Psychiatry@YaleHeader08192011

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Doctor-writers De Souza, Isom participate in Yale Internal Medicine Residency Writers' Workshop

 

Two Yale Department of Psychiatry residents, Flavia De Souza, MD, MHS, left, and Jessica Isom, MD, MPH, right, were among nine participants in this year's Yale Internal Medicine Residency Writers' Workshop. In its 15th year, the program gathers residents (and for the first time this year an intern and a fellow) from across the medical school for two days of group critique and constructive feedback on their narrative stories and essays. The workshop was established in 2003 "to create an opportunity for residents to enhance their powers of observation and to share these observations with their colleagues," according to the program's website. De Souza and Isom were among the participants who took turns reading their writing to colleagues, family, and friends at a gathering Jan. 24 at Harkness Lounge at the medical school. The title of De Souza's piece was, "Losing Mother." Isom titled her writing, "The Joys of Motherhood." The essays were bound and distributed to the attendees. Read more

Lo, Iheanacho speak about street psychiatry, homelessness at Public Psychiatry Division meeting

 

Emma Lo, MD, right, a fourth-year resident in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, and Theddeus Iheanacho, MD, center, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Medical Director of the Errera Community Care Center at the VA Connecticut Health Care System, gave a talk titled, "Street Psychiatry: Innovations and Program Development in Connecticut" at the Jan. 18 Yale Division of Public Psychiatry meeting at the Connecticut Mental Health Center. Lo and Iheanacho spoke about their experiences helping homeless people in the New Haven area. Lo will join the faculty after her graduation in June to launch a Street Psychiatry program, and Iheanacho will continue working with homeless adults with severe mental illness and co-morbid substance use and other chronic disorders. Pictured with Lo and Iheanacho is Jeanne Steiner, DO, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Co-Director of the Yale Division of Public Psychiatry.

Yale researchers track the birth of memories

How and when the ability to form and store memories arises are topics of great interest to neuroscientists. Now Yale researchers have identified three distinct stages in brain development that occur before episodic memories can form. They measured brain activity in the hippocampus of newborn rats and found at the beginning of third week of postnatal life there was no evidence of neural activity that would allow the animal to link sequential events. George Dragoi, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience, is senior author of the study, published in the journal Science. Read more  

Brain biomarkers identify those at risk of severe PTSD symptoms

Using sophisticated computational tools, researchers in the Yale Department of Psychiatry and the Icahn School of Medicine have discovered biomarkers that may explain why symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can be so severe for some people and not for others. The findings were reported in Nature Neuroscience. "We are shedding new light on how people learn fear and unlearn it," said Ilan Harpaz-Rotem, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and co-corresponding author of the paper. Read more

Connectome-based prediction of cocaine abstinence

Sarah Yip, PhD, MSc, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, is the first author of a paper published in The American Journal of Psychiatry that tracks the results of a study that used connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) to identify neural networks predictive of future abstinence from cocaine. CPM is a machine learning approach for generating brain-behavior models from whole-brain functional connectivity data (known as connectomes). The study applied CPM to functional MRI reward task data acquired at the start of a 12-week treatment for cocaine use disorder. Read more  

One sheep, two sheep, when teens get no sleep

Hun Millard, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, and Ben Yu, MD, a second-year resident in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, are the authors of a paper published in the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry News that offers strategies to improve sleep habits for adolescents in inpatient care. "One Sheep, Two Sheep, When Teens Get No Sleep: Strategies for the Inpatient Adolescent Unit," highlights the importance of sleep and its relationship to strong physical and emotional health and balance. Read more  

Confronting racial violence; resident, unit and institutional responses

J. Corey Williams, MD, MA, left, past resident in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, and Robert Rohrbaugh, MD, right, Professor of Psychiatry and Residency Program Director, are co-authors of a paper published in Academic Medicine that seeks to stimulate discussion by addressing three specific questions about managing racist patients. The authors describe an experience on an inpatient unit of racial violence against Williams, now a Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Read more  

Cannabis use: Neurobiological, behavioral and sex/gender considerations

Anahita Bassir Nia, MD, left, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, and Mohini Ranganathan, MBBS, right, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, are the first and senior authors, respectively, of a paper published in Current Behavior Neuroscience Reports that summarizes the current literature on the effects of cannabinoids in humans and discusses the existing literature on the sex- and gender-related differences in the effects of cannabinoids. Read more  

Yale study tracks association between PTSD treatment utilization and compensation exams

Yale Department of Psychiatry researchers including, from left, Anne Black, PhD; Sarah Meshberg-Cohen, PhD; and Marc Rosen, MD, examined the association between post-traumatic stress disorder treatment utilization and compensation exams in a study published in PLOS One and featured on its special Veterans Disability & Rehabilitation Research Channel. Read more  

Effectiveness of medication assisted treatment for opioid use in prison and jail settings: A meta-analysis and systematic review

Sherry McKee, PhD, left, Professor of Psychiatry, is the senior author of a paper published in Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment that studied the effectiveness of medication assisted treatment (MAT) in prisons and jails. Lindsay Oberleitner, PhD, right, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, is a co-author. The study examined MAT's effectiveness on community substance use treatment engagement, opioid use, recidivism, and health risk behaviors following incarceration. Read more 

Steinfeld: Using musical metaphors to understand substructure of psychotherapy

Matthew Steinfeld, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, is the author of a paper published in Clinical Psychology: In Session that addresses how musical metaphors can be useful in understanding the substructure of psychotherapy. Steinfeld writes about the relationship between the musical and psychotherapeutic, with particular emphasis on resonance, including how people resonate with, and within, one another. Steinfeld is a classically trained trumpet player who has done research on the psychodynamics of music making. Read more 

Norko is named new editor of Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law

Michael A. Norko, MD, MAR, Professor of Psychiatry, is the new editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. As the past deputy editor for 15 years, he succeeds Ezra Griffith, MD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Yale, who was editor from 2000 to 2018. The journal is a publication of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, of which Norko was president in 2016-17. Journal content includes correctional psychiatry and psychiatric evaluation of people involved with the criminal or civil legal system, among other subjects. Read more 

Taylor accepts fellowship in clinical neuroscience at Harvard Medical School

Joseph J. Taylor, MD, PhD, a fourth-year resident in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, has accepted the Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation Fellowship in Clinical Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School. The fellowship is operated through the Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School. It is a two-year training program (with an optional third year) that includes seed funding for research as well as clinical and research mentorship by faculty in the Departments of Neurology and Psychiatry. Read more

MOMS Partnership® named finalist for 2019 Hearst Health Prize

Mental health Outreach for MotherS (MOMS) Partnership®, a program of Yale School of Medicine and the Yale Department of Psychiatry, on Jan. 31 was named one of three finalists for the 2019 Hearst Health Prize. The award is sponsored by Hearst Health, in partnership with Jefferson College of Population Health, to recognize organizations and individuals that have made outstanding achievements in managing or improving population health. It will be presented at Jefferson College of Population Health's 19th annual Population Health Colloquium in Philadelphia on March 18. Read more  

Opinion: Psychologists want to change how they treat men. That's a problem

Sally Satel, MD, Lecturer in Psychiatry, wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post that comments on the American Psychological Association's new "Guidelines for Psychological Practice With Boys and Men." The document, developed over 13 years and grounded, as the APA describes in a press release, in "more than 40 years of research showing that traditional masculinity is psychologically harmful," lists harmful aspects of everyday masculinity, including "emotional stoicism, homophobia, not showing vulnerability, self-reliance, and competitiveness." Read more  

High school students mentored by Hirsch semifinalists in prestigious science and math competition

Two New York high school students mentored last summer by Joy Hirsch, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry, of Comparative Medicine and of Neuroscience, were named semifinalists in the prestigious Regeneron Science Talent Search. Aaron Geula and Michelle Goh are high school seniors who did their research as summer interns in the High School Research Experience program that Hirsch runs in her lab at Yale School of Medicine every summer. The Regeneron talent search is the nation's oldest and most prestigious science and math competition. Read more  

Yale faculty at Davos explore the state of mind that is happiness

Does your mind lie to you about what will make you happy? Are popular notions of happiness supported by science? To explore these questions, three Yale faculty members, including Hedy Kober, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of the Clinical and Affective Neuroscience Lab at Yale, discussed the neuroscience of happiness with participants at an IdeasLab during the 2019 World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 22. Yale President Peter Salovey introduced the event, noting how Yale's faculty members are leading research on thought and behavior. Read more  

Yale Psychiatry collaborates on new program to train minorities in addiction psychiatry and addiction medicine

Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, directs a new program to help train and expand minorities in addiction psychiatry and addiction medicine. Known as Recognizing and Eliminating disparities in Addiction through Culturally-informed Healthcare (REACH), the program will provide treatment to under-served populations, as well. In the field of public health and medicine, minority representation among clinicians has been underrepresented and in the field of addiction medicine specialty training even more so. Read more  

HAPPINESS Project increases access to mental health treatment in Nigeria

Research from the World Health Organization has found that more than 500 million people worldwide suffer from mental health disorders, costing the global economy more than $1 trillion in U.S. dollars annually in lost productivity. In Africa these statistics can be even worse due to a variety of factors. Theddeus Iheanacho, MBBS, DTM&H, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, is working to help change that through his Health Action for Psychiatric Problems In Nigeria Including Epilepsy and Substances (HAPPINESS) Project. Read more  

Ali immersed in community exercise, gardening projects

Hana Ali, MD, has immersed herself in the New Haven community since she arrived at Yale in 2017 for psychiatry residency. When the weather was warm, the second-year resident volunteered for the Armory Community Garden, a project that transformed an expansive patch of grass off County Street into an abundant garden. Ali and her fellow gardeners traded trowels and watering cans for weights and workout gear this winter. On most Wednesdays and Saturdays, they gather for an up-tempo exercise class that promotes not only health but connects and engages community members. Read more  

Ketamine could be the key to reversing America's rising suicide rate

John Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Neuroscience and Chair of the Yale Department of Psychiatry, was quoted in a Feb. 5 Bloomberg Businessweek report on the anesthetic ketamine and its potential to eliminate suicidal thoughts in depressed patients. Krystal was at the forefront of groundbreaking research at Yale more than two decades ago on chronically depressed patients who experienced almost immediate relief from their symptoms after being administered ketamine. Now the first ketamine-based drug is poised to be approved for treatment-resistant depression. Read more  

D'Souza concerned about driver safety, use by young people if recreational marijuana is legalized in Connecticut

The debate over recreational marijuana legalization in Connecticut will be closely followed in the new legislative session. Deepak Cyril D'Souza, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, is among those concerned about safety, specifically law enforcement's inability to evaluate impaired drivers. He spoke at a news conference in Hartford on Jan. 23 organized by legal marijuana opponents and attended by police chiefs, medical experts, legislators, and high school students. He said rates of cannabis use among young people are higher in states where marijuana is legal. Read more  

Yale Resident/Fellow Senate sponsors roundtable on roles in stopping intimate partner violence

 

The Advocacy Council of the Yale Resident/Fellow Senate sponsored a roundtable discussion Jan. 23 titled, "What's Our Role in Stopping Intimate Partner Violence?" Speakers included Tami Sullivan, PhD, center, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Family Violence Research and Programs at Yale. Other speakers included Christy Cantu, LCSW, second from right, former post-graduate with the Yale Child Study Center and a member of Yale's Sexual Harassment and Assault Response and Education Center (SHARE). Also speaking was Anna Seidner, LMSW, second from left, a SHARE member. They are flanked by Will Rutland, MD, JD, MPH, left, a second-year resident in the Yale Department of Psychiatry and Co-Chair of the Advocacy Council, and Ben Yu, MD, a second-year psychiatry resident and Co-President of the Yale Psychiatry Residents' Association.

Yale Psychiatry faculty complete 2019 Humana Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon & Half Marathon

 

Four members of the Yale Department of Psychiatry faculty traveled west in January to compete in (and complete) the 2019 Humana Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon & Half Marathon. The race on Jan. 20 took runners through Phoenix, Scottsdale, and Tempe, Ariz., and was accompanied by a finish line festival and concerts along the course. More than 16,000 runners participated including, from left, Kirsten Wilkins, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Louis Trevisan, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Matthew Goldenberg, MD, MSc, Associate Professor of Psychiatry; and Brian Fuehrlein, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. Goldenberg finished the half marathon and Wilkins, Trevisan, and Fuehrlein completed the marathon. Wilkins reports that a great time was had by all after those last few painful miles were completed.

Psychiatry Grand Rounds

Friday, February 8, 2019; 10:15-11:30 am

Emergence of the Adult Brain: Insights from Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience

BJ Casey, PhD, Professor and Director, Fundamentals of the Adolescent Brain (FAB) Lab, Yale University

CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St.

Friday, February 15, 2019; 10:15-11:30 am

Insights and Inspiration from the First Decade of TMS Therapy in Psychiatry

Linda L. Carpenter, MD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior, Butler Hospital, Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University

CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St.

Friday, February 22, 2019; 10:15-11:30 am

Social Determinants of Health and Equity

Camara Phyllis Jones, MD, PhD, MPH, Senior Fellow, Satcher Health Leadership Institute and Cardiovascular Research Institute; Adjunct Associate Professor, Community Health & Preventive Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine

CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St.

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VA/Psychiatry Grand Rounds Shuttle

Shuttle service is provided from the VA to Psychiatry Grand Rounds at CMHC. Take the Yale University Shuttle that leaves the VA beginning at 9:00 am and every 20 minutes thereafter. Ask the driver to drop you off in front of CMHC. Riders should meet in front of Sterling Hall of Medicine at 333 Cedar St. after Grand Rounds for the return to the VA.

CME Credits

CMEs are awarded to those who complete an evaluation sheet.

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