Issue 21 | January 13, 2021 |
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Dear Faculty, Trainees, and Staff:
As I sat in my living room watching PBS and the account of the day’s news on Tuesday, January 5th, I was struck by an intense feeling of sadness and disgust, accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of helplessness. Watching the footage of what was an insurrection at our United States Capitol, where a complete disregard of human life and liberty were feeding a mob scene led by extremists, I felt momentarily paralyzed in formulating any kind of useful or helpful response for myself or anyone else. How did our country get to such a devastating low? What I was witnessing was not democracy. It has taken me some time to formulate a response to the devastating chaos that we have suffered. I have come to the following conclusion and, while the explanation of "why" and "how" we have hit such a low is complicated with many contributing factors, one major cause is crystal clear: Our lack of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our governing bodies, particularly the U.S. Senate, is a major problem. The existence of systemic racism and unchecked privilege clearly underscores this recent event.
The Atlantic highlights the discrepancy in staffing, where 29% of the U.S. population is comprised of African-Americans and Latinos, while only a little more than 3% of Senate staffers are URM. Shaun King, of the New York Daily News, wrote: “The lack of diversity, especially in the Democratic Senate Offices, is inexcusable and has a devastating impact on the positions and priorities taken by the Senators themselves.” Sadly, this Constitution is not limited to our government.
King’s very clear observation of reality further underscores the importance of our Department’s work in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Many faculty and staff across Divisions and programs have been involved in committee work, completing surveys, participating in focused groups, and helping to formulate action steps. I encourage everyone to find some way to become involved. Six months ago, I personally provided every faculty member a copy of White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. I provided this read as a way to help all of us gain an understanding of how we arrived at this point. There is no personal blame, but rather a historical context to understand how we have come to be where we are and perhaps what influence this has on how we think and behave, and to gain an awareness of what helps and what hurts. If you have not done so, please consider reading this as a starting place.
I deeply believe that no matter how devastating and wrong a particular event is, there is something to learn, to be gained and to assist a forward motion. Tuesday’s events have made me angry and I am even more determined to work harder, longer and louder to change the world we live in any way I can. I am determined to make a difference.
My ask to each of you is to find some way, in your own way, to join me in this effort. Individually we can each make a difference. Together we can have a profound influence!
Sincerely,
Jill RachBeisel, MD
Interim Chair, Department of Psychiatry
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THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY
DIVERSITY COMMITTEE & INITIATIVES
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The Department of Psychiatry Diversity Committee welcomes any and all faculty, residents/fellows, and staff to join the various sub-committees as follows:
-Social Justice Education & Curriculum
-Department Initiatives & Social Justice Training
-Research
-Faculty Recruitment & Retention
-Staff Recruitment & Retention
The Committee has formed a centralized hub on Microsoft Teams. All are welcome to visit the hub for updates, information, and resources by clicking here.
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For the third installment of our Department of Psychiatry Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Grand Rounds Series, we welcome Dr. Sarah Vinson (pictured left). Dr. Vinson is a triple-board certified Harvard and Emory trained physician who specializes in adult, child & adolescent, and forensic psychiatry. After graduating from the University of Florida College of Medicine with Research Honors and as an Inductee in the Chapman Humanism Honors Society, she completed her general psychiatry training at Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School. She then returned to the South to complete fellowships in both child & adolescent and forensic psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine.
Dr. Vinson will also be our Dana Lecture speaker on January 21 at 12 p.m. Please see the calendar invite sent yesterday.
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Please email Dr. Anique Forrester, MD,
at aforrest@som.umaryland.edu for more information.
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Join Dr. Quezada for her presentation today!
January 13, 2021
Sandra Quezada, MD, MS
Associate Dean for Admissions
Assistant Dean for Academic and Multicultural Affairs
Associate Professor of Medicine
Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
University of Maryland School of Medicine
“Anti-Racism as a Physician”
Password: 5678
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Minority Housestaff Organization |
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A subcommittee of the UMMC House Staff Association has been created specifically to advocate for institutional change as it relates to issues of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and create a space for under-represented minority trainees and those dedicated to DEI efforts to connect with one another.
Our organization's objectives are the following:
1. Networking – Create opportunities to build camaraderie and social interaction between trainees.
2. Mentorship – Serve as a support system for the local Student National Medical Association (SNMA) chapter and Latino Medical Student Association (LMSA) and a bridge to mentorship for trainees and minority faculty in the University of Maryland system.
3. Advocacy – Champion issues surrounding health equity and justice for patients and families that we serve.
4. Service – Engage in activities that support and give back to our Baltimore communities.
We are very excited about this new subcommittee! Please help us circulate the news by forwarding to your Department. Residents, fellows and faculty interested in participating should complete this survey by Feb. 26.
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PSYCHIATRY UPDATES
The Department of Psychiatry would like to update you on our awards, publications, patents, & more!
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MPRC CONTE CENTER SEMINAR SERIES |
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Please save the date and RSVP to the calendar link sent last week!
Date: February 3
Time: 1 p.m.
Speaker: Sophie Erhardt, PhD
Professor of Experimental Psychiatry
Department of Pharmacology and Physiology Karolinska Institute, Stockholm (Sweden)
Title: "Immune-induced activation of kynurenic acid - relevance for psychosis and cognition"
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CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR
C&A AND C-L FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMS!
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The Department of Psychiatry would like to congratulate the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program and Consultation-Liaison Fellowship for successfully filling their Fellowship Programs. Both Programs were matched to capacity, which displays the competitive draw of our team and our work. Additionally, of the 9 recruits, 5 are URMs.
Please join us in welcoming our new Fellows!
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Gold Humanism Honor Society |
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Angelina Pham, MD, and Jooyoung Lee, MD, were selected for the Gold Humanism Honor Society chapter at the University of Maryland School of Medicine by the graduating medical class.
The honor reflects their compassion, humanism, and dedication to patients and students, and only six residents are selected per year. Congratulations, Drs. Pham and Lee!
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Max Spaderna, MD, Melanie Bennett, PhD, Rachel Arnold, BA, and Eric Weintraub, MD, recently published the cross-collaborative article, "Case Series of Patients with Opioid Use Disorder and Suicidal Ideation Treated with Buprenorphine."
The article presents a case series of 14 OUD patients with suicidal ideation, and data provides evidence that buprenorphine may be useful in resolving these types of cases. For the full read, click here.
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Nicole Lestikow, MD
Dr. Nicole Lestikow is a reproductive psychiatrist and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She completed both medical school and residency at Johns Hopkins, where she trained under Drs. Jennifer Payne and Lauren Osborne, who are national leaders in women’s mental health. She has been at the University of Maryland since 2017, where she is an outpatient psychiatrist specializing in treating women during pregnancy and post-partum. She enjoys teaching and supervising residents and fellows in training and helping them to become proficient in treating women across the reproductive life cycle.
She is on the Education Committee of the National Curriculum in Reproductive Psychiatry (NCRPtraining.org), whose mission is to help institutions provide training in women’s mental health to psychiatrists and other practitioners. Over the past two years, she has written several textbook chapters and a journal article on: treating maternal mental illness during pregnancy, perinatal OCD, treating depression during perimenopause, and PCOS and comorbid depression. She is particularly proud of her recent Letter to the Editor in the January 2021 edition of The American Journal of Psychiatry entitled, “Is Valproate Reasonable?” which outlines psychiatry’s changing understanding of the risks of this medication in pregnancy. She will be arguing in the February edition of Clinical Psychiatry News that it is time for reproductive psychiatry to be officially recognized as a subspecialty by the ACGME.
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Todd Gould, MD, was recently awarded the patent for "DNA Methylation Biomarkers of Post-Partum Depression Risk."
In collaboration with Dr. Zak Kaminsky at John’s Hopkins, the collaborative team published the following paper six years ago:
Guintivano J, Arad M, Gould TD, Payne JL, Kaminsky ZA. Mol Psychiatry. 2014 May;19(5):560-7. doi: 10.1038/mp.2013.62. Epub 2013 May 21.
Dr. Gould and the team identified DNA Methylation Biomarkers of Post-Partum Depression Risk, and the invention relates to the use of DNA methylation biomarkers to diagnose or predict post-partum depression.
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Faculty from the UMB Schools of Medicine, Nursing, and Pharmacy collaborated with The Society for Interdisciplinary Placebo Studies (SIPS) to design an interdisciplinary, international scientific conference to advance the science of placebo research, and apply this knowledge to alcohol and other substance use and pain disorders. The conference is sponsored by NIAAA and the Samueli Institute, and is funded through an NIH R13 with Chamindi Seneviratne, MD, as the MPI and with Luana Colloca, MD, PhD, MS, as PI. It will be hosted virtually and the call for abstracts for workshops and posters has been extended until Jan 15, 2021.
Click on this link for more information: https://lnkd.in/d3SJcGj. CE/CME for clinicians will be offered as part of registration!
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Did you know? A person can touch their face approximately 23 times per hour!
In helping to slow the spread, Hina Dubin, MD, was recently featured in The Wall Street Journal with tips for people to avoid touching their faces. Dr. Dubin's tips included wearing perfume on your wrists or scented lotion to be more aware of when your hands are near your face, holding a stress ball or an object to prevent fidgeting, and more.
For the full read and if you're a WSJ subscriber, click here.
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Thanks to all for your contributions, and please email Lisa Cleary at lcleary@som.umaryland.edu with submissions. Our suggested categories include:
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- Clinical trials and studies
- Community service
- Education
- Events, lectures, panels, & workshops
- Faculty appointments
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- Grants and contracts, and collaborative opportunities
- Honors and awards
- IT news
- Media press
- Publications
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