developing, teaching, and fundraising for a sexual education program for adolescents. He is a native of New York City, grew up as a competitive gymnast, and continued performing acrobatics in various productions at the Metropolitan Opera House through medical school.

Charlie holds Board Certification in both Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry through the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, as well as a New York State Medical License, a Drug Enforcement Administration license and membership in the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.