Too many young people do not experience the wonder, pleasure, and fun in math and science. That is often due to misleading clichés in the popular culture and from being exposed to “suboptimal” exemplars in their teachers. I truly believe that Knowles can have a significant, national role in changing both of those problems.”
George’s Story
George Wohlreich graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English literature from Swarthmore College, a master’s degree in American Civilization from the University of Pennsylvania, and a medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He received a DSc (Honoris Causa) from the University of the Sciences. He completed his psychiatry residency at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, and completed his psychoanalytic training at the Philadelphia Association for Psychoanalysis. He has “Additional Certification”/subspecialty “boards” in addiction psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry. He was on the faculties of the Medical University of South Carolina, Columbia University School of Medicine, and was, for many years, a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry (Adjunct) at both the Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania Schools of Medicine. He is currently a member of the “Voluntary Faculty” at the Thomas Jefferson School of Medicine.
In addition to always having seen patients, Dr. Wohlreich served as the medical director of three different psychiatric hospitals, and was the executive medical director and/or regional medical director for two managed behavioral health organizations and one academic independent practice association/physician–hospital organization. He was a psychiatric consultant to the New York City Transportation Authority, the pharmaceutical industry, and several agencies of the federal government. In addition, he was a Senior Examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology for more than twenty years, served on an examination writing committee for this Board, and served as an Accreditation Council of Graduate Medical Education site surveyor.
His public service work included having been on the Board of Trustees of the Charleston, (S.C.) Symphony, the Board of Managers of Swarthmore College, and on the board and/or the executive committee of the Knowles Teacher Initiative, the Philadelphia Life Sciences Division of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, The Board of Visitors of the Mayes College and Wisher Colleges (Univ. of the Sciences), and the Eastern Pennsylvania Geriatric Society. He was the founding President and Executive Committee Member of the Delaware Valley Medical Students Wellness Collaborative, on the Board and on the Executive Committee of the Delaware Valley Physicians Aid Society and (ex officio) the Board of Trustees of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.
He was the inaugural incumbent of the Thomas W. Langfitt Chair as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the oldest professional society in the country. Much later, “The George & Judy Wohlreich Junior Fellows Program,” for underserved youth, from below the poverty level, was established and has had a singularly successful history. He retired from the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, after a tenure of more than fifteen (15) years, on June 30, 2021.
He received the Jacob Ehrenzeller Award (highest achieving former resident of Pennsylvania Hospital), the Barbara Bell Award of the Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Association, the Lawler Award from the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society, and the President’s Award (the Society’s highest award) from the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Association.
A Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Dr. Wohlreich was also an elected member of the American College of Psychiatrists and the American College of Psychoanalysts.
His hobbies are reading, bicycling, and music. According to Dr. Wohlreich, the last hobby (and his life) is greatly enhanced by his marriage to Judy Wohlreich, who retired after thirty-four years as Chair of the Department of Music at the Dalton School in New York City.
