May 18, 2022
Psychiatry does not need a special Mental Health Awareness Month to understand that, particularly now, mental health is challenged for all of us. Those with pre-existing psychiatric syndromes are most vulnerable, and most of the rest of us find extra burdens in everyday life.

First, we are all coming out of COVID, presented with the opposite, but same kind, of personal stresses as going into COVID. There is a difficult war close to us which we follow every day, exposing us to the stress of violence. There is great social and political unrest across America, which continuously comes to attention. Addictions seem to be growing despite all we do. It is especially true that youth mental health is most strongly challenged. And more attention is spent on mental health awareness than at any time in memory.

What can we do? We can notice and remember our joys every day (please see our reports here). We can engage with our family. We can support our friends. We can work with vigor. We can re-enter our life, examining again how we want to live it.

Overall, we need patience during this transition period without losing the pursuit of our dreams. And, during Mental Health Awareness Month, we can get joy out of providing high quality Mental Health Care for our community and delivering it with care and dedication.
--Carol A. Tamminga, M.D.
Department Chair
In This Issue
Thank You! -- Spotlight on TARCC -- How to Add Your Pic to Outlook -- Faculty/Staff Updates -- University Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic Picnic -- Bass Decant -- Incoming Psychology Class -- Awards and Accomplishments -- Upcoming Events -- OBI News
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Thank You!
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  • Psychiatry had 100% annual compliance training completion!
  • National Nurses Week, May 6-12: "You Make a Difference"
  • National Hospital Week, May 8-14: "We Are Health Care"

At the conclusion of the triennial survey from The Joint Commission at Parkland, the surveyor mentioned that whenever she is at other hospitals, she cites Parkland as the best-practice facility for behavioral health. She highlighted the RIGHT team and the collaboration with the police and the community in regard to treatment for mental health. She said she has never seen another hospital take care of psychiatry patients like Parkland does! 
Spotlight on... Texas Alzheimer's Research and Care Consortium
Pictured: (front) Assistant Professor Anne Carlew, Ph.D.; Graduate Students in Clinical Psychology Hudaisa Fatima and Alyssa Kaser; Professor Laura Lacritz, Ph.D.; (back) Postdoctoral Fellow in Neuropsychology Jeff Schaffert, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor Christian LoBue, Ph.D.; Professor Munro Cullum, Ph.D.
The Texas Alzheimer’s Research and Care Consortium (TARCC) is a collaboration of 10 medical research institutions across Texas, including UT Southwestern, to improve early diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease and related brain disorders (see more at txalzresearch.org).

The Scientific Director of TARCC is Munro Cullum, Ph.D., and the data and tissue management cores are housed here under the administrative direction of Bruce Jones, Ph.D. The tissue management group is currently moving into Psychiatry lab space on NE5.

TARCC is responsible for a grants program that awards funding to investigators at participating TARCC institutions to support the best dementia-related research across the state (learn more). TARCC also includes an ongoing cohort of Hispanic patients who are assessed annually at select TARCC sites (UT Health San Antonio, UT Health Rio Grande Valley, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, UT Austin Dell Medical School), which includes a neurology visit, neuropsychology visit, blood draw, CSF, and MRI.

The 2022 TARCC symposium, held in Austin on May 12, had over 150 attendees and 50 scientific poster presentations and included a keynote address by Dr. Sterling Johnson of the University of Wisconsin, who provided an update on the latest in diagnostic neuroimaging and predictors of disease progression.
Anne Carlew, Ph.D.
2022 TARCC Excellence in Research Poster Award Winners for "Utility of an actuarial neuropsychological method to diagnose mild cognitive impairment in a diverse population"
Laura Lacritz, Ph.D.
William Goette, M.S.
Jeffrey Schaffert, Ph.D.
Heidi Rossetti, Ph.D.
TARCC Team Members (left to right): Elida Godbey, Nakita Gee, Jake Rossmango, Bruce Jones, Sarah Sprinkle
Jeffrey Schaffert, Ph.D., a psychology program graduate and TARCC-funded postdoctoral fellow in neuropsychology, published work looking at predictors of life expectancy after a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, which was featured in a UT Southwestern press release.

Did You Know?
To add a photo to your People Profile in Outlook, store the pic (.png/.jpg/.gif <4MB) on your computer, OneDrive, or other accessible location. Sign in to Microsoft 365 at office.com with your UT Southwestern account. Select the circle in the upper right corner of the page that shows your initials or an icon of a person. In the My Accounts pane, select the circle that shows your initials or an icon. Change your photo in the pop-up.
Welcome New Faculty and Staff!
  • Jane Foster, Ph.D., Mood Disorders
  • Elise Marino, Ph.D., Mood Disorders 
  • Bralyn Atkins, Clinic Staff Associate I, Education Division
  • Alejandro Cabrera Aguirre, Clinical Research Coordinator, Brown Lab
  • Dora Garcia, Certified Medical Office Assistant, Resident Wellness Clinic
Faculty Openings
We have many opportunities!
for current openings.
University Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic Picnic
The University Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic Picnic on May 7 at Flagpole Hill Park in Dallas was an opportunity for faculty and staff to refresh, reconnect and engage with one another and families through conversation, games, and refreshments.
Attendees played Jenga, horseshoes, cornhole, and musical chairs and made a fuss over the new babies who arrived during the past year. We hope this event will become a tradition that continues to grow and include other services in future.
Bass Decant Update
Construction has started! View the current Countdown Clock for the Bass Decant, along with other news and key links, at the Psychiatry Department's Connections SharePoint site, https://365utsouthwestern.sharepoint.com/sites/Connections.
Incoming Clinical Psychology Class for Fall 2022
Thank you, Dr. Laura Lacritz, and the admissions team, for putting together this wonderful class!
Nicholas Westers, Psy.D., ABPP, offers 8 strategies to nurture children's mental health.

Awards and Accomplishments
Manish Jha, M.D., has been selected as the 2022 O’Donnell Brain Institute Clinical Neuroscience Scholar. The program provides mentorship and support in advancing brain disease-related disciplines. Dr. Jha, with mentors Dr. Sidarth Wakhlu and Dr. Bill Dauer from UT Southwestern, Dr. Steve Shoptaw from UCLA, Dr. Paul Kenny from Mount Sinai, and Dr. Ed Nunes from Columbia, will develop an integrated treatment-resistant substance use disorder clinic.
At UT Southwestern's Seventh Annual Seldin Research Symposium, Danielle Morelli, M.D., a third-year resident in the Psychiatry and Internal Medicine Combined Training Program, was the inaugural recipient of the new Social Impact Award for her work titled "Racism: A Mental Health Crisis -- An Approach to Teaching Antiracism and Cultural Intersectionality as it Pertains to Race in the UTSW Psychiatry Clerkship," with faculty mentor Dr. Kathlene Trello-Rishel. The award honors scholarly activity focusing on unmet clinical needs in underserved populations, advancing social determinants of health, or raising the collective consciousness about diversity, equity, and inclusion in medicine.

Eight other residents in the Psychiatry and Internal Medicine Combined Training Program had scholarly work accepted to the symposium's poster session:
  • PGY1 Nathalie Abenoza: All roads lead to electroconvulsive therapy
  • PGY1 Areej Ali: Grave effects from delays of care of thyroid eye disease
  • PGY2 Samir Abu Hamad: When antagonism is a good thing: using memantine as salvage therapy for catatonia from NMDA receptor encephalitis
  • PGY2 Giovani Zelada: Fever, rash, and a sweet recovery: a case of classic Sweet’s syndrome
  • PGY3 Charlotte McLean: Wernicke encephalopathy in altered mental status
  • PGY4 Emily May (& Tom Phan): Improving access to primary care physicians in a behavioral health clinic: initial findings
  • PGY4 Tom Phan: Hoagland sign: an uncommon manifestation of infectious mononucleosis
  • PGY5 Ashlin Szalanski: Novel approach to training in internal medicine and psychiatry
Stacy Pritt, D.V.M., Associate Vice President, Research Support & Regulatory Management and Assistant Professor in Psychiatry, was awarded “Distinguished Faculty” status with the Society for Research Administrators International, an honor few research administrators achieve.
Shuchi Lakhanpal, a research study coordinator in the Brown Lab, was honored with a Gold PACT Pin. Celebrated PACT attributes are problem solving; ability, attitude, and accountability; communications, contribution, and collaboration; and teamwork. The PACT program has three pin award levels: Blue (four recognitions), Silver (eight recognitions), and Gold (16 recognitions).

Lessley Chiriboga, M.D., Izabella de Abreu, M.D., Ashley Woolbert, M.D., Karen Duong, D.O., Michael Li, M.D., and Rajbir Bakshi, M.D., prepared a poster titled "Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Alumni Networking: A Building Bridge Experience During the Pandemic" for the 2022 UT Southwestern Celebration of Excellence. It describes a quality improvement project with the geriatric psychiatry fellows to continue standards of education while maintaining social distancing, with goals to exchange knowledge and improve clinic performance for the fellows in training.

Pictured: Drs. Chiriboga and de Abreu
Now in its third year, the Special Grant Incentive (SGI) Program encourages faculty to further pursue federal research awards to advance scientific discoveries and benefit our patients. So far, the Departments of Molecular Biology, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Psychiatry, and the Cecil H. and Ida Green Center For Reproductive Biology Sciences have received the highest numbers of SGIs.
In Case You Missed It
The North American launch of The Lancet-World Psychiatric Association Commission: Time for United Action on Depression was recorded for viewing.

Upcoming Events
State-Funded Texas Programs Address Youth Mental Health Crisis
Thursday, May 19 | 12 to 1 p.m. CDT

Featured Speaker: Laurel Williams, D.O., Professor, Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine

Primary care physicians and schools are in a prime position in a patient’s healthcare journey to address the mental health gap. Learn how CPAN and TCHATT can help provide access to mental health services by providing primary care providers with expert psychiatric advice, referrals and resource assistance and access to care for families within selected schools across the state.
Join facilitated conversations about diversity, equity, and inclusion to foster anti-racism, mutual growth, empowerment, respect, and empathy within the Department of Psychiatry.

Registration is requested for planning purposes.

Next Session: 
Thursday, May 19, at 2:00 PM 

May 21 NAMI North Texas Walk
Saturday, May 21, in Frisco at Rough Riders Stadium, 8:30am-12:00pm

Team Confabulous is very close to reaching its fundraising goal of $3,000, with $2,365 raised!
Psychiatry Grand Rounds
Select Wednesdays at Noon via Zoom

  • June 15, Fredric N. Busch, M.D., Problem-Focused Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
  • June 22, M&M
  • June 29, Margie Balfour, M.D., Ph.D., Roadmap to the Ideal Crisis System

Watch for Emails with Calendar Invites, CME Codes, and Zoom Links or visit the Department SharePoint!
Demolition Start of Former Parkland Moved to June
Demolition of the former Parkland Memorial Hospital will begin in June, later than initially planned. Closure of the pedestrian tunnel through Parkland that connects Danciger Building (H), Zale Lipshy Pavilion, and Sprague Building (CS) on South Campus will change at that time.
Summer Workshops: Scientific Presentations
The Scientific Presentations research development series sponsored by the UTSW Clinical and Translational Science Awards Program will focus on the foundational skill of scientific presentations. The founder of BioScience Writers, Susan Marriott, Ph.D., will lead the Zoom-based workshops.
Preparing Impressive Conference Abstracts and Posters – June 23; 4-7 p.m.
Effective oral, written, and visual communication of your science is essential to succeed in your scientific career. This workshop offers actionable tips that will help you, your ideas, and your research shine. Register to attend.
Developing Engaging Oral Presentations – July 21; 4-7 p.m.
Learn to explain your work in a clear, engaging way to peers, students, and even family members. This workshop will help you approach your presentation and manage your audience with confidence. Register to attend.
Creating Impactful Slide Presentations – Aug. 25; 4-7 p.m.
This workshop 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. Register to attend.
Psychiatry Department Town Hall August 3, 12pm
Email Robbin Peck with your topics and questions for the town hall or complete the Form with your input.
Ethics Grand Rounds Resume September 13
Camille Roberts will take on the OBI Program Manager role when Mary Colette Lybrand leaves at the end of May. Prior to joining the OBI as a division coordinator, Camille worked with Drs. Russell and Thiele in the Deans’ office.
The OBI offers phone wallpapers and desktop backgrounds on its news site.
The Frontiers of Neuromodulation symposium will bring together scientists from around the world investigating the application of brain stimulation technologies to solve a variety of clinical challenges. The symposium’s goal is to educate our brain science community about current state-of-the-art approaches and to stimulate discussion that will advance new approaches to solving problems.