Condition: Delirium and catatonia

Whitney Carlson

Personal Statement

I have a passion for treating geriatric patients with new onset and longstanding mental health disorders and cognitive disorders. My primary interests are depression and psychotic disorders, especially when these symptoms overlap with cognitive disorders. I value sharing in the life histories of patients and families, the challenging complexity of medical issues as they interact with psychiatric presentations and assisting patients and families in discussions about advanced care planning and end of life issues. I have particular expertise in working with those living in long term care settings where I have done consultation work. I have recently joined Harborview’s ethics committee in order to participate in examining difficult clinical, social, and ethical situations which affect patients, families, and staff within the medical system.

Debby Tsuang

Personal Statement

Over the past 20 years, my research has focused on the genetics of schizophrenia and neurodegenerative disorders, particularly on the use of clinical phenotyping and innovative genomic technologies to elucidate the complex genetic architecture underlying schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). I served as the Director of the Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center (GRECC) at the VA Puget Sound Health (VAPS) from 2011-2022, in order to focus on my research on Alzheimer’s Disease and related disorders. My current research interests are two-pronged: 1) develop machine learning models in VA’s vast electronic health records in order to assign ADRD probability scores in older Black and White Veterans; and 2) use mobile health devices to promote early diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies. In In these capacities, I direct multidisciplinary efforts to better understand the biology, genetics, etiology, prevention, and treatment of these disorders, and I provide clinical expertise for the differential diagnosis of  neurodegenerative disorders and treatment of behavioral disturbances in dementias.

 

Paul Borghesani

Personal Statement

I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM). As a past recipient of a Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) award, I completed his MD-PhD in the Harvard/MIT Program of Health Sciences and Technology with his thesis work in development neurobiology. After completing residency training at UWSOM, I was awarded a KL2 career development grant and went on to publish in the field of structural and functional neuroimaging with an emphasis on neural changes with aging. I am board certified and currently work as a staff psychiatrist at Harborview Medical Center (HMC) where I am the Medical Director for the Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES). I am also the Director of Psychiatry Clerkships at the UWSOM, coordinating clinical education in psychiatry cross the 5 state WWAMI region (WA, WY, AL, MT and ID). In this capacity, I routinely lectures to primary care providers and residents on suicidality, psychosis, psychopharmacology and drug abuse.