Dear colleagues,

As you may have heard at this week's town hall meeting from Dr. Podolsky, the Texas Legislature, in the just completed Session, has directed the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) to assume responsibility for initial operations with construction approaching completion, rather than UT Southwestern. HHSC was further directed to explore options for the long-term operator through a RFI process.  

While this is disappointing news to all of us at UT Southwestern and especially for us as a department, there is a lot to be proud of. Many of you have contributed enormous amounts of hours towards the design and building of what will be a state-of-the-art mental health facility in North Texas. Irrespective of who ends up operating it, the hospital will be an added resource to patients with mental illness who, we hope, will receive the care they deserve. 

Over the next few months, UT Southwestern will support the transition to HHSC. As we disengage from the hospital, do not hesitate to reach out should you have any questions.

Thank you for all your dedication to our patients and their families.

Tarek K. Rajji, M.D.

NEW! OBI Trainee Travel Grants

The O'Donnell Brain Institute is accepting applications for grants that support OBI-affiliated trainees who are presenting original research at national and international conferences. A trainee is defined as a Ph.D. student, postdoctoral scientist, resident, or clinical fellow, and the grant awards are up to $2,500 each. Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis for the remainder of 2025.

APP Celebration Week Award Nominations

Nominations are being accepted for the 2025 APP Outstanding Achievement Awards through June 27 in the following categories:

• Teaching 
• Ambulatory Clinical Practice 
• Inpatient Clinical Practice 
• Leadership  
• Professional and Community Service 
• Scholarly Endeavors
• APP CHAMPion (non-APP leader/faculty/staff partner/advocate for APP)

Nominations are also open for the APP CHAMPion of the Year, which recognizes a non-APP leader, faculty, or staff member who excels in partnership and advocacy for APPs in their daily work.

UT Southwestern faculty and employees are eligible to submit to each category. Winners will be announced during APP Celebration Week, September 22-26.  

Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program Incoming Class of 2029

We are thrilled to announce the incoming class of 2025, who will be joining us this August!

A special thank you to the Admissions Committee, chaired by Laura Lacritz, Ph.D., and co-chaired by Aleksandra Foxwell, Ph.D., for their dedication and hard work.

Please join us in extending a warm welcome to our new students.

Leadership Positions Posted

We have several application opportunities available for leadership positions in our department--

Division Chiefs:

• Addiction Psychiatry
• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Geriatric Psychiatry

Staff Roles:

• Manager of Marketing and Communications
• Research Programs Manager
• Senior Grants and Contracts Specialist, Translational Neuroscience
• Supervisor of Clinical Research

Please consider applying or sharing the application links with people you know who may be interested to join us!

Kaltra Dhima, Ph.D., ABPP, a Boston native, earned her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at UT Southwestern. She subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at Cleveland Clinic.

Starting in 2020, Dr. Dhima served as Assistant Professor of Clinical Neurology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, working primarily with patients with movement disorders, clinically and in research. She is thrilled to return to UT Southwestern as a faculty member. 

NEW! Valerie Loehr, Ph.D., was featured in Southern Methodist University's alumni spotlight.

Read the Article

NEW! Betsy Kennard, Psy.D., participated in a live Good Morning Texas interview on how the SPARC program at Children's Health offers support for patients experiencing mental health challenges and suicidal ideation.

Watch the Interview

Sam Baker of KERA News (NPR for North Texas) interviewed Maria Chahrour, Ph.D., regarding her research into the role of genetics in autism. 

Listen to the Audio / Read the Transcript

NEW! Tope Adedolapo, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., was selected as Deputy Representative for Area 5 to the Assembly Committee of Resident-Fellow Members at the American Psychiatric Association.

Abhisek Khandai, M.D. was appointed as Chair for the American Psychiatric Association Council on Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

Congratulations to our outstanding residents who have received American Psychiatric Association / APA Foundation Fellowships for 2025-2026!

NAMIWalks North Texas 2025 Walk of Fame

NAMI North Texas honored our Psychiatry Team Confabulous for "energy, heart, and hustle" in its annual walk to raise funds and awareness for individuals and families in the community to access free mental health education, support groups, and other needed resources.

Pam Blumenthal Community Service Award

The Suicide Prevention & Resilience in Children (SPARC) team, including Betsy Kennard, Psy.D., Mehak Gupta, and Jessica Heerschap, Ph.D., received the Dallas Psychological Association's Pam Blumenthal Community Service Award for adapting the SPARC intensive outpatient program to the child and adolescent outpatient clinics at Metrocare.

Golden Heart Award

Jessica Churchwell, LCSW, was honored for clinical excellence in service to patients at the Richardson Clinic.

2025 Cary Council DocStars Grant

Jeffrey Schaffert, Ph.D., was selected for funding for the 2025 DocStars Award by the Cary Council for the research study “IMaging, PlasmA, and Cognitive Trajectories in amateur FOOTBALL players (IMPACT-FOOTBALL).”

OBI Sprouts Grant Award

The O’Donnell Brain Institute Sprouts Grants support trainees taking an independent role in formulating and investigating a new research question relevant to their ongoing study. Ruining (Rae) Hu, M.S., Neuroscience Graduate Student, Choi Lab, was awarded a grant for “Elucidating the Circuit Mechanisms for Somatosensory Regulation of Sleep.”

APA Poster Honor

The American Psychiatric Association's New Research Press Briefing selected a poster co-authored by resident Jasmine Liu-Zarzuela, M.D., M.P.H., reporting on research about music and mental health, for presentation and a news release at the APA's Annual Meeting.

Associate Editor for AJP Residents' Journal

The American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal has selected Dhruba Banerjee, M.D., as an Associate Editor.

Residents well represented our training program at the American Psychiatric Association's residency fair portion of its annual meeting, speaking to interested candidates about our many opportunities for postgraduate education. Temitope Adedolapo, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., Courtney Chineme, D.O., Brendalyn Iweh, M.D., Isreal Munoz, M.D., Jasmine Liu-Zarzuela, M.D., M.P.H. and Abibat (Tobi) Saliu, M.D., volunteered at the event, and Enrique Chiu Han, M.D., helped with the swag.

Jeffrey Schaffert, Ph.D., presented a webinar on "Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus: Overview and Neuropsychological Outcomes" for the National Academy of Neuropsychology's Online Learning program.

In the General Session at the American Psychiatric Association meeting in Los Angeles, Jonathan DeVries, D.O., and Diana Robinson, M.D., presented with colleagues a workshop in on "Improving Management of Critically Ill Patients in the ICU."

UT Southwestern Medical School graduate and rising PGY1 in our triple board program Abigail Lewis, M.D., presented the poster on "Treatment of Catatonia in Bipolar 1 Disorder with NMDA-Receptor Antagonist Memantine: A Case Series," with Dr. Robinson at the APA meeting.

Upon selection from an international applicant pool, Enrique Chiu Han, M.D., and Christian S. Monsalve, M.D., participated in the APA's 2025 Research Colloquium for Junior Psychiatrist Investigators in Los Angeles. 

Christian S. Monsalve, M.D., chaired the APA's General Session "Comparison of Clinical Guidelines for Pediatric Gender Dysphoria: What is the Role of Systematic Evidence Reviews?" Speakers included Stephen Levine, M.D., Kristopher Kaliebe, M.D., and Kathleen McDeavitt, M.D., stretching the capacity of the meeting room with around 250 attendees.

Training program alumni, and incoming faculty members, Bernice Yau, M.D., and Matt Yung, M.D., presented with Adam Brenner, M.D., for the APA Meeting's Trainee-Track on the topic "No Publications, No Problem! How to Write a Paper and Get Involved in Psychiatry Research as a Trainee," which was co-written by Maravet Baig-Ward, M.D., Ph.D. (not pictured).

Our residents Thomas Pak, M.D., Ph.D., and Tope Adedolapo, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., were among the standing room only attendees.

Our department was superbly represented at the NAMIWalks North Texas event on May 17. In addition to walking and interacting with many members of the community, we hosted a booth about our interventional psychiatry program. Joseph Guillory, M.D., Psychiatry Team Captain and President of NAMI North Texas, presented to the assembled participants about the NAMI mission.

The Multispecialty Psychiatry Clinic Therapy Team completed a team-building/strength-building seminar.

The UT Southwestern Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, directed by Kehinde Obikoya, M.D., held its annual mock trial on May 1. Justice Nancy Kennedy presided over a mock medical malpractice suit following a death by suicide, with attorneys Alina Caratas and Elena Hartnett from the Dallas County District Attorney's Office representing the plaintiff and the defense for the hospital along with fellows from psychiatry and psychology working the case with faculty member participants for each side.

At the 2025 Dewitt C. Alfred, MD Psychiatric Symposium at Morehouse School of Medicine, Temitope Adedolapo, M.D., M.S., M.B.A., presented on the department's Strategic Planning Group for addressing trainee's ACGME feedback for which Dr. Adedolapo received a Participation Award.

NEW! Psychiatry, Brains and Behavior WIPs

Wednesday, June 18, 11:00am-12:00pm, ND4.218

Neehar Girimaji (Yamamoto Lab), who recently graduated with a master’s degree, will present. This series is hosted by the Psychiatry Neuroscience Division.