Department news | June 30, 2019

The Outstanding Mentor Award, Clinician Teacher Pathway honors extraordinary and sustained dedication, commitment, and effectiveness in fostering the professional and personal development of faculty members in our Clinician Teacher pathway. This year the award goes to Anna Ratzliff, MD, PhD. Dr. Ratzliff has displayed a consistent and passionate commitment to mentoring clinician teachers, in both individual and group settings. She has led the UWMC clinician teacher peer mentoring group and over the past few years has mentored over 20 faculty members through a curriculum development project for the Integrated Care Training Program (ICTP). Mentees describe her as “an amazing mentor,” praise her for her “genuine desire to help others succeed coupled with her willingness to provide meaningful opportunities for growth for those that she works with” and state that her mentorship has been very valuable in their career development.

Department news | June 30, 2019

The Exceptional Staff Award is a new award that honors and celebrates the valuable efforts staff members make toward supporting the mission of the department and upholding our core values of collaboration, continuous learning and mentorship, and integrity and accountability. We had six amazing nominees this year: Alison Laing, department research administration; Jessica Leith, Evidence Based Practice Institute; Kim Nguyen, department research administration; Juliann Salisbury, AIMS Center; Gayle Schneider, psychiatry clerkship program; and Emily Taylor, HaRRT Center. Two staff members were chosen for this year's award: Kim Nguyen and Gayle Schneider.

Kim supported our research post award activities for over 16 years until her retirement this month. Excerpts from her  nomination packet describe her as exceptional, effective, outstanding, and open-minded. Her nominator, Michael V. Vitiello, PhD, said, "I can safely say that, in my thirty-plus years as faculty member and active researcher who worked closely with a fair number of very qualified and competent fiscal managers and supervisors, Kim is far and away the best fiscal staff member it has been my privilege to work with."

Gayle serves as the Psychiatry Clerkship Administrator, shepherding all of the UW medical students through their required, six-week Psychiatry Clerkship every year as well as the 4th year UW and visiting students. Adjectives in her nomination packet include exemplary, exceptional, hardworking, caring and dependable. Said one nominee, "Gayle is one of the most dedicated and most intelligent people I have worked with. She always brings her impressive analytical abilities to any team she is on. She is a superb employee and fabulous person. The department has greatly benefited from her excellent service."

Department news | May 31, 2019

Pamela Y. Collins, MD, MPH, was honored at the APA/APAF Minority Fellows and Alumni Reception this month for receiving the 2019 Jeanne Spurlock, MD Minority Fellowship Achievement Award. Dr. Collins is recognized as an outstanding psychiatrist who has taken innovative and supportive efforts to raise awareness of mental illness in under-served minority communities, increasing the need for early recognition, increasing the availability of treatment and how to access it, and addressing the culture barriers to treatment. She has increased access to quality mental health services for under-served minority communities and improved the quality care of underserved minority populations, particularly those in the public health system or with severe mental illness.

Department news | May 31, 2019

Barbara Juarez was honored this month with a 2019 Undergraduate Research Mentor Award at the Undergraduate Research Symposium after being nominated by her students. The Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium is a chance for undergraduates to present what they have learned through their research experiences to a larger audience. The Symposium also provides a forum for students, faculty, and the community to discuss cutting edge research topics and to examine the connection between research and education. "One of my goals as an academic scientist is to ensure undergraduates receive an enriched training environment in the laboratory by providing tailored mentoring plans to each individual based on their goals,” says Juarez. “I am extremely honored to receive this award."

Department news | May 31, 2019

Raymond Vath, MD, a retired clinical faculty member, recently received the 2019 MEDEX Pioneer Award. After attending medical school at the UW and graduating from our psychiatry residency program In 1969, he was hired on as faculty at the newly formed MEDEX Northwest program by founder Dr. Richard Smith. He worked with the team for two years before returning to his private practice in 1971. During his career he developed a treatment for anorexia nervosa and helped create the international aid organization Mercy Corps International (now Mercy Corps), where he served on the Board of Directors from 1979-2000. In 2005 Dr. Vath was named Humanitarian of the Year by the UW Medical School Association and received an Honorary Doctor of Humanities from Providence University Great Falls, MT. This 10-minute film documents Dr. Vath’s invaluable contributions.

Department news | April 30, 2019

Statistical information plays an important role in informing actions and policies to improve the health of individuals and communities. With this guiding principle, the National Center for Health Statistics and AcademyHealth developed the NCHS/AcademyHealth Health Policy Scholars Program. This year, Andrew Carlo, MD, a senior fellow / acting instructor in our department has been appointed as the 2019 NCHS/AcademyHealth Health Policy Scholar, an award which provides gives him unique access to restricted data file(s) (free-of-charge) through the NCHS Research Data Center (RDC), and potentially other Federal Statistical Research Data Centers (FSRDC), to enhance and improve his research. Dr. Carlo is currently a second-year fellow in the Geriatric Mental Health Services Research Fellowship Program and practices consult psychiatry in primary care, telehealth and emergency medicine settings. His primary research interests include behavioral health integration models in the primary care setting, and health policy relevant to the intersection between psychiatry and population health. Dr. Carlo trained in psychiatry at Harvard-Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hospital where he served as the Chief Resident in Public and Community Psychiatry. Congratulations!

Department news | April 30, 2019

Shaune DeMers, MD, has received UW Medicine’s PRAISE (Patient Reported Assessment In Satisfaction and Excellence) Award that recognizes excellent listening and communication skills among clinicians. Effective communication between physicians and patients contributes to higher-quality and more cost-effective care as well as better patient adherence to prescribed regimens. DeMers’ patients rated her among the top doctors in the nation for her listening and communication skills, making her a role model for UW Medicine’s Patients Are First Initiative. Thank you to Dr. DeMers for the wonderful care she provides to our patients and their families.

Department news | April 30, 2019

Kali Hobson, MD, a first year fellow (PGY-4) in the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program, is the recipient of the APA SAMHSA-funded Minority Fellowship Program. Dr. Hobson, a first year fellow (PGY-4) in the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program, is the recipient of the APA SAMHSA-funded Minority Fellowship Program. This award provides her with funding for her research where she will be developing, implementing, and evaluating a bias reduction and racial disparities curricula for psychiatry and pediatric trainees. She will also be developing, with Roberto Montenegro, MD, PhD, a Bias Reduction in Curricula Content (BRICC) software program for the UW School of Medicine.

Department news | April 30, 2019

Anna Ratzliff, MD, PhD, has received the Distinguished Contributions to Lifelong Learning Award, the highest recognition for UW faculty who make significant contributions to lifelong learning at the UW. The annual UW Lifelong Learning Award honors full- and part-time University of Washington faculty who have designed and/or taught courses, seminars or workshops aimed at non-matriculated working adults and other nontraditional students, and who have received excellent teaching evaluations for that work.

Dr. Ratzliff is a professor in our department, the new director of our Psychiatry Residency Program, and a highly experienced and dedicated educator. She has been instrumental in starting and leading a state-funded Integrated Care Training Program, a year-long Community-Based Integrated Care Fellowship for psychiatrists and psychiatric nurse practitioners s seeking additional training in integrated care, the UW Psychiatry and Addictions Case Conference (UW PACC) series that connects community providers with UW Medicine psychiatrists and addictions experts, and All Patients Safe, a practical and engaging suicide prevention training for healthcare professionals.

"In classroom and individual interactions, she brings a lightness, excitement and authentic energy that are delightful to experience,” says a former student in the Community-Based Integrated Care Fellowship. “She shares generously of herself, both through undivided one-on-one attention and through her dynamic teaching presence. Her desire to spark change is energizing and inspiring-she has given me new direction for my personal practice and new hope for improvement in mental health care locally and nationally."