Honors & Awards

Farzaneh Faradi receives Austin Riggs Award 

Department News | November 26, 2025

We’re thrilled to share that Farzaneh Farhadi, MD, has been selected as a recipient of the 2025 Austen Riggs Award for Excellence in Psychotherapy. This national award recognizes psychiatry residents who demonstrate exceptional dedication to the practice and development of psychotherapy within a biopsychosocial framework.

This award is presented by the Austen Riggs Center. Located in Stockbridge, MA, the Austen Riggs Center is a therapeutic community, open psychiatric residential treatment center, and institute for education and research with a mission to promote resilience and self-direction in those with complex psychiatric problems. 

Dr. Farhadi’s recognition highlights her deep commitment to compassionate, holistic patient care

Morgan Liu and Nikitha Pothireddy win poster award at ACLP meeting

Department News | November 26, 2025

Congratulations to psychiatry residents Nikitha Pothireddy, MD and Morgan Liu, MD who won second place for the Best Trainee Poster award at the Academy of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP) annual meeting in San Antonio, TX.

Their poster, “Assessing the impact of bidirectional text messaging Intervention on scheduling rates in a statewide perinatal telepsychiatry clinic,” reported on a quality improvement project conducted within the PERC Center’s Perinatal Telepsychiatry Clinic and the work of the Mental Health Navigator team including Perla Raga, Suwilanji Chisebuka, Hannah Kim, and Lauren Oickle. The faculty mentor for this QI project is Amritha Bhat, MD, MPH. This work aims to increase much needed access to perinatal mental health care in Washington. Congratulations to everyone involved! 

Andy Saxon receives Outstanding Achievement & Service Award

Department News | November 26, 2025

Congratulations to Andy Saxon, MD, recipient of the 2025 Outstanding Achievement and Service Award from the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP). This honor is presented to an outstanding member of the community who works in the field of addiction and who has contributed significantly to the science, teaching, treatment, and/or advocacy related to substance use disorders and co-occurring mental illness.
 
Before his entry into psychiatry, Dr. Saxon completed an internal medicine internship and worked for four years as an emergency room physician. Following a general psychiatry residency at UW, Dr. Saxon has more than four decades of experience as a clinical and research addiction psychiatrist. He sits on the editorial boards of the journals, Drug and Alcohol Dependence and General Hospital Psychiatry. He is a lifetime Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, where he served as the chair of the Council on Addiction Psychiatry from 2017-2019. He’s a fellow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine, as well as a member of College on Problems of Drug Dependence and of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry. He has given numerous presentations at conferences and has more than 200 papers published in peer reviewed journals.

Jürgen Unützer named Doctor of the Year by Puget Sound Business Journal

Department News | October 30, 2025

We’re thrilled to announce that the Puget Sound Business Journal has selected PBSCI Chair Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH, MA, as the recipient of its 2025 Healthcare Leadership Award for Doctor of the Year! He is one of 14 healthcare leaders who are being recognized for moving the industry forward by working to improve medicine and how it is delivered to patients.
 
Dr. Unützer is being recognized for his efforts to expand access to mental health services in our state and beyond. He describes his role as being a “doctor’s doctor,” who works with health care colleagues across the system when they face challenges in caring for individuals and families with serious mental health and addiction problems.
 
Dr. Unützer has also been instrumental in generating political and philanthropic support for new mental health programs. In 2019, he worked with philanthropists Lynn and Mike Garvey to secure a $50 million gift to establish The Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions at UW Medicine. His advocacy at the state level helped to secure support for an expansion of training programs in psychiatry and child psychiatry, the establishment of a state-wide psychiatric consultation program, and a $244 million appropriation by the Washington State Legislature to build the Center for Behavioral Health and Learning on the UW Medical Center – Northwest campus.   
 
The 2025 Healthcare Leadership Award honorees will be featured in a special report in the December 5 edition of the Puget Sound Business Journal. Congratulations, Dr. Unützer!

Jeremy Rudoler receives 2025 Joseph Becker Research Award

Department News | October 30, 2025

The Psychology Internship Program is pleased to announce that Jeremy Rudoler, MS has won this year's Joseph Becker Research Award! Jeremy is part of the General Adult Track and his research examines the effectiveness of a Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Next Steps group skills intervention in reducing perfectionism.  

This award was established in recognition of the significant contributions of Joseph Becker, PhD to the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and to the Psychology Internship Program. Congratulations, Jeremy!

The establishment of this award honors Dr. Becker’s vision of a scientist-practitioner internship and his long-term presence as a model of the principles this embodies. The award further acknowledges his nationally recognized stature as a clinician-researcher, and as a strong, compassionate teacher and leader. In keeping with Dr. Becker’s vision, the purpose of this award is to stimulate quality research by rewarding an intern for independence, creativity, and intellectual depth in a research effort of the internship year.

The Psychology Internship Program would like to thank the members of the awards committee, including Committee Chair Adam Carmel, PhD from the Adult Track; Sherilynn Chan, PhD and Jennifer Cadigan, PhD of the Child Track; Gina Formea, PhD and Katherine Wright, PhD of the Behavioral Medicine/Neuropsychology Tracks; and Erin Olson, PhD of the Autism Track for their service and help in reviewing applications for this award.

Seattle Children’s recognized as top 10 children’s hospital in U.S.

Department News | October 30, 2025

U.S. News & World Report has recognized Seattle Children’s as one of the top 10 children’s hospitals in the U.S., including #1 in Washington state! Seattle Children’s is also rated in the top 50 in Pediatric & Adolescent Behavioral Health.
 
The top medical centers are identified in 11 specialties, and Children’s ranked in all 11 including Cancer, Cardiology and Heart Surgery, Diabetes and Endocrinology, Gastroenterology and GI Surgery, Neonatology, Nephrology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Health, Pulmonology and Lung Surgery, and Urology.
 
These rankings are important to the hospital’s reputation. A recent survey conducted by Seattle Children's shows that over 50% of respondents consider the rankings either extremely important or very important when choosing a hospital for their child. U.S. News & World Report has recognized Seattle Children’s as a top children’s hospital every year since it began ranking medical facilities more than 30 years ago. See our Pediatric and Behaviroal Health rankings at U.S. News and World Report.

Highlights from the 2025 AAP Annual Meeting

Department News | September 30, 2025

Our department was well represented at the recent Association for Academic Psychiatry (AAP) Annual Meeting in Milwaukee where our faculty, fellows, residents, and staff showcased their work and were acknowledged for their dedication to advancing the field of academic psychiatry. A big congratulations to our own Heidi Combs, MD, MS for her outstanding leadership as president of AAP from 2024–2025. We are so grateful for her service!
 
We are also thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of two colleagues – Laurel Pellegrino, MD, who received the Early Career Development Award, and Andy Phan, MD (PGY4), who received the Resident Psychiatric Educator Award at this year’s meeting. Please join us in congratulating Drs. Pellegrino and Phan for their well-deserved achievements!

Rob Chen selected for Outstanding Resident Award Program

Department News | September 30, 2025

We’re excited to share that Rob Chen, MD, PhD has been selected for the prestigious Outstanding Resident Award Program by the National Institute of Mental Health. Now a third-year resident, Dr. Chen is working with Douglas Fowler, PhD in the UW Genome Sciences Center to investigate how genetic mutations linked to schizophrenia impact neuronal function. He is also collaborating with Debby Tsuang, MD, MSc on research using large-language models to unravel the genetics of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. His work aims to deepen our understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying serious mental illness and ultimately support the development of more targeted treatments. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Chen on this well-deserved honor!