FAWAZ STIPHO

University of Arizona

Fstipho1@arizona.edu

Fawaz Stipho was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2003 and spent the following years evading the war-torn nature of his country: from Lebanon and Syria, to Germany, to Boston, and finally to Phoenix where he spent most of his years prior to moving down to Tucson to attend the University of Arizona. Fawaz is a rising Junior with a double major in Physiology & Medical Sciences and Psychology, minoring in Spanish. He plans to attend Medical School to become a psychiatrist and hopes to dismantle the stigma surrounding mental health commonly held in patriarchal and underserved communities. Fawaz is passionate about the correlation between mental and physical health and how it is often ignored, along with how societal norms encourage the suppression of emotion and vulnerability, causing a generational, cyclical cascade of mental health problems. He has been involved with OEDI since the summer before his freshman year and they have helped him align his career and future with his passions. He works as a Behavioral Therapist at a Therapy Group, helps run a campus organization, FACES, that strives to bring cultural equity to the health professions, provides care at US/Mexico Border Clinics, and works at a Psychiatry lab in the College of Medicine, optimizing the multi-modal treatment of psychiatric ailments. In his free time, he enjoys cooking, reading, painting, and spending time with friends and family. He would like to thank Dr. Zapien, OEDI, and all the speakers that gave their time and effort!

⊲ PROJECT

Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Focus on Clinical Outcomes, Uptake, and Satisfaction.

Depression and anxiety are common in primary care, and their prevalence has only increased since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, outpacing the mental health workforce’s capacity to provide adequate treatment. Over the past 15 years, Internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (I-CBT) has demonstrated promising results in symptom improvement and enhanced functioning, offering a scalable and cost-effective solution to address this growing mental health crisis. Notably, in 2021, Banner Health initiated a pilot project by acquiring 1000 SilverCloud licenses to assess utilization rates, patient satisfaction, and clinical outcomes. This research seeks to present an early account of engagement, satisfaction, and clinical outcomes among 489 patients receiving care at Banner Health’s primary care and specialty mental health sites, shedding light on I-CBT’s impact on mental health care delivery during these unprecedented times.

JORDAN

MD Chair, Psychiatry Karpjf@arizona.edu