Department news | December 31, 2016

On November 30, Forefront honored Kate Comtois, PhD, MPH, at its fourth annual suicide awareness dinner. For two decades, Comtois has offered Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) training to psychology and psychiatry residents at the UW. Her research extends to evaluating DBT in large healthcare systems such as UW Medicine.

In response to a 2012 legislative mandate, Comtois has been conducting training in Collaborative Assessment and Management for Suicidality (CAMS), a program that helps patients learn to self-manage factors of suicide risk. She is also the principal investigator on clinical trials to improve services to suicidal individuals.

Department news | December 31, 2016

Lucy Berliner, MSW, director of the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress, was named to Seattle Magazine’s Hall of Fame in the “Research/Medicine/Science” category for being a trailblazer in the field of child sexual abuse and in training clinicians to assess and treat young sexual assault victims. Lucy works with victims of trauma and crime, and researches the impact and effects of trauma. “I am honored to be recognized for helping make the world a better place for victims,” said Lucy. “They so deserve it.” Full article

Department news | October 31, 2016

Jai Gandhi, UWMC Inpatient Chief Psychiatry Resident, received the Association for Academic Psychiatry (AAP) Fellowship Award at the organization’s annual meeting this September in Puerto Rico. The award honors psychiatry residents who demonstrate particular promise as educators and scholars in academic psychiatry as shown by their demonstrated ability as a teacher; commitment to an academic career; publications, presentations, and educational, or research projects in which the nominee has played a major role; and personal qualities that bear upon the nominee’s capacities in academic medicine.

Suzanne Murray, director of our psychiatry residency program, received the Distinguished Fellow Member award given to people who unselfishly guide the next generation of academic psychiatrists and who have achieved mastery in a career dedicated to educational endeavors.

Department news | September 30, 2016

UW Psychiatry will be a common name at the upcoming annual meeting of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine in November. Drs. Ratzliff, Pellegrino, Fann and Unützer are all receiving recognition for their work.

The Integrated Care Pathway started by Anna Ratzliff received the 2016 Alan Stoudemire Award for Innovation and Excellence in Psychosomatic Medicine Education on behalf of the Fellowship and Awards Committee. The Career Enrichment Pathway for psychiatry residents, one of the first of its kind, provides a rich array of experiences to learn about integrated care and to develop unique clinical skills.

The Fellowship and Awards Committee also awarded Laurel Pellegrino, UW Outpatient Chief Resident, with the 2016 Dorfman Journal Paper Award for Best Case Report for her article in APM’s journal, Psychosomatics, “Service Dogs in the Hospital: Helpful or Harmful? A Case Report and Clinical Recommendations.” This case report was co-written with Joe Cerimele and Amelia Dubovsky.

Jesse Fann is the recipient of the 2016 Dlin/Fischer Clinical Research Award for his paper “Impact of a Telehealth Intervention on Common Comorbid Conditions of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Active Duty Service Members: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” This award, determined by the Research and Evidence-Based Practice Committee, is given to the author of the paper judged to be the most outstanding submission to the APM annual meeting.

The same committee awarded Jürgen Unützer the 2016 Don R. Lipsitt Award for Achievement in Integrated and Collaborative Care. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated excellence and innovation in the integration of mental health with other medical care through collaborative care.

Congratulations to all four for their APM sweep!

Department news | September 30, 2016

John "Jack" Carr, Acting Chair for our department from 1981-1985, has been awarded the 2016 American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Institutional Practice. This highly selective award recognizes outstanding practicioners in psychology. Dr. Carr is especially recognized for his long-standing contributions of psychology within medical centers. He was one of the early proponents and champions of integrating psychology with the practice of medicine, integrating psychology and social science into the medical school curriculum, and serving as an institutional role model for medical school psychologists and psychology faculty members. Dr. Carr, now Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, is one of the few medical school academic psychologists who served as an acting chairman of a department of psychiatry at a research intensive medical school. Dr. Carr will receive his award at the 2016 APA Convention in Denver and will be acknowledged formally in the November 2016 Awards issue of the American Psychologist.

We thank Dr. Carr for paving the way for the integration of the biological and behavioral sciences!

Department news | September 30, 2016

VA Puget Sound was a 2016 Division 18 – VA Section award winner three times over in August, receiving 3 of 7 awards for Psychologists in Public Service at the VA Section meeting in Denver. Mark Reger was awarded Outstanding Researcher, Tracy Simpson received the Outstanding Supervisor or Mentor award, and Samantha Yard was recognized as the 2016 Outstanding Psychology Trainee. A very nice representation for VA/UW faculty!

Department news | June 30, 2016

This year, for the first time, our Department is celebrating faculty mentoring through our new Wayne J. Katon Outstanding Mentor Award. This annual award recognizes a Department faculty member who demonstrates sustained commitment to the creative, scholarly, professional and personal development of mentees.

The award honors Wayne Katon, a gifted and dedicated mentor who supervised dozens of junior faculty across several departments who have become leaders in many aspects of psychiatry and principal investigators of their own grant funded research programs. Wayne directed a federally-funded T-32 Fellowship Program in Primary Care Psychiatry/Health Services Research for over 25 years that produced more than 30 successful researchers at the interface of medicine and psychiatry, including many members of our department.

The inaugural recipient of this award is Raphe Bernier, a rising star in our department who is widely considered one of the leading and most promising autism researchers in the world. A terrific nomination packet submitted on his behalf detailed Raphe's remarkable generosity and investment in all members of his lab team and his commitment to developing the next generation of researchers in autism (students, trainees, and junior faculty).

Other faculty members nominated for their outstanding mentoring were Deb Cowley, Mary Larimer, Kathleen Myers, Rick Ries, and Michael Vitiello.

Thanks to Lydia Chwastiak, chair of the selection committee, and to the committee members for all of their work. Thanks also to those department members who submitted nominations on behalf of their mentors. And finally, thank you to all of our faculty who mentor our trainees, junior faculty, and staff!

Department news | June 30, 2016

The American Psychological Association selected Kari Stephens as an innovative early career psychologist, and her work on Data QUEST will be highlighted in an upcoming issue of the Monitor. Congratulations!

Department news | April 30, 2016

Congratulations to Tom Soeprono, a consultation-liaison and inpatient psychiatry attending at UWMC and Harborview, for receiving a competitive small grant award to integrate interactive, innovative learning methods into clinical care. Tom received the award from CLIME (Center for Leadership and Innovation in Medical Education), and will focus his project on medical students doing their core psychiatry clerkship. His project is titled "The Layered Teaching Model: A Novel Psychiatric Curriculum Integrating ‘Just-in-Time’ Teaching into Clinical Experience from a Practical and Adult Learning Theoretical Foundation."