Department news | May 31, 2022

Established by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Board of Trustees in 1964, the Distinguished Service Award honors individuals and/or organizations who have contributed exceptional meritorious service to the field of psychiatry and/or the APA. Earlier this month, Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH, MA, was honored with the award at the Annual Meeting of the APA in New Orleans.

Dr. Unützer’s work focuses on innovative models of care that integrate behavioral health and general medical services. He founded the AIMS Center which is dedicated to ‘Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions’ that have been implemented in partnership with more than 1,000 health care organizations and clinics in the US and abroad.

The last member of our Department to receive this award was Wayne Katon, MD, who received the award posthumously. Dr. Unützer, Dr. Katon’s mentee, accepted the award on his behalf in 2015.

Department news | May 31, 2022

The Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) presented their Community Leadership Award to the SMART Center this month. The annual award is given to community members or groups in recognition of their outstanding contributions toward education with specific criteria including benefit to students, leadership, motivation, success, cooperation/coordination with local district, recognition by others, and history of service. Sumner Bonney Lake School District, one of the SMART Center’s community partners, nominated the team. Kelcey Schmitz, MSEd, Director of Training and Technical Assistance, received the award on behalf of the SMART Center. Congratulations!

Department news | February 28, 2022

Congratulations to Allana Hall, a 4^th year medical student, for receiving the Margaret H. O’Donnell Prize in Psychiatry. This prize, funded by a generous philanthropic gift to the department, is awarded to a senior medical student at the University of Washington who has been highly involved in behavior health issues and done outstanding academic work in psychiatry. Allana has engaged in a wide range of activities including forming the first Wyoming Chapter of a student group focusing on Adverse Childhood Experiences and their health impacts, serving as a Crisis Text Line counselor and engaging in research focusing on medication for opioid use disorder. In addition to being recognized for her outstanding work, Allana will receive a $600 award. She is hoping to match into psychiatry next month and we wish her well!

Thank you to Heidi Combs, MD, MS, and Paul Borghesani, MD, PhD, for reviewing applications and administering the award.

Department news | December 28, 2021

Congratulations to Mary Larimer, PhD, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Addictive Behaviors Special Interest Group (SIG) from the Association of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies (ACBT) earlier this month. ABCT is committed to the enhancement of health and well-being by advancing the scientific understanding, assessment, prevention and treatment of human problems through the global application of behavioral, cognitive and biological evidence-based principles. The Addictive Behaviors SIG provides a platform within ABCT for members to communicate and collaborate regarding substance use topics.

Department news | November 30, 2021

Congratulations to Kevin Hallgren, PhD, for receiving the Outstanding Research Mentor Award given by the UW School of Medicine. Dr. Hallgren has been working with Judith Tsui, MD, MPH (Division of General Internal Medicine) as a research mentor and research methods coach on her new MedStAR program that helps medical students develop and complete an addiction medicine-focused research project by pairing them with faculty mentors. Below is an excerpt from Dr. Hallgren’s nomination:

My mentor helped me not only develop my research project almost from the ground up, but also helped me to focus my research in something to which I was personally drawn to. With his help not only was I able to have a very fulfilling and enlightening research experience, but I was able to have a great clinical experience coincide with my research. Dr. Hallgren showed a lot of trust and faith in my abilities to direct a project on my own and gave me a lot of autonomy, but also advice whenever I asked. He was really able to understand my own interests in medicine and my previous background and used that information to show me how research conducted in the field of medicine can be collaborative and rewarding.

The hope is that providing this foundational experience through MedStAR will entice more medical students to be interested in addiction medicine research and clinical care, pursue residencies and fellowships that focus on addiction medicine, and/or champion addiction-related medical care throughout their careers.

Department news | November 30, 2021

Barbara McCann, PhD, was elected to serve as President-Elect of the Society for Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis (SCEH) for a two-year term starting November 2021. SCEH is an international association whose mission is to promote excellence and progress in hypnosis research, education, and clinical practice. A distinguishing feature of the Society is its emphasis on empirical inquiry and the evidence-base of hypnosis. Dr. McCann has served as Secretary of SCEH for the past two years and is Program Co-Chair of the Annual Conference. Catherine McCall, MD, is the other Conference Co-Chair and is current Secretary of SCEH. Congratulations Dr. McCann!

Department news | October 29, 2021

Benjamin Danielson, MD, a Clinical Professor of Pediatrics and a celebrated community leader in health equity has been selected as the 2021 recipient of the Seattle-King County First Citizen Award. The former medical director of the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic was honored at a civic banquet at the Seattle Art Museum on October 28.

In announcing this year’s recipient, event co-chair Cindy Silverstein called out Dr. Danielson’s extraordinary commitment to the health and well-being of children and families, especially children of color from low-income families, his leadership in the area of equity and social justice, and his lifelong commitment to community service which make him an especially worthy honoree this year when healthcare and a national reckoning with racism are paramount Read more.

We are looking forward to working with Dr. Danielson as he builds a new program in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences that seeks to promote paths to opportunity that are youth-centered, community-informed, and evidence-based and that will help end youth incarceration in Washington State by the year 2030. The proposed AHSHAY Center, Allies in Healthier Systems for Health & Abundance in Youth, recently received a foundational grant from the Bezos Family Foundation.

Department news | September 30, 2021

Congratulations to Catherine McCall, MD, and Andy Saxon, MD, on being named one of the Best Physicians in the Puget Sound region in Seattle Met Magazine for 2021.

We are delighted they were selected for this well-deserved honor and appreciate their commitment to excellence in patient care.

Department news | June 30, 2021

Nathan Sackett, MD, MS, is the first recipient of our new Clinician Scientist Transition (CST) Award. Funded by philanthropic and departmental support, the award provides funds to advance the career of clinician scientists who are committed to starting careers in clinical or translational research. Finding time to pursue research interests is difficult while fully engaged in clinical and teaching responsibilities, and the CST Award supports this career trajectory by protecting a clinician scientist’s time to do so.

Dr. Sackett will use his award to explore novel therapeutics, such as the use of psychedelics to treat substance use disorders. He completed his psychiatry residency and Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship with us and we are excited to welcome Nathan to the UW faculty and to support his work in novel therapeutics.