The Department of Psychiatry is delighted with Dean Lee’s announcement of Dr Tarek Rajji as our next Psychiatry Department Chair. He has an impeccable record of academic productivity, clinical accomplishment and administrative achievement. Dr Rajji trained in Psychiatry here at UT Southwestern and feels ‘at home’ already. Please join me in welcoming Dr Rajji, now and when he arrives on October 1st 2024.
--Carol Tamminga, M.D.
|
|
Dear Future Colleagues,
Nineteen years after leaving Dallas and UT Southwestern, it is a privilege to re-join you on October 1 as your new Chair. Dallas had been a second home for me and Nesrine, my wife. Nesrine and I met in Dallas in 2000 when I joined UT Southwestern for residency. She had been living there since 1995, and she graduated from UTSW in 2001 with a master’s degree in physical therapy. After I completed my residency and a year-long post-doc fellowship, we decided to move to Pittsburgh, where I completed my geriatric psychiatry fellowship and where we got married. We then moved to Toronto, where we had our two sons, Justin, 15 and Luke, 12. We are all excited to be back in Texas. I look forward to working with all of you and our colleagues in other departments. I see immense opportunities to build on what has been strongly established to further excel in clinical care, to expand our outstanding training programs, and to accelerate basic, translational, and clinical research. Last, but not least, we have the Texas Behavioral Health Center to launch together! What a unique event in our professional careers.
Wish you a great summer ahead and see you soon!
Cheers,
Tarek Rajji
|
|
In This Issue
Celebrating Staff Milestones -- UTSW Sponsored Program Administration (SPA) Overview -- Welcome New Staff -- Department Members in the Media -- Awards and Accomplishments -- OBI News -- Upcoming Events
|
|
Celebrating Staff Milestones |
|
20 years of service:
Thomas Crone
15 years of service:
Kelly Gleason, Tomequa Hooks, Morteza Rastegari
10 years of service:
Fanny Brito, Lezlie Britton, Prapti Buch, Nakita Gee, Rose Gipson, Melita Gonzales, Evan Gordon, Rachel Huang, Dawn Jubera-Quantrell, Asha Philip, Sangita Sethuram, Shelly Sheets, Wei Song, Sahayog Thapa
5 years of service:
Tivi Davis, Katie Elder, Julie Estabrook, Juliete Jasso Aguilar, Diana Jovel, Snoben Kuruvila, Ji Yun Lee, Michelle Leslie, Rachel Lyons, Ronnie Pedroncelli, Jennifer Perez, Afsaneh Rezaeizadeh, Tianyi Wang, James Watkins, Violeta Zaric
|
|
UT Southwestern's Sponsored Program Administration (SPA) helps our researchers secure funding for basic science, translational, and clinical research, paving the way for important discoveries. SPA provides faculty, staff, and learners with a wide variety of support throughout the detailed award life cycle. The UTSW research community is invited to take advantage of these offerings, which include:
-
Virtual office hours - to schedule, visit the SPA website and click Schedule Appointment in the bottom right corner of the screen.
-
Monthly "Research Roundup" series - on the first Thursday of each month, SPA hosts a virtual meeting (live via Teams) to communicate sponsor updates, implement new procedures, and highlight upcoming projects. To be added to future meetings, submit a ticket in Service Now.
|
|
Staff
- Marcia Blanco, Clinical Research Assistant I, D'Mello Lab
- Tara Driskill, Clinical Research Assistant I, Psychology
- Danieh Mohammad, Research Tech II, Choi Lab
- David Pena, Clinic Staff Assistant I, Psychiatry Multispecialty Clinic
- Gloria Sampson, GME Program Coordinator I, Education
- Tyra Scott, Clinic Staff Assistant I, Psychiatry Multispecialty Clinic
- Gabrielle Williams, Research Tech II, Choi Lab
|
|
|
|
We have many opportunities!
|
|
|
Our Department Members in the Media |
|
Awards and Accomplishments |
|
Congratulations Psychiatry Residency and Fellowship Graduates! |
|
General Psychiatry Graduates with Program Faculty |
|
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program Graduates with Program Leaders Dr. Stephen Elliott and Dr. Kathleen Trello-Rishel
Not pictured: Dr. Amanda Su, and Dr. Aditya Kumar
|
|
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Graduates with Program Leader Dr. Catherine Orsak |
|
Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Graduates with Program Leader Dr. Sidarth Wakhlu |
|
Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Graduates with Program Leader Dr. Rajbir Bakshi |
|
NAMI North Texas Walk 2024 |
|
Congratulations to Psychiatry's Team Confabulous, led by Dr. Joseph Guillory, for raising over $4,000 and securing this year's NAMI North Texas Top Team spot for the 2nd year in a row! Every bit of the support gained, and awareness built through our team's efforts will truly change and save the lives of so many North Texans. A special thanks to Dr. Katherine Bellone, Kelly Gleason, and their teams for their participation! View more photos from the event here. |
|
Jack Kaufman, M.A., a graduate student in Clinical Psychology, was awarded 1st place in the CTSA competition for his presentation Cognitive Screening Older Adults: A Short-Form Phonemic Fluency Task as part of the translational research challenge. He will go on to represent UTSW in the regional competition in July! |
|
Elizabeth Heitman, Ph.D., co-edited the second edition of the book Race and Research: Perspectives on Minority Participation in Health Studies, a resource guide and teaching text examining the important of racial diversity in health research from social, historical, and scientific perspectives. |
|
John Sadler, M.D., was a keynote speaker at the 25th Annual Conference of the International Network for Philosophy and Psychiatry where he presented Crisis and Mental Health. Additionally, Dr. Sadler spoke on Vice-Laden Psychopathology and our Cultures of Vengeance at Sigmund Freud University in Vienna, Austria. |
|
|
Christian Monsalve, M.D., has been awarded a fellowship position with the American Psychoanalytic Association. |
|
Sabrina Browne, M.D., was awarded the System Award at the Dallas-Fort Worth Hospital Council (DFWHC) Employee of the Year luncheon. |
|
|
Additionally, Dr. Browne spoke at a Texas Tribune panel event on youth mental health. Panelists discussed plans to equip kids, parents, teachers, and the whole educational and health system to have better tools to deal with mental health illness in children.
|
|
Kala Bailey, M.D., has been appointed as a member of the State of Texas Healthcare Workforce Task Force on Expanding the Pipeline. The task force is working to identify the roles of nurse aides, assistants, and technicians; examine their preparation, education, and certification processes; ensure effective monitoring and streamlining of any administrative barriers; and identify and expand the use of best practices in the preparation of these professionals.
|
|
|
Joseph Guillory, M.D., has been selected as an O'Donnell Brain Institute (OBI) Clinical Neuroscience Scholar. |
|
Mohsin Khan, M.D., was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Early Career Award from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, where he completed his residency. |
|
|
2024-2025 Dallas Women's Club Erin Bain Jones Scholarship Recipients |
|
Congratulations to the following Doctoral Candidates in Clinical Psychology for receiving the Dallas Women's Club Erin Bain Jones Scholarship, which is awarded to individuals demonstrating outstanding character and high scholastic achievement. |
|
International Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professionals (IACAPAP) Conference |
|
The group presented a symposium on eating disorders, with sub-topics including challenging complexities, the impact of COVID-19, program development, and working with Hispanic/Latinx populations. |
|
|
Christian Monsalve, M.D., was awarded the Best Oral Presentation Prize at the conference for his presentation The Changing Landscape of Recommendations for the Treatment of Youth with Gender Incongruence. |
|
The Student Wellness and Counseling team participated in Campus Connect: Train the Trainer training at UT Austin. Campus Connect is a suicide prevention training program aimed at equipping trainers to educate others in empathic skills to prevent suicide. Pictured: Elizabeth Dodge, M.D., Sarah Harrelson, Charlotte Haley, Ph.D., and Cameron Davis, Ph.D. |
|
|
Rabia Ayvaci, M.D., was selected to receive the prestigious New Investigator Award from the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology. As part of the program, Dr. Ayvaci presented the poster Correlates of Treatment Options in Youth with Major Depressive Disorder: Observations from the Texas Youth Depression and Suicide Research Network (TX-YDSRN). |
|
|
Madhukar Trivedi, M.D., was the keynote speaker at the 2024 JPS Quality & Research Symposium where he presented Precision Approach in Depression Treatment to over 300 attendees .
|
|
Jane Foster, Ph.D., (pictured top left), participated as a faculty member for the Neuroscience School of Advanced Studies Course held in Venice, Italy. In speaking on Host Genetic-Microbiome Interactions, Dr. Foster highlighted how nature and nurture contribute to one's microbiome and microbiota-to-brain communication. |
|
|
Harmony Science Academy in Carrollton invited the CDRC to speak to a group of 8th - 11th graders during Mental Health Awareness Month. Adrienne Mays, DDA, MEd, spoke on coping with and managing stress tailored to resonate with the teen audience. |
|
Research-track resident Thomas Pak, M.D., presented the poster Peripheral Biological Correlates of Suicidal Ideation and Suicidal Behavior in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review at the Society of Biological Psychiatry Meeting. |
|
|
Ozlem Hokelekli, M.D., Ph.D., was selected for the OBI Trainee Travel Award for her work with the CDRC, titled Sex Differences in Effort/Cost-Based Decision Making Among Depressed Outpatients. |
|
The Employee Advisory Council (EAC) hosted a fun pop-up event at Empire Plaza to honor our amazing employees! |
|
|
To ensure that funding will be available throughout the year for travel grants, the OBI is changing from rolling applications to having several open application periods throughout the year. If you have already submitted an application and are awaiting a decision, no action is needed. Find more information here.
Travel Dates September-December 2024: Application due September 1, 2024
|
|
Educator Development Course |
|
The Office of Faculty Development, in partnership with the Southwestern Academy of Teachers, has developed a new course - EDU (Educator Development at UTSW) 2024. Lia Thomas, M.D., one of the speakers, will touch on Psychological Safety. To learn more, contact the Office of Faculty Development.
Please note, this course is available for all faculty at all levels and there is no time limit for completing the course.
|
|
You are receiving this newsletter as a member or affiliate of the psychiatry department. The newsletter is typically sent the third Wednesday of the month.
If you would like to submit an item, the deadline is the second Wednesday of the month. Please email psychiatry.communications@utsouthwestern.edu.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
