The Thanksgiving holiday provides a time to reflect collectively on the worthy things that are happening in our department and in our school, as well as in our lives, and to be thankful. Psychiatry has doubled in size and in income over the last decade. More than that, Psychiatry has increased the scope of therapeutic approaches that we provide for patients. The department has broadened its science and its technical and theoretical approaches and, thereby, its ability for discovery. And our learners have multiplied in type, number, and capacities. With these advantages, our department has increased its involvement in all of UT Southwestern’s hospitals. And how could I, especially, not be thankful for the new Texas Behavioral Health Center at UT Southwestern, where we will have opportunity to influence the needs of the seriously mentally ill in our state and consider cure. Happy Thanksgiving!

The Education Division participated in a team employee engagement activity luncheon where they carved and painted individual pumpkins. Pictured below on the left is Ty Sanders with her pumpkin. Along with that, they celebrated Dr. Brenner for Boss' Day by decorating his office door and surprising him with treats and a special mug.

The Psychiatry Neuroscience Division threw Shannon Ware, the division administrative associate, a special, blue-themed baby shower.

The Department of Psychiatry Connections SharePoint page is a great resource for finding recent news, upcoming events, quick links, informational documents, and much more. Here, you can also find a directory that houses tabs of information for our various labs, psychiatry education, the VA, and more. We highly recommend utilizing this page for finding the answers to common departmental questions you may have! Explore the SharePoint. (UT Southwestern log-in needed.)

Colton Clark, Neuropsychology Clinic CSA III, was announced as a recipient of a third quarter 2023 Diana and Richard C. Strauss Service Excellence Award. Dr. Podolsky will host a ceremony online on Friday, November 17, at 8:30am. Watch for additional details from the institution regarding the celebration.

Adriane dela Cruz, M.D., Ph.D., received the Outstanding Educator Award for Pre-Clinical Basic Science Education at UT Southwestern Medical School on behalf of the Southwestern Academy of Teachers.

Kristin Wilmoth, Ph.D., joined the Emerging Technologies Neurocognitive Task Force of the National Football League to share psychometric expertise on cognitive assessment following sport concussion.

Laura Stone, M.D., participated in a panel discussion titled “Mental Health Workforce Shortage” at the Texas Hospital Association Quality and Behavioral Health Conference in October.

Sabrina Browne, M.D., presented on November 8 at the Children's Hospital Association's annual leadership conference on "From Integration to Collaborative Care: A Model for Community Implementation," giving an overview of the work of the Behavioral Health Integration and Guidance initiative with Children's Health.

Sidarth Wakhlu, M.D., presented at the 15th Annual Texas Pain Society Conference at Hyatt Lost Pines Lost Pines Texas on October 28, 2023, on "Buprenorphine: Perspectives from an Addiction Psychiatrist" (pictured with Stephanie Jones, M.D., and Enas Kandil, M.D., from UTSW Anesthesia).

Sherwood Brown, M.D., Ph.D., MBA, was named President Elect of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.

Diana Robinson, M.D., and Abhisek (Chandan) Khandai, M.D., presented the session Leading by Liaising: Addressing Clinical Challenges Across the Lifespan.

Julia Livingstone, a 3rd year clinical psychology doctoral candidate, presented the poster Comparison of Suicide Risk Identification in Adult Healthcare Encounters With and Without Universal Screening: Analysis of Age Group and Reason for Encounter, which was awarded first prize!

In addition to these items, many other faculty and trainees presented various sessions and posters at the meeting including Do Gwak, Julie Tea, (former fellow), Sherwood Brown, Pedro Fernandez, and Mehreen Khan.

Bree Horrocks, M.Ed., presented a poster titled "Gender Dysphoria and Quality of Life: The Role of Family Support in Transgender Youth" at the United States Professional Association for Transgender Health Scientific Symposium in Denver.

Additionally, Laura Kuper, Ph.D., ABPP, and Bree Horrocks presented a talk titled "Changes in Gender and Sexual Orientation Among Transgender Youth Receiving Gender Affirming Hormone Therapy Over the Course of 4 Years."

Laura Kuper, Ph.D., ABPP, received an R01 by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development as principal investigator to study long-term trajectories of psychosocial functioning among transgender youth and their parents. Jayme Palka, Ph.D., is statistician on the grant, and May Lau, M.D. (Pediatrics), is co-investigator.

Sarah Baker, M.D., is co-chair of the AAPL Women's Committee and presented a workshop titled "Balancing Life, Trauma, and Bias to Do Our Best Work," in addition to time spent with faculty and trainee colleagues at the conference. Photos from the event:

Faculty and trainees represented our department very well at the annual AACAP meeting in New York! In addition to the items below, Betsy Kennard, Jennifer Hughes, Jessica Heerschap, Kristin Wolfe, and Rebecca Wildman presented "Development & Implementation of an Intensive Outpatient Program for Suicidal Youth" at the conference.

Andrea Omehe, a UT Southwestern medical student, presented the poster Inflammatory Biomarker Changes in Treatment Within a Suicidal Adolescent Population.

Özlem Hokelekli, M.D., Ph.D., presented a poster from research at the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care titled "Irritability as Measured by CAST-IRR and Its Relationship with Suicidal Ideation in Youths." Dr. Hokelekli also performed "Storytelling" at the Open Mic event.

Muruga A. Loganathan, M.D., presented the poster "Residual Depressive Symptoms After Intensive Treatment in Adolescents and Their Prediction of Suicidal Events," prepared with Stephen Buerkert, Elizabeth E. Amadasu, Joyce Francis, Gabriela Lange Valenga, Graham J. Emslie, and Sunita Stewart.

A second poster, titled "Effects of student and teacher diversity on disciplinary student outcomes: Findings from the Texas Education Agency Datasets," by Vivek Mathesh, Muruga A. Loganathan, Stephen Buerkert, Elizabeth Amadasu, and Sunita Stewart was accepted for presentation at the One Health Collaborative Symposium & Poster Session on November 3 at UT Southwestern Medical Center South Campus.

We also had many faculty, trainees, and staff presenting research at the recent National Academy of Neuropsychology meeting in Philadelphia. We also have great leadership representation, with more board members and past-presidents of that organization than any other institution in North America!

Brain Aging, Injury, and Modulation Lab member participation at NAN:

Sarah Baker presented her father, James Baker, M.D., M.B.A. (pictured right), with the Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians Distinguished Service Award. Lessley Chiriboga and Temitope Adedolapo (pictured left), were among the conference presenters and were in attendance at the awards banquet.

Other posters presented by faculty including Molin Shi on Comparing Young Adult Financial Concerns Across Oncology Settings and Perceived Ability to Make Changes to Health in Young Adults with Cancer Receiving Comprehensive Versus Public Healthcare. Julia Livingstone presented a poster titled Increasing Suicide Risk Detection: A Quality of Improvement Project in a Large Safety-Net Hospital, which was awarded first prize.

The Daniel W. Foster, M.D. Visiting Lectureship in Medical Ethics will be held in conjunction with Ethics Grand Rounds on Tuesday, December 12, at 12:00-1:00 PM (CDT). Our speaker will be Nancy Jecker, Ph.D., who is Professor of Bioethics and Humanities at the University of Washington School of Medicine. She will present "Dignity in Later Life." This lecture will be presented virtually via Zoom only. While there is no fee to attend, participants must register. Register to attend virtually. Upon registration, participants will receive the Zoom event ID and link to join the webinar. For additional information, please see the additional information on the institutional events calendar.

Friday, December 15, 2023

Save the date for the Annual Research Conference: Addressing Mental Health, Trauma-Informed Care, and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Considerations in Research. All physicians, nurses, and allied health care professionals who are interested in conducting or currently coordinate research at Children’s Health℠, UTSW, Scottish Rite for Children, or Parkland are welcome. More information and registration details to come later this Fall.

Partnership between UTSW and Methodist Health Systems (MHS) continues to expand thanks to the recent collaboration with Golden Cross Internal Medicine Clinic. The CDRC will provide training for depression identification, care, and treatment using Measurement-Based Care (MBC) to continue carrying out the goals of The Cloudbreak Initiative and Lone Star Depression Challenge. The CDRC will also provide continuous support and ongoing technical assistance to health systems. The Cloudbreak Initiative, aimed at scaling detection and treatment in primary care settings across North Texas health systems, uses two proven approaches: Measurement-Based Care (MBC), the systematic use of repeated, validated measures to track symptoms and functional outcomes in clinical settings and Collaborative Care Model (CoCM), the integration of care managers and consultant psychiatrists directly within primary care settings to provide care for patients with depression and/or depressive symptoms.

YAM (Youth Aware of Mental Health) was a proud sponsor of the second annual Texas sized Hope Squad Conference held at the Curtis Caldwell Center in Garland. More than 1,400 Hope Squad members from across North Texas gathered to connect and learn from others on how to break the stigma of mental health and provide help and hope to their fellow students and communities.

The program is intended to encourage creative, high-quality research that also advances the training of early career laboratory or clinical scientists. Find more information. Deadline for applications is December 1, 2023.

Click here to submit an application. Deadline for applications is December 4, 2023