David Self, Ph.D., Chief, Division of Psychiatry Neurosciences, is retiring at the end of this month. I am grateful for his long years of service, leadership, and scientific work accomplished while here. David came from Yale in 2000, recruited by Eric Nestler, M.D., Ph.D., soon after his own arrival. David took over leadership of the Psychiatry Neuroscience Division directly after Dr. Nestler left in 2008. During his tenure, David built the Division of Psychiatry Neurosciences into a significant presence, currently including 11 independent labs, mostly using the school’s Endowed Scholars Program, which recruits only the best scientists and endows them generously. We are grateful for David's persistence and success. In his research, he has focused on drug addiction, specifically on the mechanisms of drug reinforcement and craving; plasticity of the drug addiction mechanisms; and how these plasticity changes contribute to addiction outcomes. He has published extensively in the peer literature, invited papers, and chapters. Moreover, he has contributed to our educational efforts, primarily in the graduate school with neuroscience students. I am grateful that David will stay on as an adjunct faculty member with an office on NC6. So, you still might see him wandering the halls.

David Self, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, holds the Wesley Gilliland Professorship in Biomedical Research and is an Investigator in the Peter O’Donnell Jr. Brain Institute and the Seay Center for Basic and Applied Research in Psychiatric Illness. Dr. Self joined the UT Southwestern faculty and the Neuroscience Graduate Program in 2000. His research is focused on the neurobiology of drug addiction, and he has pioneered work on the role of neuroadaptations to drug use in the development of addictive behaviors. He has identified important neurobiological mechanisms underlying drug craving and relapse to drug use. Dr. Self is a member of several professional societies, including the Society for Neuroscience and the Society for Biological Psychiatry, and received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for “innovative integration of state-of-the-art molecular biological techniques with sophisticated behavioral, pharmacological, and biochemical methods.” He also received the prestigious Daniel H. Efron Basic Research Award from the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Since 2013, Dr. Self has served as Chief of the Psychiatry Neuroscience Division, where he guided the Division’s future development with recruitment of some of the nation’s top tier young scientists in fields ranging from complex genetic regulation to neural circuits involved in normal and aberrant behaviors relating to mental illness. He will be retiring August 31. His efforts leave the Division with a new generation of top scientists poised to make outstanding contributions to the field.

New Assistant Professor Faculty Members on the Clinician Educator Track:

New Staff:

The American Board of Pediatrics and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology have approved our application for a new Pediatrics-Psychiatry/Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, which will begin during the 2023-2024 academic year. Kathie Trello-Rishel, M.D., will be the director.

The Texas Academy of Family Physicians Foundation Research Grants Committee has funded Brittany Hall, Ph.D., as a Co-Investigator with Rebecca Eary, D.O., M.P.H., an assistant professor in the Family and Community Medicine department, for their study “Exploring Distress in Patients with a History of Cancer Who Access Primary Care Cancer Survivorship Clinics.” The funding includes ongoing research support for students.

Christian LoBue, Ph.D., was awarded a 5-year NIA K23 that will use noninvasive brain stimulation and blood biomarker tools to inform if a history of concussion relates to biological changes in prodomal Alzheimer’s disease. The project has the potential to identify if concussions serve as a risk factor for dementia related syndromes in aging. He will be working with Drs. John Hart, Munro Cullum, and Shawn McClintock at UT Southwestern, and will also be collaborating with scientists at UCLA, UCSD, and Weill Cornell Medical College.

Also, the Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium (TARCC) has funded Dr. LoBue and Hsueh-Sheng Chiang, M.D. (Co-PIs), for a 2-year clinical trial that will investigate the therapeutic application of noninvasive brain stimulation in prodromal Alzheimer’s disease. They will use neuropsychological tests and electroencephalography to understand strategies for applying electromodulation to potentially improve word retrieval deficits as well as any underlying mechanisms of change.

Shawn McClintock, Ph.D., and the Interventional Psychiatry Program were awarded a $2.5 million, 5-year NIMH R01 that will use advanced neuroimaging, neurophysiology, and cognitive technologies to inform the mechanisms underlying clinical and cognitive outcomes of electroconvulsive therapy. They will work in collaboration with study teams at the University of Pennsylvania, University of New Mexico, and UCLA. Dr. McClintock also was awarded Fellow status by the American Psychological Association, a high honor bestowed by the world's largest psychology organization that is only awarded to psychologists who have made substantial contributions to the field.

Munro Cullum, Ph.D., Nyaz Didehbani, Ph.D., and Jeff Schaffert, Ph.D., have been awarded a grant from the Darrell K. Royal Foundation to study brain health in former collegiate athletes, entitled the College LEvel Aging AThlete Study (CLEAATS).

Anne Carlew, Ph.D., recently shared her research and clinical experiences with the Dallas BvB Dallas organization, which sponsored her postdoctoral fellowship in Neuropsychology. Dr. Carlew is a wonderful example of the BvB Fellows in Neuropsychology we have had over the past 6 years under the leadership of Laura Lacritz, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology and Director of Neuropsychological Services and training at UT Southwestern. Dr. Carlew's support from Dallas BvB also led to the award of a research grant from the Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium to extend her research on early detection and neuropsychological characterization of dementia. Dr. Lacritz was awarded a new 2-year training grant from the BvB Dallas Foundation in support of a 2-year fellowship focused on post-doctoral training in neuropsychology with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, her thirrd training grant from BvB Dallas. The new BvB Dallas Fellow will arrive in October, Dr. Holly Winiarski.

Lia Thomas, M.D., has been appointed Chair of the new University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Graduate Medical Education Task Force on Recruitment. The task force has been charged with providing recommendations to the greater graduate medical education community in preparation for the 2023 Match and will discuss recommendations in the following domains:

Dr. Thomas also attended the Transition to Residency Workshop of the Association of American Medical Colleges July 27-28 in Washington, DC, as the representative for the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training.

Adam Brenner, M.D., has been appointed to the Psychiatry Review Committee for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Review committees are responsible for reviewing all sponsoring institutions and programs for compliance with ACGME requirements; for finalizing all sponsoring institution, foundational, and advanced specialty requirements; and for establishing ACGME accreditation policies.

The STARS (Science Teacher Access to Resources at Southwestern) 2022 Summer Program concluded with a poster session in which students presented their research.

Doris Onyedionu, from MacArthur High School (with Mustafa Husain, M.D.), examined prevalence, mental health effects, psychotherapy, and quality of life in Sickle Cell Disease

Hannah Zhou, from Greenhill School (with Sherwood Brown, M.D., Ph.D.), used data from a study Dr. Brown did with collaborators at SUNY Buffalo to look at predictors of asthma-related quality of life in children with asthma. She observed that even after controlling for demographics and asthma control, the child’s level of anxiety was a significant predictor of quality of life.

M2G Ventures and UT Southwestern Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care were named D CEO Corporate Partner of the Year. M2G’s current mental health initiative strives to raise awareness about those experiencing depression and fund research that will end suicide.

A new Medscape podcast series on Major Depressive Disorder features Psychiatry faculty members Madhukar Trivedi, M.D., Manish Jha, M.D., and Jane Foster, Ph.D., with other experts. Listen to the episodes.

Recent Psychiatry Residency Graduate Megan Tusken, M.D., has published an important call to action with colleagues in Academic Medicine: Supporting Breastfeeding Physicians Across the Educational and Professional Continuum.

Along the lines of the recommendations in this paper, please email Adam Brenner, M.D., regarding any suggested improvements for the experience of breastfeeding physicians in our program.

This workshop, part of the Scientific Presentations Research Development Series sponsored by the UTSW Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program, features tools to prepare slides and deliver engaging presentations. You will learn how to create a presentation layout and design simple and clean slides that showcase your research. Susan Marriott, Ph.D., founder of BioScience Writers, will lead the Zoom-based workshop. Register to attend.

Watch for Emails with Calendar Invites, CME Codes, and Zoom Links or visit the Department SharePoint!

The Clinical Research Engagement Workgroup (CREW) is a monthly meeting of clinical and some preclinical researchers. The meetings will resume in September. The format and content are flexible and designed to meet the needs of the presenter. Problems and ideas are presented (e.g., grant or manuscript submission, initial research idea that needs development), and attendees provide feedback. It is a useful forum for receiving feedback on ideas about grants, manuscripts, or other issues related to scholarly activity. Presenters are only asked to bring a problem they need help with. Attendees listen and provide feedback. Clinical researchers, as well as clinicians, trainees, and others, are all very welcome to participate. We only ask that participants try to attend the majority of meetings.

If you are interested in joining this workgroup, please contact Sherwood Brown, Vice Chair for Clinical Research.

12:00 to 1:00 p.m. (online)

Becket Gremmels, Ph.D.

System Vice President of Theology and Ethics, CommonSpirit Health

For more information, contact Ruth Vinciguerra

Brave Space will be held virtually on the 2nd week of each month at 12 PM, on alternating days of the week:

Email Aida Ramirez-Boyce and Deborah Arevalo to participate.

Email Robbin Peck with your topics and questions for the town hall or complete the Form with your input.

Email: [email protected]