Issue 23 | March 4, 2021 |
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Dear Faculty, Trainees, and Staff:
I am pleased and excited to formally announce the appointment of Dr. Anique Forrester as the newly established Chief of Diversity for the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. Forrester completed her medical degree at Howard University and her adult residency at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. She then also completed her Psychosomatic Medicine Fellowship at Thomas Jefferson. During her 4th year of residency and Fellowship, Dr. Forrester was awarded The APA SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Grant by the American Psychiatric Association to promote diversity and cultural awareness in Psychiatry from 2010-2012.
Over the past 18 months, as Chair of our Diversity Committee, Dr. Forrester has demonstrated her passion and commitment to the area of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and has assisted our Divisions and program leaders through the critical steps of understanding where we are as a Department. She has helped the Department begin to envision where we want to be and encouraged the formulation of action steps to define how to move forward. Dr. Forrester has fostered open and honest communication, and encouraged our leaders to establish safe spaces to have the necessary difficult conversations that will make a difference. Dr. Forrester has worked hard to provide all of us with an understanding of the process to engage each other in this important journey -- while, at the same time, emphasizing the need for patience to allow the time necessary to permit healing and a redefining of our Department.
In this expanded role, Dr. Forrester will be able to dedicate the necessary time and energy connecting to others doing similar work on campus, across the system, regionally and nationally, to help us continue on our journey. She will continue to help guide our work that will enable our Department to become a top leader of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in academic medicine. We are so fortunate to have Dr. Anique Forrester as a member of our leadership team!
Please join me in welcoming Dr. Anqiue Forrester as our new Chief of Diversity!
Sincerely,
Jill RachBeisel, MD
Chair, Department of Psychiatry
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Congratulations to Jill A. RachBeisel, MD!
Please join the Department of Psychiatry for the virtual Investiture Ceremony for Jill A. RachBeisel, MD!
Date: March 18, 2021
Time: 4:30 PM - 5:30 PM
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IMPORTANT MANDATORY TRAINING REMINDER FOR ALL CLINICIANS |
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Open Notes in EPIC formally begins on April 5 by Federal Law, and all Department of Psychiatry clinicians (all disciplines) must attend the Open Note training entitled:
"The 21st Century Cures Act and Open Notes: Documenting with a new lens -No information blocking!”
Next sessions via Webex:
March 9: 4-5 pm
March 12: 1-2 pm
March 16: 8-9 am
Slides will be made available on the website and the recorded webinar will also be available. Attendance is being taken!
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THE DEPARTMENT OF PSYCHIATRY
DIVERSITY COMMITTEE & INITIATIVES
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The Department of Psychiatry Diversity Committee has had an active and productive academic year. We have been pleased with the overwhelmingly positive response to our Grand Rounds series, ending with the most recent lecture from Dr. Ruth Shim.
Our focus for the remainder of this academic year is to assist Divisions and programs with completing their individual needs assessments. Needs assessments should be focused on group-specific goals related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. A how-to guide is located in our Teams hub.
We will also be working on outreach to various community-based organizations, so that we can expand our forward facing initiatives and increase our impact here in the local community. We invite all members of the Department to share stories of success, reflection, and updates on current diversity initiatives directly with Dr. Forrester at aforrest@som.umaryland.edu for inclusion in the newsletter.
The next Diversity committee meeting will occur on Thurs., April 22 at 4pm. All are invited to attend our monthly meetings.
Please email Anique Forrester, MD,
at aforrest@som.umaryland.edu for more information.
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Save the Date: Cultural Diversity Day
The Hidden Trauma of the Addicted Family
Date: Thursday, May 6
Time: 8:oo am-1:30 pm
Hosted by: The University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of
Psychiatry and The University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt Psychiatry Residency Program
To be held virtually via Webex, details to follow.
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A Memorial Tribute to
Joel Greenspan, PhD: A case study in mentorship
I had the great privilege of being introduced to Dr. Joel Greenspan in what ended up being the final year of his life. I was trying to find a basic science researcher who was willing to teach me about “objective” measures of chronic pain and, hopefully, collaborate on a grant to study chronic pain among caregivers of special needs children. Our first meeting was at his office. Dr. Greenspan pulled out a box of what looked like a series of mechanical pencils. He touched one of the instruments to his finger and explained that each probe varied in degree of sharpness, but none were sharp enough to pierce the skin. He gestured for me to put my hand on the table and he demonstrated how to test for pain sensitivity. I had expected Dr. Greenspan to talk with me about high tech scans, EEGs, or anything that would at least require a power source. However, this luminary of basic science pain research was sitting with me at a simple table and tapping my finger with a small mechanical instrument. It suddenly occurred to me how attentively he had listened to me. “I could do this whole protocol with the parent at a home visit when we go to assess the child,” I marveled. He smiled and simply responded, “Yes.”
We met another 4-5 times at his office. Each visit followed a similar pattern. He extracted articles, books, equipment, and graphs to show me from various corners of his office, sometimes taped to his walls. In between visits, I would send Dr. Greenspan my cringe-worthy grant text on pain testing, and he would always respond with clear and encouraging edits. When I asked him how much to include for him on the budget, he responded, “As little as you can get away with.” He even managed to get equipment quotes for me from a European company that was shut down at the beginning of the pandemic. The grant was eventually submitted, but it did not get funded. Dr. Greenspan emailed me, “This is indeed a disappointing result, but a common fate for first grant submissions. It was a pleasure working with you…” That was our final communication.
The loss of Dr. Greenspan from our UMB family comes at the same time that our Department of Psychiatry implements a new faculty mentorship program. This program is starting during a less than ideal time, when zoom meetings have replaced in-person interactions and we are seeking new ways to connect with each other. However, the model of Dr. Greenspan transcends these practical barriers. Kindness, attentiveness, and wisdom are the essential ingredients of a senior mentor. I am excited for junior faculty to learn more from the senior experts in our Department and our institution. Dr. Greenspan will be greatly missed from this exchange of ideas, but I am grateful to have his example for what is possible, and equally appreciative that our Department is setting where this type of mentorship is so greatly valued. I encourage our junior faculty to take a risk, sign up for the mentorship program, and get reinspired in your work by spending more time with senior experts. To me, a great reward of an academic career is to spend time with a Joel Greenspan, a mentor to many and someone who committed to discovery through both the caliber of his work and the generosity of his teaching.
Regards,
Gloria Reeves, MD
Vice Chair of Research Services, Department of Psychiatry
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LET'S GET SOCIAL!
Follow our Department's social media channels!
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This past September, Melanie Bennett, PhD, was awarded a NIMH R01 grant to further the Department's early psychosis work. The grant serves to create a regional hub across Maryland and Pennsylvania that will contribute to Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET), a national learning health care system focused on improving early intervention services for young adults experiencing first episode psychosis and their families. These services, called Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC), include pharmacotherapy, behavioral/cognitive behavioral-based psychotherapy, and more. EPINET includes 8 regional hubs that link over 100 CSC programs across the United States through use of standard clinical measures to conduct practice-based research that will improve early psychosis care.
Departmental Co-Investigators include Drs. Robert Buchanan, Richard Goldberg, Julie Kreyenbuhl, Alicia Lucksted, and Deborah Medoff. The project further represents a collaboration among five institutions across Maryland and Pennsylvania, along with both state behavioral health systems.
Our regional hub, called Connection Learning Health System, represents a network of 20 CSC programs serving over 500 young adults and their families. Within our Department, this project is linking data engineers, managers, and analysts in the Division of Psychiatric Services Research (DPSR); clinicians providing early intervention services at programs based in the Division of Community Psychiatry and at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC); and evidence-based practice trainers and consultants within the state-funded Behavioral Health Systems Improvement Collaborative (housed within DPSR).
The NIMH has recently published a feature about the overall initiative that can be found here:
Make sure to also attend the March 18 Department Grand Rounds for more information on this widespread collaboration!
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KUDOS TO OUR EDUCATION PROGRAMS! |
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The Department of Psychiatry Residency Program and all our affiliated Fellowship Programs were granted continued accreditation by the ACGME. Many thanks to all our Faculty who teach all our trainees.
Kudos go out to those pictured above, from left to right: Anique Forrester, MD, CL Psychiatry Fellowship Director, Sarah Edwards, MD, Child Psychiatry Fellowship Director, Devang Gandhi, MD, Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Director, and Annette Hanson, MD, Director of the University of Maryland Psychiatry Forensic Fellowship Director.
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Sylvia McCree-Huntley, EdD, recently published the children's book, Embracing You! The title focuses on a child who is homeless, and exposes the importance of families finding housing to avoid disruptions in the lives of children.
According to HUD Annual Homeless Assessment Report, approximately 140,000 children under the age of five were considered homeless, which may present traumatic symptoms for some children. Therefore, an awareness of children's feelings, behaviors, and thoughts may affect their schooling.
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Sasha Deutsch-Link, MD, Annabelle M. Belcher, PhD, Ebonie Massey, MA, Thomas O. Cole, MA, Michael A. Wagner, PhD, Amy S. Billing, MS, Aaron D. Greenblatt, MD, Eric Weintraub, MD, and Eric D. Wish, PhD, authored the article, "Race-based differences in drug use prior to onset of opioid use disorder," which appeared in the Journal of Ethnicity in Substance Abuse. The study explored race differences in demographic variables, including age and use of substance classes.
The article serves as an important collaboration between the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and University of Maryland, College Park, and can be read here.
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David Mallott, MD, is currently hosting the newly released podcast for The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease.
To date, Dr. Mallott has interviewed Drs. Joel Yager, Robert Drake, Paul Lysacker, Kenneth Kendler, Laura Hirschbein, and more.
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National Center School Mental Health
Sharon Hoover, PhD, recently co-wrote and published the article, "Best practices and considerations for student mental health screening in schools" in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Click here to read.
Drs. Jill Bohnenkamp, Cindy Schaeffer, Tiffany Beason, and Sharon Hoover published, " Impact of a school-based, multi-tiered emotional and behavioral health crisis intervention on school safety and discipline," in Prevention Science, which can be found here.
Cindy Schaeffer, PhD, co-wrote, "Responsible behavior with younger children: Examining the feasibility of a classroom-based program to prevent child sexual abuse perpetration by adolescents," in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, here.
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Annabelle (Mimi) Belcher, PhD, was recently awarded the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Abstract Submission Award Honorable Mention: Underserved Population for her abstract, “Implementation of a Telemedicine-MOUD Program in a Rural Jail During COVID-19.”
The recognition is presented to the primary author of a very high scoring abstract, and Dr. Belcher will present at the virtual ASAM 2021 conference. Congratulations!
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Deborah Brooks, MD
I attended Brown University for both undergrad and medical school, and did my psychiatry training -- both adult and child -- here at the University of Maryland.
I am currently an Assistant Professor and the Associate Program Director for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship. I am the Treasurer of our local Maryland Regional Council for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and am also on the national AACAP committee for telepsychiatry. Further, I coordinate our clinical care efforts with the Department of Juvenile Services, supervise both residents and fellows, see patients both at the 701 Child Clinic and with the PA, and am the main child consult attending this year.
Overall, I am interested in wellness, psychiatry teaching and administration, telepsychiatry, juvenile justice populations, and sleep (both the activity and the study of). I have an almost one-year-old son named Max and two cats, Pandora and Minerva.
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Elaine Weiner, PhD
I started at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC), Outpatient Research Program (ORP) during my PGY 4th year elective because of interest in clozapine; at the time the ORP was participating in a multicenter study of clozapine and was one of the first programs using clozapine in outpatients. I continued as Medical Director, supervising clinical staff, performing administrative responsibilities related to Outpatient Mental Health Clinic (OMHC) licensure and CARF accreditation, and supporting the research mission through clinical care and providing input as to research directions around treatment resistance.
Last spring, I became the Medical Director also of the First Episode Clinic (FEC), where I will have similar responsibilities -- though in this case, I am providing input to the research mission around care for early psychosis. Over the years, I developed expertise in clozapine management and smoking cessation in people with schizophrenia, as well as developing programing, writing protocols, and publishing papers in this area.
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Shanique Rogers-Henry, Olawunmi Ibraheem, Carole Norris-Shortle, and Samantha Halle, of the Center for Infant Study (CIS), wrote a book, Caty Cat Stays Safe During Coronavirus.
The title will debut at the Behavioral Health Administration (BHA) CAYAS conference on March 9.
Additionally, D'Lisa Worthy, MEd, will be reading Caty Cat for the state-wide Children's Mental Health Matters Campaign this May, where First Lady Yumi Hogan is the Chair. Dr. Nancy Lever and the National Center for School Mental Health will also be integrating Caty Cat into the school packets for dissemination. Thanks all for sharing your incredible talents!
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Sharon Hoover, PhD, was quoted in The Washington Post article, "Partly hidden by isolation, many of the nation’s school children struggle with mental health." The article, found here, detailed a rise in children’s mental health concerns in the context of COVID, and describes how families and schools are responding.
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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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