FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 1, 2005

Horizon Health Services Appoints Kristin Ahrens, M.D. to the Position of Staff Psychiatrist

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Anne Constantino, President and CEO of Horizon Health Services, announces the appointment of Kristin Ahrens, M.D., as staff psychiatrist.

Dr. Ahrens, whose specialty is in psychiatric illness in pregnant and postpartum women, recently established and will continue to lead Western New York’s only postpartum depression support group. She will also continue her duties as volunteer assistant of clinical psychiatry at the State University of New York at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Prior to joining Horizon, Dr. Ahrens was the medical director of the department of outpatient psychiatry at Erie County Medical Center. She graduated magna cum laude in 1996 with her doctorate in medicine from the University at Buffalo (UB) and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from William Smith College in 1990.

Dr. Ahrens is an active member of the American Psychiatric Association, the New York State Psychiatric Association, the Western New York Psychiatric Association, and the Postpartum Resource Center of New York, Inc.

She was honored with the Clinical Teacher of the Year award by the Residency Training Program in Psychiatry and was the recipient of the Resident Service Award in recognition of her outstanding service to the department of psychiatry at UB.

Horizon Health Services is the largest and most comprehensive provider of fully-integrated mental health, behavioral health, chemical dependency, medical and vocational treatment and recovery services in Western New York. The organization operates nine outpatient clinics in Erie and Niagara Counties and a 50-bed residential facility.