Dr. Bella Silecchia recently retired as director of pediatric ambulatory care services at the Nassau University Medical Center (NUMC) East Meadow, New York, and director of the Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect (SCAN) Evaluation Center also at The Nassau University Medical Center. She is also the former director of pediatric emergency services at NUMC. She received her medical degree from the University of Bologna, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, Italy, and her undergraduate degree from The College of Mount Saint Vincent, New York.
Dr. Silecchia was instrumental in founding and organizing the SCAN program at NUMC, and has been the director of the unit from its inception. The SCAN program has served as a model for the detection, evaluation, treatment and education in child abuse and neglect for the past 20 years, and is a referral center for both Nassau and Suffolk counties in New York State. The program was recognized as a Center of Excellence by then First Lady of New York State, Matilda Cuomo, who presented Dr. Silecchia with the NYS Decade of the Child Award in 1992.
Dr. Silecchia serves on the advisory board of the CHAMP Network (Child Abuse Medical Provider Network), and as a task force member contributed to the formation of the “New York State Department of Health & Department of Social Services “Child and Adolescent Sexual Offense Medical Protocol” (1997). She works closely with the prosecutorial & law enforcement agencies in Nassau County investigating cases of child abuse, as well as with the Nassau County Child Protective Services and the NC Coalition against Child Abuse and Neglect, where she has been the director of medical services for their child advocacy center since its formation. She has frequently testified in court as an advocate for the abused and neglected child & was appointed to the NC Family Violence Task Force in 2003.
Following her retirement from her present duties at the Nassau University Medical Center, Dr. Silecchia plans to continue with her advocacy role for abused and neglected children in Nassau County, New York.
Dr. Silecchia enjoys reading, photography, travelling with her husband Dominick Sabatino, M.D., director of pediatric hematology-oncology at NUMC and looks forward to spending more time with her three grandsons.