Every year, faculty in our department teach a classroom course for UW medical students titled Mind, Brain, and Behavior. Marcella Pascualy, MD, has served as the Course Chair for the past 20 years and has now decided to step down from this role. She has done a sensational job in this position, displaying unwavering dedication, creativity, high standards of excellence, and passion for teaching medical students about psychiatry. In recognition of her outstanding leadership and teaching skills, she won the 2011 UW School of Medicine Basic Science Teacher of the Year award. She has also been recognized within the Department as an exemplary educator with the 2016 Tucker Career Educator Award. We are sad to see her leave as Course Chair and want to thank her for her exceptional work. Fortunately for us, she will continue as an educational leader in our Department, continuing as our Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship Director.

We are excited to announce that Laura LaPlante, MD, who has done a wonderful job co-chairing the course with Dr. Pascualy for the past three years, has agreed to take on the role of Course Chair. Dr. LaPlante attended the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, completed her psychiatry residency at the University of Pittsburgh, and is a member of our faculty at the Seattle VA. Assisting her as the course Co-Chair will be Mike Huijon, MD. Dr. Huijon completed medical school and residency in both psychiatry and family medicine at the University of Pittsburgh before coming to the UW for his Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship. He is on our faculty at UWMC and has experience teaching in the Mind, Brain, and Behavior course. We are very fortunate to have Drs. LaPlante and Huijon taking over the leadership of this course and look forward to working with them!