Department news | February 28, 2018

Elaine Peskind, MD, has received the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Service's highest honor—the Paul B. Magnuson Award. The award is presented annually to a VA RR&D investigator who exemplifies the entrepreneurship, humanitarianism, and dedication to veterans displayed by Dr. Magnuson during his career.

Dr. Peskind was recognized for her extensive work on brain and behavioral disorders. Throughout her 35-year career, she has studied a wide range of conditions that affect the brain including Alzheimer's disease, PTSD related to combat injuries, and mild traumatic brain injury. She is a prolific investigator, having published more than 340 studies. Since 1998, her work has been continuously funded by either the VA or the National Institutes of Health.

“This is truly an incredible honor, a career milestone that precious few others can say they have achieved,” said David Ruskin, MD, Associate Chief of Staff of Mental Health at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. “Dr. Peskind joins a very select group of investigators, as she is only the 18th person to have received this coveted award since its inception in 1998.”

Dr. Peskind has been co-director of the VA Northwest Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC) at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Washington since 1997. She holds the Friends of Alzheimer's Research Endowed Professorship and was the associate director of the University's Alzheimer's Disease Research Center from 1998–2017.

Read the full article about Dr. Peskind on the Veterans Affairs website.

Department news | February 28, 2018

Courtesy faculty member Brett Parmenter, PhD, was elected to the Board of Directors for the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology (AACN). AACN promotes the profession of clinical neuropsychology through advocacy of educational and public policy initiatives. This is a five-year position and provides opportunities to contribute leadership at a national level on behalf of this specialty. Dr. Parmenter is a staff neuropsychologist at the VA Puget Sound Healthcare System, American Lake Division.

Department news | December 31, 2017

Congratulations to Jonathan Buchholz, MD, who has been selected as the 2017 recipient of our department’s Outstanding Junior Clinician Teacher Faculty Award! This award honors an exceptional clinician teacher faculty member at the Assistant or Acting Assistant Professor level. Dr. Buchholz completed his undergraduate degree in English, and his MD, psychiatry residency, and addiction psychiatry fellowship at UW. He teaches medical students and residents in his role as an inpatient attending at the Seattle VA, supervises addiction psychiatry fellows, heads up our substance use disorders classroom teaching for medical students and residents, co-teaches the physician development series for all four years of psychiatry residents, and serves as a highly respected advisor, mentor, and role model. He is beloved by trainees and faculty alike. Dr. Buchholz will receive the award at our department’s graduation ceremony on Saturday, June 23, 2018.

Department news | December 31, 2017

This year's recipient of the Joseph Becker Research Award is Stephanie Brewer, PhD, a Child Track resident in the Psychology Internship Program. The award stimulates quality research by rewarding a psychology resident for independence, creativity and intellectual depth in a research effort. Although clinicians frequently modify evidence-based treatments (EBT) during implementation to improve contextual and cultural fit, little is known about which modifications are commonly made or how they impact clinical outcomes. Dr. Brewer’s mixed methods research will develop a coding system designed to capture the modifications made to EBTs in public sector service settings and apply this coding system to examine which modifications are made to an EBT being implemented within two regional school districts.

Department news | December 31, 2017

Mark A. Stein, PhD, ABPP, received the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder ) at their International Conference on ADHD. Dr. Stein is a clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at University of Washington, and director of the Program to Enhance Attention, Regulation, and Learning (PEARL Clinic) at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Previously, he developed the Hyperactivity, Attention, and Learning Problems (HALP) Clinics in Washington, DC, Fairfax, and Chicago, and has helped train hundreds of psychologists and physicians in multidisciplinary assessment and treatment. He is a Fellow of The American Psychological Association and President of the American Professional Group for ADHD and Related Disorders (APSARD). Dr. Stein has written over 120 peer-reviewed articles, including numerous clinical trials of children, adolescents, and parents with ADHD, sleep, and pharmacogenetics. He is currently Associate Editor of Journal of Attention Disorders and Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology.

Department news | December 31, 2017

The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services awarded Jason Kilmer, PhD, with a 2017 Award of Excellence in the Prevention Professional category. By nominating Dr. Kilmer, his colleagues gave special recognition to his exemplary contributions in preventing substance abuse.

Dr. Kilmer received his PhD. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Washington in 1997, and currently works at the University of Washington in both a student affairs and a research capacity. He is an Associate Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and serves as an investigator on several studies evaluating prevention and intervention efforts for alcohol, marijuana, and other drug use by college students. He is also the Assistant Director of Health and Wellness for Alcohol and Other Drug Education in the Division of Student Life, working with different areas across campus (including health, counseling, Greek life, residence life, and intercollegiate athletics) to increase student access to evidence-based approaches. Jason also serves as the chairperson of Washington's College Coalition for Substance Abuse Prevention.

Dr. Kilmer has been project faculty for several national learning collaboratives, including NYU’s National College Depression Partnership, Dartmouth’s National College Health Improvement Program (NCHIP), and the NCAA’s 360 Proof project. He was one of the six members of the development team for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism’s College Alcohol Intervention Matrix (CollegeAIM), which summarizes individually- and environmentally-focused approaches to reduce the harms associated with college student alcohol use.

Department news | October 31, 2017

While opioids are powerful and useful medications, they also come with high risk of starting a life-long addiction. Harborview’s Pain and Addictions Strategic Oversight Committees integrate the work of multiple programs and departments that care for patients with complex pain control challenges and substance use disorders. In recognition of their work, the Pain and Addictions Oversight Committees received the Washington State Hospital Association’s 2017 Community Health Leadership Silver Award. The association gives the Community Health Leadership Award annually to health care organizations that are serving their community’s broader health needs in innovative and lasting ways. The Committees work includes:

• Education on safe prescribing practices and prevention;
• Alternatives to opioids for pain management;
• Focused treatment for opioid use disorder;
• Integrating specialty and expert primary care for pain, addiction and mental health in primary care and in addiction treatment centers;
• Partnership with other King County community partners and Washington State to expand medication-assisted treatment; and
• Using best care and data to reduce opioid use.

The Pain and Addictions Strategic Oversight Committees developed from informal meetings around diagnosis and management issues of patients admitted to Harborview who had both opioid addiction and pain, often from severe trauma or infections. These informal meetings started several years ago and included Ivan Lesnick, MD (pain service), Joe Merril, MD, MPH, and Judy Tsui, MD, MPH, (internal medicine) and Rick Ries, MD (addictions). They sought administrative support through consultation with Brigitte Folz, LICSW, who has done a great job of mobilizing staff, doctors and administrators to work on better approaches to this problem. The Oversight Committees are currently chaired by Dr. Lesnik and Sommer Kleweno Walley. Dr. Ries, Matt Iles-Shih, MD, MPH, and Mark Snowden, MD, MPH, have served on the committee as well as Darcy Jaffe, MN, ARNP, NE-BC, PMH-CNS-BC, FACHE , Brigitte Folz, LICSW, Sunny Lovin, LICSW, and Chelsea Markle, PharmD.

WSHA represents more than 100 hospitals and health systems in the state, including those that are non-profit, investor-owned, and county, state and military hospitals. Visit http://www.wsha.org/ for more information.

Department news | October 31, 2017

Forefront Suicide Prevention honored Anna Ratzliff, MD, PhD, with the Sue Eastgard Training Award at its fifth annual event and fundraiser, Restoring Hope. The award, named after Forefront’s co-founder and former Director of Training, honors the significant role that evidence-based training plays in the public health issue of suicide. Ratzliff was recognized for her leadership in co-developing All Patients Safe, a six-hour suicide prevention training curricula that meets the new Washington state law requiring health professionals to be trained in suicide assessment, treatment, and management. Ratzliff worked alongside many people including Jennifer Stuber, PhD, and Jennifer Barron, MA, BSW, from Forefront, and department faculty members Ian Bennet, MD, PhD; John Kern, MD; Molly Adrian, PhD; and Mark Reger, PhD. A number of staff were crucial to the development of the training as well including Alan Gojdics, MEd, Betsy Payn, MA, PMP, Melissa Farnum, MA, Diana Roll, Lindsay Baldwin, Mary Ann Barnard, Hannah Sessions, and Cara Towle, RN, MSN, MA.

Medical providers in the UWP practice plan and at Seattle Children’s can meet the new state requirement for free with All Patients Safe. It will be hosted on UW Medicine’s Learning Management System and is expected to launch in November. Please look for further announcements in the department’s Friday newsletter as well as through various UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s communications.

Department news | October 31, 2017

Congratulations to the following people who were voted a “Top Doctor” by their peers based on years of experience, competency, rapport with patients, patient satisfaction and compliance with care recommendations, and ability to work effectively with colleagues across specialties to deliver the best patient care. Thank you for your good work!

• Andy Saxon, MD (Addiction Medicine)
• Ray Hsiao, MD (Child Psychiatry)
• Hower Kwon, MD (Child Psychiatry)
• Richard Veith, MD (Psychiatry)

Department news | September 30, 2017

In recognition of her contributions to psychosomatic medicine/consultation-liaison psychiatry and her proven track record as a mentor, Lydia Chwastiak, MD, MPH, FAPM, was chosen for the 2017 Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (APM) Foundation Research Professor Award. Dr. Chwastiak’s most important work has been to draw attention to the health disparities experienced by persons living with serious mental illness. Her current NIH-funded research involves the development and evaluation of innovative Collaborative Care interventions for diabetes and depression in low- and middle-income countries, and also for vulnerable populations living with serious and persistent mental illness in the US. As a Research Professor, Dr. Chwastiak will help several early career researcher mentees by providing face-to-face mentoring at the APM’s annual meeting as well as a year-long mentoring connection.

Launched in 2016, the APM Foundation Research Professor Program was developed in memory of Wayne Katon, MD, a prominent faculty member in our department for over thirty years and APM president from 2012-13. Dr. Katon mentored young psychiatrists and researchers across the country, and inspired countless junior faculty across several UW departments, including Dr. Chwastiak. His memory lives on in his mentees, and it is truly fitting that Dr. Chwastiak receive this award