Q2| 2017
BRAINSTORMS Quarterly Publication of the University of Miami Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
In This Edition Part I: A Woman’s 27 Year Struggle With Depression An Intricate Look at Psychiatric Oncology Welcoming New Staff, Faculty, Resident Class of 2021
A Message from the Chairman
I
am delighted to report on the many exciting initiatives and activities that are ongoing here in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
As I begin my eighth year as chairman of the department at the end of this year, there is much to be proud of in terms of recent accomplishments, but even more to look forward to in the year ahead. First, we welcome four fabulous new faculty members to the department. They include Barbara Coffey, M.D., our new Division Chief in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, who we were delighted to recruit from the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. A world expert in Tourette’s Syndrome, tic disorder, and autism, she is an accomplished and world-renowned researcher, educator, and clinician. We are very grateful to Jon Shaw, M.D., for all of his contributions who is stepping down as Division Chief after many years in this role. Drs. Rachel Zeichner and Elisa Diaz are two psychologists who trained here at the University of Miami. Dr. Zeichner returns to UM after a fellowship at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. She will be working largely at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, led by our Chief of Psychiatric Oncology, Dr. William Pirl, (read more about him on p. 4). Dr. Diaz will work closely with Dr. Marisa Echenique evaluating and treating patients with comorbid medical disorders including HIV and organ transplant candidates. Finally, Luca Pani, M.D., a well-known expert in clinical research joins us from Italy to lead our efforts in this important area. In addition, several other major faculty recruits are in progress. Stay tuned! Second is news of the expansion of our clinical services. We have partnered with Acadia Healthcare to build a new freestanding, state-of-the-art psychiatric campus in Miami-Dade County. The campus will provide access to the full continuum of behavioral
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health services, including 100+ inpatient beds, a day treatment program, and outpatient offices. Our application for a Certificate of Need (CON) for the facility has been preliminarily approved by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). This will be a site for psychiatry residency and medical student education, as well as research. The new campus will not detract from our critically important relationship with the Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital (JBHH). Speaking of JBHH, we were delighted with the appointment of Kevin Andrews as the new CEO and together with Patricia Ares-Romero, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, we are working hard to strengthen the relationship with our longstanding partners. I anticipate an even closer relationship with JBHH moving forward. We have just welcomed our 16 new PGY-1 residents to the department. What a remarkable and diverse group, equal in size to the largest psychiatry residency classes in the nation. We also welcome a new group of fellows—in psychosomatic medicine, child psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Space constraints preclude a detailed description of the state of research in the department, but we continue making significant progress in improving our ranking in NIH standing; several faculty have been the recipients of new NIH grants including Drs. Czaja, Brothers, Ayad, Salloum and myself, and others have received favorable scores ready for funding. We continue to be supported by our wonderful External Advisory Board (EAB). After five devoted years, Harley Tropin has stepped down as Co-Chair and will resume his position as a founding member of the EAB. We could
not be more grateful for his leadership. Co-Chair Susan Racher will stay on to help with the transition. We are delighted that Alfredo Frohlich has agreed to take the reins as Chair—once again, he will host our Annual Golf Tournament at Turnberry Isle on October 27, 2017. For everything you need to know, visit GolfUMPsych.com. Thanks to the tremendous success of last year’s Inaugural Golf Tournament, we have been able to fund an Interactive Screening Program on the medical school campus. Set to launch later this summer, the program’s goal is to prevent suicides on campus by identifying students who may benefit from the help of a mental health professional. It is completely anonymous, a unique and helpful tool to keeping our UM community safe and healthy. Finally, we welcome our new Dean of the Miller School of Medicine, Edward Abraham, M.D. who joins us from Wake Forest University School of Medicine. We look forward to working with him in the months and years ahead. Best wishes to all of you for a healthy and happy summertime. Sincerely,
Charlie
External Advisory Board Welcomes New Co-Chair, Three New Members he Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is delighted to announce the appointment of Alfredo Frohlich to Co-Chair of the EAB, as Harley Tropin returns to his position as founding member, having served in the leadership position for nearly five years. The department remains infinitely grateful to Harley and Co-Chair Susan Racher, who together have continued building and leading this Board over the past five years. Their invaluable contributions and commitments to the department and mental health set extraordinary precedent for future achievements within the EAB and at UM. Susan will continue in her role as Co-Chair with Alfredo. Alfredo’s combined business expertise, financial savviness, and desire to improve the efficacy of treatments and therapies for mental illnesses will undoubtedly make for an enthusiastic yet determined leader. Plus, he hosts an excellent golf tournament! “Our Board wouldn’t be where it is today without the expert guidance, dedication and generosity of Susan and Harley. They have built a solid foundation upon which we will be able to continue to grow and flourish,” stated Dr. Nemeroff, Leonard M. Miller Professor and Chairman, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “Since joining the Board in 2015, Alfredo has been a remarkable advocate both for the department and for mental health. I am certain he will be influential leader, and really help take things to the next level.” Thank you to Susan, Harley, Alfredo and all of our External Advisory Board members! In addition to welcoming new leadership, we could not be happier to welcome three new Board members: Gabrielle Anwar, Neisen Kasdin and Ozzie Torres. Get to know Gaby, Neisen and Ozzie below!
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Neisen O. Kasdin Neisen is Managing Partner at Akerman’s Miami office. He is a former mayor of Miami Beach and leader in the
revitalization of South Beach. Many of his clients’ projects—from Brickell City Centre to Miami’s Design District and the Faena District—have been groundbreaking, transforming Miami’s urban spaces with a blend of retail, office, and residential properties. In addition to large-scale projects, Neisen has represented clients in developments in emerging Miami neighborhoods such as Little Haiti and Wynwood. Neisen is recognized by Chambers USA and The Legal 500 as a leading land use and zoning lawyer in Florida. Clients value his attention to detail and as well as his deep understanding of what a neighborhood needs, what is achievable, and what challenges may arise in the future. He is a champion for many causes—mental health being one of them—and looks forward to getting more involved with the department, the Board, and the field of psychiatry. Osvaldo F. Torres Osvaldo (“Ozzie”) Torres founded Torres Law, a firm specializing in corporate and securities law. Throughout his professional career Ozzie has focused on assisting clients negotiate and effect complex corporate transactions, including securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions and other sophisticated deals. A significant part of Ozzie’s practice entails helping clients raise funds through private placement offerings, mostly for real estate ventures. In addition, Ozzie is a nationallyrecognized securities law expert in the EB-5 industry, having helped projects valued at over $5 billion raise funds from immigrant investors to finance hotel, multifamily residential and other types of projects. With respect to general corporate matters, Ozzie has worked on a wide variety of agreements, including asset purchase, stock purchase, operating, partnership, employment, non-compete, severance and many other types of agreements, etc.
Regarding international matters, Ozzie has worked on hundreds of agreements involving clients or projects in countries throughout Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia, including joint venture, production, affiliation, licensing, cable operator, transmission and manufacturing agreements. Ozzie’s principal goal as a lawyer is to see deals successfully close. He finds one of the most rewarding aspects of being a securities attorney is helping clients navigate the complex regulatory maze. After suffering a personal tragedy two years ago, Ozzie decided to expand his knowledge and involvement in the mental health field. He hopes through sharing his story, he will be able to help others who may need it. Gabrielle Anwar Born in Berkshire, England, the endearing and accomplished Gabrielle Anwar has over 45 film and television performances to her credit in both Europe and the States, including her breakout film “Scent of a Woman,” where she was whisked off her feet into an acclaimed tango with Al Pacino. Gabrielle has enthralled in a vast array of diverse characters from the blind diving horse circus performer in Disney’s biopic “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” to the risqué royal in Showtime’s “The Tudors” to the supercilious counterpart to Noah Wyle in TNT’s “The Librarian II.” Anwar completed seven seasons playing Fiona, the female lead of the hit show Burn Notice, produced by FOX TV for USA networks. With a man, three children, a canine, feline, and equine menagerie, an art studio, a yoga practice, a garden, a green lifestyle, a slew of literature in the works, Gabrielle has miraculously just completed filming her directorial debut; the documentary “Sexology.” She is passionate about numerous philanthropic causes including mental health, and eager to lend her voice to the Board.
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Dr. Bill Pirl’s Balancing Act: Psychiatry, Oncology and Saving Lives Bill Pirl, Chief of Psychiatric Oncology for the department, and Associate Director for Cancer Support Services at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center (SCCC), goes in-depth about his subspecialty practice of consultationliaison psychiatry. From Massachusetts to Miami, he recaps his busy first year at UM, and what he hopes to accomplish next.
Dr.
Can you tell us a little about your career path? After 20+ years and a thriving career at Massachusetts General, you relocated to UM. Why? I went to medical school at Harvard to become a psychiatrist. However, in medical school, I found that I liked internal medicine much more than expected. I considered becoming a primary care doctor, but after I discovered the field of consultation-liaison psychiatry, I realized that it was exactly what I wanted to do. (Consultationliaison psychiatry is a subspecialty that focuses on psychiatry in medically-ill patients.) After finishing psychiatry residency at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), I wanted to do a consultation-liaison psychiatry fellowship outside of Boston in order to broaden my perspective. I ended up at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. I wasn’t particularly interested in cancer at the time, but it was one of the best decisions in my life. There, I realized the profound need for psychiatry services customized for individuals with cancer and how much impact a psychiatrist can make in the lives of patients and their families. I moved back to Boston after fellowship and dedicated the next 17 years to building the Center for Psychiatric Oncology and Behavioral Sciences at the MGH Cancer Center. When I returned to MGH in 1999, the MGH Cancer Center didn’t have much interest in developing psychiatry services, but by the time I left, we had five psychiatrists, three psychologists, a few post-docs, and eight 4 | BrainStorms | Q2 | 2017
research assistants. I loved my job there and I still love the people there, but I began to feel like I had taken things as far as I could. I began exploring other possibilities that would challenge me. This opportunity opened at the University of Miami Medical School and I felt like it was a place where I could really make a difference over the second half of my career. There is so much potential here with the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, a department Chairman (Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff) who is truly interested in cancer, and a city that is unlike any other in the U.S. The psychiatrists and psychologists on my team are outstanding: Drs. Maria Rueda-Lara, Vasthie Prudent, Nicole Mavrides, Ingrid Barrera, Joycelyn Lee, and Shirley Gabazon.
“People always tell me they think it would be depressing, but it is the most rewarding job in the world.” Within the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, I oversee all cancer support services, not just psychiatry and psychology. This includes oncology social work, art therapy, music therapy, exercise physiology, nutrition, palliative care, rehab and physical medicine, integrative
Dr. Bill Pirl with Dr. Jimmie Holland, the former chair of psychiatry at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, founder of psycho-oncology
medicine, acupuncture, massage, volunteer services, and the chaplain. Although it is already proving to be a lot of hard work, I’m confident we can become one of the premiere programs in psychosocial oncology. I am just hoping that it won’t take 17 years. Part of your role here is to help develop a major research program with the SCCC Cancer Research Control Program. That doesn’t sound easy! How do you approach such a task? One thing that has helped me be successful is recognizing the strengths of persons and places and building from there. It’s also helpful to be able to see some challenges as “strengths.” Here, the city and system are both strengths and challenges. I am trying to use research to help us build our clinical programs, with the goal of developing a program to make cancer support services more accessible. We are in the process of transitioning our clinical mental health services to a collaborative care model and have a few research projects related to that. Collaborative care is a mental health delivery model that was developed in primary care settings to extend psychiatric resources and allow more patients to receive care. Another form of accessibility is developing culturally acceptable forms of evidence-based interventions so that everybody
can receive their benefit. The American Society of Clinical Oncology now recommends that all patients with newly diagnosed metastatic cancers receive early, integrated palliative care, but we have no idea about the benefits or even acceptability of this kind of care in other racial and ethnic populations. We have been conducting focus groups in the Miami community on palliative care and the integration of palliative care into oncology care around the time of diagnosis in non-Hispanic whites, Hispanic/Latinos, African Americans, and Haitian Americans. It’s been incredibly interesting so far! This research will help us tailor and test the early integration of palliative care in populations other than non-Hispanic whites. A survey of 146 cancer treatment institutions commissioned by the American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS) showed 90% provided psychosocial services to patients with cancer. However, the report revealed that patients with cancer were not routinely screened for symptoms of distress, and that psychosocial services were not adaptable to ethnic, cultural and linguistically diverse populations. Miami is all of these things; isn’t it vital we improve the screening process and make services accessible and understandable to all? Absolutely. Like I said before, my goal is to make support services more accessible to our patients, which means that we have to overcome even greater challenges than most academic cancer centers. Another layer of complexity is that Sylvester has seven sites across Broward and MiamiDade counties. If we are able to find solutions to these challenges, we will be the leaders in the field. Collaborative care and culturally adapting interventions are part of this, and we are also exploring some other innovative ideas. Another major strength of UM is the racial and ethnic diversity of our medical providers. We are able to offer services in English, Spanish, and Haitian Kreyol. How does technology influence or impact your work? I think embracing technology is one of the best ways to increase access to
services. While I was at MGH, one of the psychologists I worked with developed apps that could deliver a special kind of therapy that most patients wouldn’t be able to get because too few therapists had received the necessary training. Although I am not working on apps here, I have many grandiose ideas about how to harness technology to increase our access. Some of these ideas are the innovative ones I mentioned earlier. Have you seen the movie, Transcendence ? I am only half kidding when I tell you that it is one of my inspirations for increasing access. I love to find creative solutions to problems by thinking outside the box, but setting up a technological system is expensive. How does psychosocial treatment for children and adolescents with cancer differ from adults? I do not have expertise in psychiatric treatment for children and adolescents, but we do have a psychiatrist and some psychologists on our team who do. One of the main goals of psychosocial treatment is to try to minimize the effects of cancer and cancer treatments on the developmental trajectory of children and adolescents. So many things need to happen during normal development and having a serious illness makes this much more complicated. This is being recognized more and more and recently there were national standards published for the psychosocial care of children with cancer. One of these standards is to assess and address the psychosocial distress of parents. One of our research projects is on how to systematically manage the mental health needs of parents of children getting treatment at Alex’s Place, our pediatric oncology unit at Sylvester. What is the process for integrating psychiatric care with oncological care when and/or where it’s available? I can tell you a little bit about how we are transitioning to collaborative care. In our model, all new patients in Sylvester are screened for depression and anxiety. If they screen in, the oncology social worker on that cancer team does an assessment and then discusses the case with one of our
psychiatrists. Together they develop a treatment plan that could include short term therapy or counseling and/ or medication recommendations for the oncologist to prescribe. If a patient is complicated, he or she would see the psychiatrist in person. The oncology social worker would follow the patient by providing the therapy or counseling and monitoring the patient’s symptom levels using a standardized questionnaire. The social workers meet with a psychiatrist once a week to discuss all the patients and make changes in the treatment of patients who are not improving. These changes could include an in-person visit with the psychiatrist, a different type of therapy, a referral to a psychologist, or a recommendation for different medications. For the past six months, we have been training oncology social workers in psychiatric assessments and different types of behavioral interventions to prepare us for a collaborative care program. We also started a small pilot of collaborative care in the Sylvester Deerfield Beach site. Through teamwork among oncology social work, psychiatry, oncology, and psychology, we will be able to reach more patients and make care more accessible. There have been multiple clinical trials demonstrating the benefits of collaborative care for depression in individuals with treatment, but very few cancer centers have instituted this evidence-based practice. In fact, I think we will be the second academic cancer center that delivers services through collaborative care. What needs to happen for this field to grow, and to improve survival and quality of life among patients? I keep coming back to access. We have interventions that work, but most cancer patients in the U.S. are not getting them. I feel that we need to put our efforts into getting these interventions to patients. Although developing a new intervention is great, it would have a far greater impact on patients’ lives to improve access to current interventions. This is what we are focusing our clinical and research efforts on at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. 5 | BrainStorms | Q2 | 2017
A Woman’s Journey Down the Long and Winding Road of Depression By Dr. John Soloski
ngela hated Mondays. As she dressed for work, the back of her closet seemed to be calling her to crawl in where she would be safe and secure. She had hid there many times before. But she had to get to her job at the bank. People were counting on her and letting others down is not in Angela’s DNA.
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Angela would make the fateful decision on her drive to work. Today, it would end. All of the pain would finally end. The two decades of suffering would stop today. Angela did not expect to see her closet or home again. Today, she would kill herself. For someone suffering from depression, suicide too often seems the only way to end the pain. Unless you have been down in the pit where the demon of depression lives, it is not possible to comprehend why suicide appears to be the only solution to the pain. The pain is so intense that suicide offers the only apparent escape. Suicide statistics are frighteningly high. Each year, over 44,000 Americans commit suicide. That’s an average of 120 suicides a day. Every year, 865,000 Americans attempt suicide. That means someone attempts suicide every 38 seconds. When it comes to young people, only car accidents kill more of them. Nearly 9 percent of college-age students have thought of committing suicide and nearly 3 percent have made specific plans on how they would do it. Each year, over 1,000 college students kill themselves. There is not a university or college that has not had a student commit suicide. Why would someone just on the threshold of adulthood, with decades of life to look forward to, commit suicide? Among the top 10 causes of death in the United States, only suicide has seen an increase. While medical science has made great strides in curing cancer, heart disease and other illnesses, it has not been able to reduce the suicide rate. Angela is a petite blonde of 47. She grew up in Lawrenceville, GA, a city located 30 miles northeast of Atlanta. 6 | BrainStorms | Q2 | 2017
She has lived most of her adult life in Athens, GA, home to the University of Georgia. She is a banker, mother and wife. As she drove to work, Angela felt content and calm. The decision was made, the plan laid out and now all she had to do was to follow through with it. It’s difficult to identify the roots of Angela’s depression. As a child, she would be so sad at times that she stayed in her bedroom for extended periods of time. “Mom and Dad just thought I was going through a sad period and that I would get over it,” Angela said.
“You don’t think about what’s good for your family. I didn’t think about them at all. I didn’t care who found my body. I just wanted to end the pain.” Angela’s first major episode of depression occurred after her first marriage ended in divorce. “I was seeing this man and found out he was dating someone else at the same time. That’s what upset me most,” she said. It sent her sliding down into the pit of depression. She knew she needed help and, like most people, turned to her primary care physician. The doctor told Angela that her depression was likely caused by “hormonal issues” and wrote her a prescription for Prozac.
Despite the Prozac, Angela’s depression grew worse and she checked herself into a mental health facility. She would spend two weeks there on suicide watch. At night, she and the other patients were locked in their room. They took away her belt and even her shoelaces. But being there gave Angela time to gather her thoughts. “What I liked about being there was the free time I had. In the group, I could talk freely with the other patients. I enjoyed that time and actually met a few people that I could have been friends with under a different situation,” Angela said. But sessions with the therapists often left her feeling worse. “They would tell me that depression was just something I had to learn to deal with. Like it was my own fault that I was depressed,” she said. “I felt so alone. My family didn’t understand what I was going through. They just didn’t want to talk about it. They would tell me to be happy,” Angela said. “I just thought that this was going to be my way of life from now on.” Depression can be especially hard on family members. They do not understand why the person strikes out at them, often acting in ways to hurt them both mentally and physically. Yet, these are the people that the depressed person needs and depends on the most. Two days after Father’s Day (2017), one of Angela’s co-workers was having a difficult time at work, often breaking down in tears. Angela called the worker into her office and asked her why she was crying. Angela found out that her son’s father had committed suicide when her son was quite young. Father’s Day was especially hard on him. The next
day, he texted his mother at work: “Mom, I love you.” She did not know what to make of the text but responded in kind. When the mother got home, she found her son dead. He had shot himself just as his father had done nearly two decades before. Some of Angela’s co-workers thought the son did not expect his mother would be the first to discover his body. The suicide was difficult enough, why did he add to the pain by having his mother find his body? Often the depressed person is in so much pain that thinking about others is far from her mind. In thinking about her own suicide plans, Angela said, “You don’t think about what’s good for your family. I didn’t think about them at all. I didn’t care who found my body. I just wanted to end the pain.” Angela had often thought about suicide but never told anyone about it. She knew how she would end her life. “I had a lot of pills and I would take them. Driving down the road, I would look at the trees and think if that’s the right one. Was it big enough to kill me if I crashed into it,” she said. As she drove to her job at the bank, Angela was content. Her decision was made and all she needed to do now was to carry through with it. Part II of Angela’s story will be released online later this summer. This piece “A Woman’s Journey Down the Long and Winding Road of Depression” was written by guest author Dr. John Soloski.
John Soloski, PhD is Professor of Journalism at the University of Georgia. He was dean of the college from 2001-05. Previously, he was the Daniel and Amy Starch Professor of Journalism and the director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Iowa. He serves on the External Advisory Board of the UM Miller School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
Each year
44,000 Americans commit suicide. That’s an average of
120
suicides a day. Every year,
865,000
Americans attempt suicide. That means someone attempts suicide every
38 seconds.
Among the top 10 causes of death in the United States, only suicide has seen an increase. While medical science has made great strides in curing cancer, heart disease and other illnesses, it has not been able to reduce the suicide rate.
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Department Achievements ongratulations to the following members of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences on their recent achievements!
The signature event honored individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to meeting the needs of the elderly in Miami-Dade county. More than 500 corporate and community leaders gathered to salute the recipients.
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Awards Outstanding Clinical Care Award, Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Drs. Saltz and Espinel proudly display their awards at APA!
Dr. Cruz-Ortiz (l) and Dr. Espinel were nominated by Dr. Crocco for their awards.
Dr. Maria Rueda-Lara, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
APA Medical Student/Resident Poster Competition Winner, Community Psychiatry Category
Committee of Interns and Residents Women in Academic Medicine Awards
APA Area Five Resident Fellow Member Poster Competition Winner
Dr. Zelde Espinel Global Mental Health Outreach, Screening, and Intervention for Highly-Traumatized Colombian Women “Victims of the Armed Conflict�
Dr. Caroline Cruz-Ortiz Runner-Up, Outstanding Fellow, Women in Academic Medicine, Jackson Memorial Hospital
Dr. Samantha Saltz Cyberbullying and Adolescent Mental Health: A Study of Adolescents on an Acute Inpatient Psychiatric Unit Article: Cyberbullying increases risk for depression, anger, disassociation
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2017 Claude Pepper Education/ Advocacy Award. United HomeCare honored Drs. Sara Czaja and Dolores Perdomo, Chin-Chin Lee, Senior Project Manager, and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine Center on Aging with the distinguished award.
Dr. Zelde Espinel Runner-Up, Outstanding Resident, Women in Academic Medicine, Jackson Memorial Hospital
All of the awardees at the 2017 Claude Pepper Awards Dinner
Department Achievements Publications Dr. Judith Regan Southern Medical Journal Improving Mental Health Services Through Physician Assistants: Legislation in Several Southern States Dr. Judith Regan, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Director of Child and Adolescent Inpatient Services addresses the dire need for psychiatrists across the country.
Dr. Andrew New (PGY-2) Psychiatric Clinics of North America A Modern Day Fight Club? The Stabilization and Management of the Acutely Agitated Patient in the Emergency Department
Dr. Phil Harvey, Leonard M. Miller Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Director of the Division of Psychology has already had 20 publications indexed in Medline.
Released May 1, the newest edition of the Textbook of Psychopharmacology is now available. Edited once again by Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff, it has been updated to reflect the new DSM-5 classification and includes in-depth coverage of the latest research in pharmacological principles, classes of drugs, and psychiatric disorders. The textbook provides state-of-the-art information on both the principles and the practice of psychopharmacological treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff Biological Psychiatry Amygdala Reactivity and Anterior Cingulate Habituation Predict Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Maintenance After Acute Civilian Trauma Members of the department at a group dinner in San Diego during the American Psychiatric Association's annual meeting this year.
Recently Funded Grants Psychosocial Approaches to Better Understanding & End-Stage Cancer Care Funded by Cornell University, National Cancer Institute; PI Dr. Bill Pirl
Preclinical investigation of an optimized formulation of resveratrol, JOTROL, for Alzheimer's Disease Funded by FLDOH, Ed and Ethel Moore AD Research Program; PI Dr. Claes Wahlestedt
Orcatech collaborative aging in place research using technology ocart Funded by Oregon Health & Science University, National Institute on Aging; PI Dr. Sara Czaja
Brief behavioral intervention for dyspnea in patients with advanced lung cancer Funded by Massachusetts General Hospital, National Institute of Nursing Research; PI Dr. Bill Pirl
Therapeutic targeting of disrupted nucleocytoplasmic transport in c9orf72-als motor neurons Funded by DOD; PI Dr. Zane Zeier
Role of Histone Deacetylase 3 in Alzheimer's Disease Funded by American Heart Association; PI Dr. Karolina J. Janczura
The microbiota, a possible link between th17 cells and depression Funded by NIMH; PI Dr. Eleonore Beurel
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Staff Stars | Claude-Henry Volmar, Ph.D. Associate Scientist, Center for Therapeutic Innovation, Associate Director, Sylvester Molecular Therapeutics Shared Resource he Staff Stars column highlights the commitment and accomplishments of an individual in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Nominations may be submitted to Samantha Richter at psychiatry@miami.edu. Please include a brief description of the nominee’s job responsibilities and why you believe they should be the next Star!
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Did you pursue an education that prepared you for your current position? My PhD through FIU and the Roskamp Institute gave me a great foundation in Neuroscience and Translational Medicine. As a postdoctoral fellow, I trained in the identification of small molecule leads at The Scripps Research Institute. This helped me bring in pharmaceutical industry techniques to UM as a founding member of the CTI.
How long have you been at the U? I just started my sixth year.
How does the CTI differ from other places you’ve worked? The CTI is the perfect mix of academia and industry mindset. Our lab encourages independence, creativity, and entrepreneurship. One can work on any hypothesis as long as it is within the mission of the CTI. We are goal and data-oriented and everyone in the group is willing to lend a hand to complete a project.
Tell us about your roles as Associate Scientist at the Center for Therapeutic Innovation (CTI) and Associate Director of the Sylvester Molecular Therapeutics Shared Resource (SMTSR). In the CTI with Dr. Claes Wahlestedt, I develop assays (tests) for small molecule drug discovery. I also fulfill the traditional roles of a university academic: writing grants and manuscripts, and mentoring students. At the SMTSR with Dr. Shaun Brothers, I help design, implement, and troubleshoot assays for personalized and precision medicine geared toward cancer targets.
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FACES
Any current research you’re particularly excited about or feel is promising? I am excited about our work in Alzheimer’s disease, investigating potential drugs that target epigenetics to either prevent or reverse the disease. I am also proud of our work discovering a drug for a rare disease, Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I. A clinical trial will likely start for that drug within a year.
The UM Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences extends a warm welcome to new members of the team: Mohammad Asad Clinical Research Coordinator
Luca Pani, M.D. Professor
Stacy Cutrono, Ph.D. Assistant Professor
Daema Pina, Psy.D. Post-Doctoral Associate
Elisa Diaz, Psy.D. Assistant Professor
Daniella Sepulveda Research Assistant
Nicolette Gomez Research Associate 10 | BrainStorms | Q2 | 2017
Cynthia Fundora-Trujillo Research Assistant Claudia Yaranga Research Assistant Rachel Lerner Zeichner, Psy.D. Assistant Professor
Where are you from originally? Pétion-Ville, Haiti. It was in Haiti where I received the educational foundation that prepared me to become a scientist. My school, The Institution Saint Louis de Gonzague, was an extremely competitive environment in which we learned nothing would be handed to us. We learned not only to apply ourselves but to absorb any new material placed in front of us. What do you enjoy doing when you aren’t working? I enjoy spending time with my family, cooking, jogging, reading, and trying new microbrews. Words to live by? Never stop learning. Dr. Volmar in the lab
Welcome, Class of 2021!
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he UM Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Proudly Welcomes its New Residents!
Fariya Ali
Nada Alyousha
Yasin Bez
Matthew Bojanowski
University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
Arabian Gulf University College of Medicine and Medical Sciences
Marmara University School of Medicine
University of Louisville School of Medicine
Cody Bryant
Caleb Combs
Joshua Delaney
Maria Hadjikyriakou
University of California, Irvine, School of Medicine
Florida State University College of Medicine
The University of Toledo College of Medicine
Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine
Roaa Jambi
Fred Jones-Rosa
Jessica Lydiard
Natalie Martinez-Sosa
King Abdulaziz University College of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Medical College of Wisconsin
Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine
Ponce Health Sciences University School of Medicine
Shumaia Rahman
Timothy Saeed
Sonya Sandhu
Kristi Wintermeyer
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine—Virginia
Wayne State University School of Medicine
Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine
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What to Do & Where to Go For a Mental Health Emergency, CALL 911 if you believe someone is in danger of hurting themselves or others. University of Miami Hospital (UMH) Mental Health Admissions/ER 305.689.4444 Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital Triage 305.355.7332
Silver Alert If your loved one has gone missing, please CALL 911 immediately. Silver Alert is a statewide initiative to involve the public in locating a cognitively impaired person who has gotten lost driving or while on foot. For more information visit florida silveralert.com. Office Numbers Main Psychiatry Appointment Scheduling 305.355.9028 *Option 1
Mission Statement
Chairman’s Office 305.243.6400
Soffer Clinical Research Center 305.243.2301
Jackson Behavioral Health Hospital 305.355.9028 *Option 2
Courtelis Center 305.243.4129
University of Miami Hospital 305.689.1352
Center on Aging 305.355.9081
Deerfield Beach 954.571.0117
Boca Raton 561.939.4044
Brain Fitness Pavilion 305.355.9080 *English, Option 3
Child & Adolescent 305.355.7077
Memory Disorders Clinic 305.355.9065
Second Inaugural Golf Tournament turnberry isle
SAVE THE DATE 10.27.17
The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is committed to: Conduct research that deepens our understanding of the development, pathophysiology, and prevention of psychiatric illness and the nature of human behavior, and apply this knowledge to the development and delivery of more effective, evidence-based treatments.
Offer comprehensive treatment and consultation to our patients, their families, and the community. Provide outstanding mental health education and multidisciplinary training to the next generation of healthcare providers and investigators. DIRECCT Common purpose and core values l Diversity l Integrity l Responsibility l Excellence l Compassion l Creativity l Teamwork
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BRAINSTORMS Quarterly Publication of the University of Miami Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Managing Editor Samantha Richter
Executive Editor L. Jared Abramson
Soffer Clinical Research Center 1120 NW 14th Street | Suite 1457 Miami, FL 33136
GolfUMPsych.com 12 | BrainStorms | Q2 | 2017