Alen J. Salerian

Alen Johannes Salerian, M.D., (born 1947 in Turkey) is an Armenian former psychiatrist who lives in Bethesda, Maryland.
Early life and education
Salerian is a Christian Armenian from Turkey. He has a twin brother, Houston oil executive Nansen G. Saleri. He received his medical degree from Istanbul University in Turkey in 1971.
Career
Between 2001 and 2010, Salerian operated his own private practice, the Washington Center for Psychiatry in Washington, D.C. In 2010, Salerian renamed the practice The Salerian Center for Neuroscience and Pain.
Consultant
Salerian worked as a psychiatric consultant to the FBI.
Salerian regularly appeared on Channel 9 as an on-air commentator.
Robert Hanssen confidentiality
Even though Hanssen's attorney said that Salerian signed an agreement to never discuss anything that came out of these conversations with Robert Hanssen, Salerian gave an interview about Hanssen's mental state to CBS News. Hanssen fired Salerian.
Salerian's license to practice medicine in Maryland expired in September 2001. He applied for reinstatement of his license in September 2002, only to be told the board was charging him with immoral and unprofessional conduct and violating attorney-client and physician-patient privilege. An administrative law judge initially recommended that Salerian have his license revoked, that he be barred from applying for reinstatement for up to three years and be fined $20,000 but in January 2005, the board decided instead that Salerian be fined $5,000 and be placed on probation for two years, which would not end until he completed an ethics course. Salerian challenged the action, but it was upheld by the Montgomery County Circuit Court. Salerian appealed to the Maryland Court of Special Appeals, and was rejected in 2007.
In 2005, Salerian was suspended for two years from the American Psychiatric Association and the Washington Psychiatric Society, because Salerian was found to have violated Section 2.5 of the “Principles of Medical Ethics with Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry" in that Salerian breached patient confidentiality.
Legal issues
On April 25, 2013, Salerian was indicted by the United States Department of Justice on drug trafficking charges. The indictment alleges that between 2007 and April 5, 2012, Salerian distributed and dispensed, and caused the distribution and dispensing, of the prescription pain medications OxyContin, oxycodone, methadone, Opana ER, and fentanyl to his psychiatric patients without a legitimate medical purpose and beyond the bounds of medical practice. Salerian was scheduled to go on trial at the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon on February 10, 2014. He has been charged with 143 counts of unlawfully distributing drugs and one count of conspiracy to distribute schedule drugs without a legitimate medical purpose. However, Salerian's trial was postponed on February 7, 2014 when the judge in the case ordered him to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.
In April 2014, a Virginia judge declared Salerian "mentally incompetent" to stand trial. Salerian is free on bond.
Personal life
Salerian resides in Bethesda, Maryland. With wife Judith Salerian, he has three sons, Dr. Justin A. Salerian, Gregory Salerian, and Ara Salerian, and one daughter, Chloe Salerian.

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