MGH McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Program

The McLean Hospital Admissions Building was built in 1987.

On Wednesday, June 12, 2013 McLean Hospital won approval from the Public Health Council to build a three-story expansion of the Admissions Building on the Belmont campus. This will significantly expand inpatient units, which will enhance care and research in areas such as the psychotic disorders program. In addition, the hospital will expand interpreter services for patients.

Read the article on BostonGlobe.com

---

“NIMH will be re-orienting its research away from DSM categories,” stated NIMH director Thomas Insel in April, 2013. He supports an effort to re-categorize mental-health disorders according to their biological bases. To this end, the NIMH is developing a framework called the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). Many scientists protest that the DSM categories do not allow for effective clinical treatment. Some researchers also have concerns that the RDoC focus on biological mechanisms will detract from research on clinical symptoms.

Read the full article here.  Source: Nature, Wednesday, May 10, 2013

As Boston recovers from Monday's bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, mental health specialists from around the city are advocating attention be paid to the psychological, as well as the physical trauma of this event. Children in particular are at risk, and may need help from parents and teachers in processing the events.

Drs. Eugene Beresin of the MGH and Michael Leslie of McLean Hospital were both quoted in a recent article in the Boston Globe. Speaking of the need for witnesses and victims of the bombing to regain a sense of safety and security in their lives, Leslie advocates “Activities which are grounding, which they are able to participate in in a mindful way, which help them realize they are currently safe, and they don’t need to be in a constant state of dread.”

Our hearts go out to all of the victims of this tragedy. We hope that MGH, McLean, and all of Boston's hospitals can continue to provide the exceptional care that will help the victims and this city to heal.

Read the full article in the Globe here. Source: Boston Globe, April 17, 2013

The sixteen new residents will arrive on June 6th, representing a diverse set of backgrounds and interests.

---

	Brian Barnett received his undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and a minor in Anthropology.  During medical school at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, he developed an interest in global health and spent two months in Nigeria researching patient behaviors when seeking treatment for typhoid fever.  Following this, he conducted research in Malawi as part of a Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship in Public Health.  Brian was born in Augusta, Georgia and raised on a tobacco farm in Kentucky.  He remains passionate about global health.
	Andrew Carlo attended Fordham University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry and a minor in Music. While an undergraduate, he wrote and directed a musical at the Fordham Experimental Theater. As a medical student at Georgetown University, he worked at a student-run free clinic and spent time in Tijuana, Mexico constructing schools in impoverished areas. He performed a scholarly review on the psychometric properties of a foreign-language screening instrument for autism and is currently conducting research on somatoform disorders in hospitalized children.
	Yvonne Chasser received a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish and Portuguese Language from Princeton University. While at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, she ran workshops on health and well-being for Hispanic adolescents at a local Hispanic outreach center and served as a medical volunteer and Spanish interpreter during a medical outreach program in Peru. Yvonne also acted as student coordinator for a student-created program that teaches linguistic and cultural competency to Case Western medical students. She remains passionate about providing service and educational resources for the underserved Hispanic Community.
	Jennifer Goetz received a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology, summa cum laude, from the University of Florida. During medical school at the University of Florida, Gainesville, she was selected by her peers to the role of class historian. She also furthered a longstanding commitment to service by volunteering extensively with a focus on the homeless and underserved populations, and served on a student medical mission to the Yucatan Peninsula. Jennifer comes to us with an interest in child and adolescent psychiatry and eating disorders and will be joining the Child Psychiatry track.
	Oren Isacoff attended the University of Pennsylvania as an undergraduate, graduating magna cum laude with both a B.A. in Political Science and a B.S. in Business. He worked as a healthcare finance research associate at AllianceBernstein in New York, NY before returning to the University of Pennsylvania for his medical training. He completed a combined M.D., M.B.A. and Masters of Bioethics, spent four years as a board member on the UPenn IRB, and spearheaded a collaborative project among UPenn faculty to predict disease outcomes for clinical decision support.
	James Jenkins received a Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in Biochemistry from Providence College. He attends the Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, where he served on the Board of Directors for the LionCare Project, a student-run free clinic for homeless patients. He also served as the coordinator for the Men’s Health Clinic. In recognition of his humanism and a commitment to caring for the underserved, he received the Scheinhotz Scholarship and was selected to the Gold Humanism Honor Society.
	Tamar Katz attended Harvard University as an undergraduate where she obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Near Eastern Studies (Yiddish) and graduated magna cum laude.  She then attended Mount Sinai School of Medicine for a M.D., Ph.D and completed her graduate research training at Harvard Medical School, studying developmental genetics of cardiac cell fate specification.  Tamar is passionate about medical education, and has been an active volunteer and tutor for undergraduate and medical students
	Franklin King graduated from Connecticut College with a Bachelors of Arts in history. He worked as an emergency department technician prior to matriculating at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. During medical school he pursued clinical research interests with the MGH Depression Clinical & Research Program, examining the efficacy of aripiprazole as an augmenting agent in treatment-resistant depression.
	Morgan Medlock received her B.S. in Biology summa cum laude from Oakwood University in Huntsville, AL. She is the first graduate from Mayo Medical School to combine her M.D. with an M.Div., which she completed at Andrews University Theological Seminary in Berrien Springs, MI. She is ordained as an Elder in the Seventh-Day Adventist Church and has served frequently as a keynote speaker both in the United States and abroad. She was born and raised in Dallas, TX.
	Micaela “Mimi” Owusu attended Harvard University as an undergraduate, where she majored in psychology and danced competitively. She then moved on to the University of Oxford, where she completed a M.Sc. with distinction in the Science and Medicine of Athletic Performance, studying the biomechanics of female gymnasts at the Beijing Olympics. She completed her M.D. at Yale University; her thesis focused on the psychiatric factors contributing to and resulting from pediatric obesity.
	Maria Dolores "Loly" Rubio received her undergraduate and medical degrees from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, where she participated in an intensive, 6-year training program. She subsequently obtained a Ph.D. in neurobiology from the University of Alabama, Birmingham, studying functional diversity in hippocampal synapses.  Loly has since remained in Birmingham doing a post-doctoral fellowship where she has been examining molecular pathways in elderly patients with schizophrenia. Originally from Argentina, Loly enjoys traveling and is an avid stargazer.
	Alexandra Sibley received a Bachelor of Arts degree summa cum laude with a major in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. While there she became interested in research and worked on several projects at the Penn Psychopathology Research Unit. She attended medical school at Baylor College of Medicine, where she participated in a project studying the patterns of developmental delay in preterm infants with iron deficiency. Alexandra has an interest in child and adolescent psychiatry. She is also an advanced ballet dancer and has volunteered as a dance instructor at a local center for children with mental health issues.
	David Sturman attended Vassar College, where he received a Bachelor of Science in Cognitive Science.  Prior to matriculating to medical school, Dr. Sturman worked in the NIMH Intramural Research Program with Dr. Leslie Ungerleider, and conducted research on the influence of attention in amygdala response to emotional faces.  He then joined the Medical Scientist Training Program at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, where he used multi-electrode recording to study motivation in adolescent and adult rodents. Outside of the lab, David has used statistical models to predict the outcomes of political elections and NFL games.
	Anna “Annie” Weissman earned her Bachelor of Arts with Distinction in English Literature from Yale University, where she received the 2005 Schoenberg Prize for best essay on American Literature. After college, she received a Summer Internship Award in Biomedical Research at NIMH to study clozapine-induced neutropenia in children, and then received a research fellowship at the National Cancer Institute to study HIV vaccine design. Annie is completing medical school at University of Pennsylvania as a Gamble Scholar.
	Shane Wong received a Bachelor of Science in Human Behavioral Biology and Psychology from Trinity College at the University of Toronto, where he conducted a research thesis on the impact of social and emotional cues on cognitive flexibility in children. A medical student at Stanford University, he worked at the Stanford Early Life Stress Research Program studying the impact of caregivers on the developmental course of PTSD in children. He has conducted research on the impact of cultural factors in psychiatric illness and wellness, and maintains a commitment to serving homeless and immigrant populations. Shane will be joining our Child Psychiatry track.
	Mary Zeng graduated from Brown University with a double major in Classics (Latin) and Biology; her undergraduate thesis was on three plagues in antiquity. She received her MD from SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, NY. While in medical school she sang in Downstate a cappella group the Notochords and spent time researching ketamine as an depression treatment at NIMH. She is passionate about working with underserved and military populations. Mary immigrated with her family to the U.S. from China when she was 7.

A PDF of this page is available here.

The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) has awarded Harvard Medical School a $100 million grant to create a transformative 10-year initiative — Harvard Integrated Program to Protect and Improve the Health of NFLPA Members. The program will marshal the intellectual, scientific, and medical expertise throughout Harvard University to discover new approaches to diagnosing, treating, and preventing injuries and illnesses in both active and retired players.

“We are honored to work with the NFLPA to address the health challenges faced by NFL players and so many of America’s athletes,” said Jeffrey S. Flier, dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University. “We will harness the vast expertise of Harvard Medical School, its world-class affiliated hospitals, and Harvard University’s 10 Schools to ensure that we make a meaningful difference in the lives of these players through advances in medicine, science, and technology. We are committed to going beyond our walls. We will reach out to other institutions when necessary, in order to access the resources needed to solve the most pressing medical issues identified by the NFLPA.”

Read the full story here.

Source: Harvard Gazette, January 29, 2013

The December 12th event featured talks from leaders in psychiatry and neuroscience research, including a keynote presentation from Steve Hyman, former head of the National Institute for Mental Health, and currently Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT).

A poster session featured work from current RCP residents and allow faculty, residents, and visting applicants to share their thoughts and experience with the wide ranging possibilities for research in the Boston neuroscience and psychiatric communities.

---

Schedule

• 10:30 - 11:00 | Coffee & Pastries
• 11:00 - 11:15 | Introductory remarks – Jerrold Rosenbaum & Scott Rauch
• 11:15 - 11:30 | Overview of the RCP – Justin Baker, Dost Ongur, and John Denninger
• 11:30 - 12:00 | Keynote Presentation – Steve Hyman
• 12:00 - 12:15 | Lunch Buffet
• 12:15 - 01:45 | Selected Scientific Presentations - Faculty
• 01:45 - 02:00 | Closing Remarks - Maurizio Fava & Shelly Greenfield
• 02:00 - 03:00 | Poster Session - Residents of the MGH/McLean RCP

On November 1, Felicia Smith stepped into her new role as Program Director for the Adult Psychiatry Residency Program.

Felicia, a 2004 graduate of the MGH/McLean residency program, currently serves as Associate Director of the Division of Psychiatry and Medicine and the MGH Psychosomatic Fellowship. She previously performed the role of Associate Residency Training Director for the residency from 2004 to 2007, and became the Director of the Acute Psychiatry Service in 2008. Dr. Smith will continue as the Associate Director of the Division of Psychiatry and Medicine, in addition to fulfilling her new duties with the residency.

Felicia’s appointment, which was announced on October 4, comes as no surprise to many in the residency program. Says MGH Chief of Psychiatry Jerry Rosenbaum, “Felicia is an ideal person to take the residency helm going forward. We could not have been happier to learn that she was enthusiastic about accepting the position.” In a statement to the residency community, McLean Hospital President Scott Rauch also expressed his excitement about the recent announcement. “Felicia is an expert clinician, a master teacher, a respected and admired colleague and leader, and will be a terrific training director.”

Over the past month, Felicia has been working closely with the outgoing Director of Residency Training, Kathy Sanders, who has accepted an appointment as Deputy Commissioner of Mental Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. As Felicia takes on this new challenge, please join us in extending a warm welcome and wishing her luck as our new Director of Residency Training!

After 12 years of service as Program Director, Kathy Sanders announced this month that she is stepping up as Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Department of Mental Health for Massachusetts oversees mental health care and policy for the entire Commonwealth. In her new role, Kathy will work closely with state Commissioner Marcia Fowler, who stepped up as head of the Department of Mental Health in February. As Deputy Commissioner, Kathy will be responsible for the standards and regulation of all state and contracted mental health inpatient and community-based programs, as well as training and research grants, which serve over 21,000 citizens suffering from severe and chronic mental illness.

The announcement comes as a great honor to the MGH/McLean Psychiatry community. “We are very proud of Kathy’s achievement,” says Justin Baker, Associate Director of the Research Concentration Program. “It is an expression both of her talents as a clinician, educator, and communicator. We are thrilled about this opportunity to extend our potential impact, and are pleased that Kathy will be able to put her expertise to use ensuring the quality of mental health care in Massachusetts.”

Kathy Sanders has been a vital presence in the MGH Department of Psychiatry since she arrived in 1988 for a psychosomatic fellowship. While distinguishing herself as an attending physician in the inpatient psychiatry unit and as Director of the Acute Psychiatry Service, Kathy also served as Associate Residency Training Director for 9 years. In 2001, she took on the role of Director of the MGH McLean Residency Training, overseeing the early years of the combined residency program. Throughout her distinguished career, she has served as a primary mentor to scores of psychiatry trainees, and has launched the careers of psychiatrists who are now spread across the country and the globe.

As Kathy prepares to begin her new role on November 1, we thank her for her years of dedicated leadership and wish her well in her new position!

The sixteen new residents arrived on June 8th, representing a diverse set of backgrounds and interests, from global health and political advocacy to mind-body medicine and the neuroscience of sleep. They began their clinical rotations on June 21st, and here we introduce them.

---

	Brittany Albright was awarded a Bachelors in Science from Emory University in 2007, and holds an MPH and MD from the University of New Mexico. Her interests include public health and healthcare policy, as well as treatments for addiction in pregnant women. While in Boston, she hopes to take advantage of opportunities at MGH and Mclean to pursue her interests in addiction medicine and alternative therapies.
	David Beckmann holds a BS degree from Duke University and studied for his MD at the University of Pennsylvania. While at Penn he also completed a Masters in Public Health, working with Philadelphia’s Child Welfare system, examining ways to improve quality and access to mental health care.  He looks forward to working with community outreach programs at MGH, exploring ways to bring mental health care to disadvantaged children and adolescents.
	Deanna Chaukos studied community health and immunology at Brown University, where she became interested in the bio-psycho-social impact of HIV in North America. She attended medical school at the University of Toronto, where she was drawn to psychiatry and inner city mental health. She hopes that MGH and McLean will enable her to aid in the promotion of mental health among disadvantaged communities in the Boston area.
	Kevin Donnelly-Boylen holds a BA from University of Boston, Massachusetts, where he studied political science. After several years working as an EMT in Boston, Kevin pursued his medical degree at  Georgetown University. He is thrilled to spend the next four years at Mass General and Mclean exploring the intersection between HIV and psychiatry, as well as issues of LGBTQ health.
	Adrienne Gerken did her undergraduate training at Harvard University, and spent three years working as an editor for travel guides before heading to medical school. She holds an MD from Columbia University, where she won a Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship to work on projects in pediatric endocrinology. Adrienne hopes that the diversity of resources at MGH and McLean will allow her to explore her wide range of interests.
	Kavitha Kolappa graduated with a BA in International Studies from UNC-Chapel Hill in 2005, before pursuing an MD from Johns Hopkins, followed by an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. Kavitha is learning from Dr. Greg Fricchione at the Benson-Henry Institute for Mind Body Medicine to further her understanding of mind body medical approaches and the relationship between depression and chronic illness.
	Hermioni Lokko grew up in Ghana before moving to Indiana to study for her undergraduate degree at Purdue University. Hermioni came to Boston to study for both her MD and a Master’s in Public Policy at Harvard. She is interested in bringing her training to the domains of global health and health policy, and during her residency hopes to evaluate the structure for psychiatry training in Global settings and explore the relationship between child welfare and mental health.
	David Marcovitz studied Russian literature at Princeton, and spent a year working on public health projects on a Fulbright in Russia before heading south and undergoing his medical training at Vanderbilt University. He decided to attend the psychiatry residency program at MGH and McLean in order to gain further experience with both bipolar disorder and addictions, as well as pursue interests in mental health advocacy and medical education.
	Thomas McCoy completed his undergrad at Dartmouth College, where he studied philosophy and neuroscience. He pursued his MD at the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City, where he took a year to research external fixation biomechanics. Tom has arrived in Boston eager to utilize the resources of MGH and McLean to continue his research in medical informatics.
	Michael Murphy studied at the University of Wisconsin for over a decade, earning his BS, MD, and a PhD in neuroscience. Michael is excited to move to Boston to continue his research into the differential sleep patterns of those with psychiatric illness. As a member of the MGH/McLean psychiatry residency’s Research Concentration Program, he intends to work in a lab using EEG and functional connectivity MRI techniques to study sleep behavior.
	A. Blythe Rose graduated from Brown in 2002, and spent several years conducting research in child psychiatry, brain imaging, and genetics at the NIMH.  Blythe then studied medical anthropology in Guatemala and Costa Rica before pursuing an MPH in International Health at BU and an MD at the Harvard Medical School.  She is interested in determinants of childhood resilience, and plans to work within the Division of Global Psychiatry at MGH during residency
	Alex Sidelnik grew up in Kansas City before attending Duke University, where he swam competitively and majored in Biology. He completed his MD at the Tufts University School of Medicine, and is excited to remain in Boston, where he has plans to work clinically with psychotic and bipolar disorders, as well as continue his pursuit of interests related to health care policy.
	Michael Soule studied International Relations at Brown before attending medical school at Yale and pursuing research in Ukraine on the intersection between injection opiate use, HIV, and public policy. Michael has a developing interest in medical education, and has conducted research on the place of substance abuse treatment in the U.S. correctional system.  He is excited to train in psychiatry with a faculty of such unparalleled depth and breadth.
	David Van Norstrand grew up in Minnesota and attended Calvin College in Michigan, where he studied physics. He completed the MD PhD program at the Mayo Medical School, investigating the genetics of sudden infant death in a cardiac arrhythmias lab. David hopes to apply his training in genetics to the etiology of psychiatric diseases during the next four years of his residency.
	James Wilkins majored in Biochemistry at Bowdoin College, where he won a Marshall Scholarship to pursue a DPhil in Human Genetics at the University of Oxford. After earning his DPhil, he attended Harvard Medical School, and has remained in Boston since. James is interested in geriatric psychiatry and Medicare/Medicaid, and is eager to gain experience developing behavioral treatment modules.
	Anna Wiste studied neuroscience and behavior at Columbia University, and graduated with an MD PhD from Emory University in 2010. Her doctoral and postdoctoral research investigated genetic associations with mood disorders, and she is excited to pursue research into genetic risk prediction for both mood disorders and other psychiatric conditions while at MGH and McLean.

Mass General was ranked the #1 hospital in the nation, according to the annual U.S. News & World Report “America’s Best Hospitals” list released Tuesday, a first for the hospital in the 22-year history of the survey.  McLean Hospital received its highest ranking since 1994, placing second among all psychiatric services nationwide. McLean also continues to be ranked as the nation’s top free-standing psychiatric hospital—a distinction it has held for more than a decade. Joining McLean at the top of this year’s list are John’s Hopkins at number one and MassGeneral at number three.

“Each year we have been both honored and humbled to be recognized among the nation’s highest achieving hospitals, and this year it is especially gratifying to be ranked number one,” said Peter L. Slavin, MD, MGH president.

The special occasion was celebrated at the Harvard Club on Saturday June 16th. The sixteen graduating residents of the MGH/McLean Adult Psychiatry Class of 2012, including the first three graduates of the Research Concentration Program, will move on to the next stage of their careers, transitioning to a broad array of exciting positions as psychiatry fellows, attendings, researchers, and outpatient practitioners.

All but one resident of the graduating class has elected to remain within the MGH and McLean communities following residency (see below). Amelia Dubovsky, who served as the 2011-2012 MGH Chief Resident, will be sorely missed as she moves on to a psychosomatics fellowship in Seattle, Washington.

Best of luck to all! We will follow your careers with pride and enthusiasm!

---

Immediate post-graduate plans of the MGH / McLean Class of 2012

• Karen Adler, M.D. Attending Psychiatrist, Women’s Treatment Program at Hill Center, Family Therapist for Borderline Center, McLean

• Claire Brickell, M.D. MGH/McLean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

• Hannah Brown, M.D. MGH Schizophrenia Fellowship

• Argyro Caminis, M.D., M.P.H. Attending Psychiatrist, Short Term Unit, McLean

• Joan Camprodon, M.D., Ph.D. Director, Laboratory for Neuropsychiatry & Neuromodulation at MGH Director of Translational Research, Division of Neurotherapeutics at MGH; Neuropsychiatry & Behavioral Neurology Fellowship at MGH; Dupont -Warren Fellowship Award, MGH

• Nicole Christian, M.D. MGH/McLean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

• Jeffrey DeVido, M.D., M.T.S. Partners Healthcare Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship

• Amelia Dubovsky, M.D. Psychosomatics Fellowship, University of Washington, Seattle, WA

• Sharmin Ghaznavi, M.D., Ph.D. Dupont-Warren Fellowship Award; MGH Bipolar Clinical and Research Program; Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute Fellowship, Newton, MA

• Ellen House, M.D. MGH/McLean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

• Kelly Irwin, M.D. Attending Psychiatrist, MGH Cancer Center in Psychiatric Oncology and MGH Schizophrenia Program

• William Ruzicka, M.D., Ph.D. Attending Psychiatrist, McLean; Dupont-Warren Fellowship Award; APA/Pfizer MD/PhD Psychiatric Research Fellowship, McLean

• Brian Schulman, M.D. Attending Psychiatrist, MGH Bipolar Clinical and Research Program; MGH Center for Addiction Medicine. Advanced Training Program at Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute, Newton, MA

• Andrea Spencer, M.D. MGH/McLean Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

• Christopher Tangren, M.D. Attending Psychiatrist, Dissociative Disorders and Trauma Program, McLean; Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute Fellowship, Newton, MA

Over the past two weeks, the Class of 2012 presented their work in the annual Senior Talks Symposium at McLean and MGH. Topics during week one covered a wide range and included a discussion of evil and psychopathy, group psychotherapy for patients with psychotic disorders, the neural correlates of emotional experiences in depression, and the epigenetics of schizophrenia. Week two featured a discussion of combined neuromodulation and neuroimaging, the psychodynamics of psychopharmacology, and the rise of "Bath Salts" as a new illicit drug. The full schedule is listed below.

Pictured: Claire Brickell discusses the topic of free will in the context of psychodynamic psychotherapy.

---

Wednesday, June 6, 2012
McLean, de Marneffe, Room 132

1:00 – Jeff DeVido, M.D. – The Question of Evil
1:30 – Karen Adler, M.D. – From object to subject: The role of the patient's experience of the therapist's subjectivity as a catalyst for change
2:00 – Ellen House, M.D. – A Safe Arena: Group Psychotherapy and Psychosis
2:30 – Chris Tangren, M.D. – The Couch and the Anchor: The Use of Metaphors in Psychotherapy
3:30 – Brad Ruzicka, M.D. Ph.D. – Nature, Nurture, and Chromatin Structure
4:00 – Claire Brickell, M.D. – Psychotherapy and Free Will
4:30 – Sharmin Ghaznavi, M.D., Ph.D. – Neural Evidence for the Struggle To Feel Good in Major Depression


Wednesday, June 13, 2012
MGH, Haber Auditorium

1:00 – Brian Schulman, M.D. – The Psychodynamics of Psychopharmacology
1:30 – Amelia Dubovsky, M.D. – A Brief History of Graduate Medical Education: the Birth of Duty Hours
2:00 – Hannah Brown, M.D. –Bath Salts: The Rise of a New Drug
2:30 – Joan Camprodon, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. – Simultaneous combination of TMS and fMRI: a window into mechanisms of neuropsychiatric disease and recovery
3:15 – Argo Caminis, M.D. – At the Couch-side: Teaching for Medical Students and Junior Residents in Inpatient Psychiatry
3:45 – Nicole Christian, M.D. – Traditional Mental Health Care in a Post-Conflict Society
4:15 – Kelly Irwin, M.D. – Is everyone having a baby? Or is it just me?

In a study of responses to St. John's wort, sertraline, and placebo, Justin Chen, Class of 2013, and colleagues showed that patients who believed they were receiving active therapy rather than placebo obtained greater improvement, independent of treatment. They found that patient beliefs regarding treatment may have a stronger association with clinical outcome than the actual medication received, and the strength of this association may depend upon the particular combination of treatment guessed and treatment received.

Chen JA, Papakostas GI, Youn SJ, Baer L, Clain AJ, Fava M, Mischoulon D. (2011) Association between patient beliefs regarding assigned treatment and clinical response: reanalysis of data from the Hypericum Depression Trial Study Group. J Clin Psychiatry. 2011 Dec;72(12):1669-76.

Steve Seiner, MD, Associate Director of the Residency Program, won the APA Nancy C.A. Roeske Certificate of Excellence in Medical Student Teaching presented at the 2012 APA Meeting and again during the 2012 Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Medical Student Education Awards Ceremony. Oriana Vesga-Lopez, Class of 2013, was awarded one of the Harvard Medical School Resident Teaching Awards from the HMS Class of 2012.

The MGH Division of Global Psychiatry, under the leadership of Dr. David Henderson, has partnered with the MGH/McLean residency (under the leadership of Maithri Amereskere from the Class of 2015) to build a new Global Psychiatry concentration program, which will be available to interested residents during the PGY2 and PGY3 years with particular interest in global mental health. The Global Psychiatry division also recently received a T32 grant to support residents with global psychiatry interests following graduation from residency.

Photo by Jason Judy from Flickr.

Dr. Kathy Sanders was recently inaugurated as the 2012-2013 President of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training (AADPRT).

The Program in Psychodynamics will be led by Robert Waldinger MD (MGH Director of Psychotherapy Research and Training, pictured) and Richard Schwartz MD (McLean and BPSI). (more...)

Michael Halassa, Class of 2013, recently published a first author paper in Nature Neuroscience, describing work he carried out at MIT in the lab of Christopher Moore, now at Brown University.  By selective optical control of thalamic activity, Mike and colleagues demonstrated that sleep spindles can be causally generated with millisecond precision to understand their role in physiology and behavior. The work was carried out while Mike was a PGY1 and PGY2 in the Research Concentration Program. Mike was also recently awarded a NIH pathway to independence career award (K99/R00) through the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the first time such an award has been obtained by a current MGH/McLean resident.

In Spring 2011, the residency program was awarded an Institutional Research Education Grant (R25) from the National Institute for Mental Health. Under the leadership of Maurizio Fava MD and Shelly Greenfield MD, MPH and with support from over fifty junior and senior research faculty across our two campuses, this five-year, $250K education grant is designed to foster research training and mentorship for all residents in our program.  In addition, the grant allows the residency to further develop the Research Concentration Program, a program established in 2007 to optimize clinical and research training for residents with substantial research experience who plan to embark on psychiatric research careers.  John Denninger, MD, PhD, and Dost Ongur, MD, PhD will serve as co-director of the RCP, with recent graduate Justin Baker MD, PhD, serving as Associate Director.

Pictured, from left: John Denninger, Co-Director of the RCP; Shelly Greenfield, co-PI; Maurizio Fava, co-PI; Kathy Sanders, Training Director; Justin Baker, Associate Director of the RCP; Joy Littlefield.