March 2024 Kudos
SAVE THE DATES
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT SEMINARS
Upcoming faculty development seminars, which will be held from 9:00-10:30a, Zoom link:
Wednesday May 22, 2024 – Promotion: DEI Section of CV, Service Portfolio
WRITING GROUPS: UPCOMING
The Faculty Writing Group is the first Wednesday of every month from 8:00-9:00am. These meetings are on Zoom. This group is for faculty including adjunct faculty.
SPOTLIGHTS
FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: Joseph Vinson, MD
Within Emory, Joseph Vinson’s clinical practice involves assessment, med management and psychotherapy within Adult Psychiatry, Transplant and C/L. He is a supervisor for residents in the Outpatient Psychotherapy Training Program and teaches various topics using team-based learning and other methods in the didactic curriculum. He also coordinates the monthly “Clinical Challenge” conference in the Department (e.g., occasionally hosting “Show and Tell” or otherwise discussing timely topics) and serves on the Faculty Development Committee and Education Subcommittee. Outside of Emory, Joseph has a growing involvement with some of the caucuses in the American Psychiatric Association and dabbles in the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration and the Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychotherapy.
When asked what he enjoys most about his work, Joseph shared he values facilitating healing and growth through language, working with “dreams” and reality, the opportunity to be an explorer of the human condition and the dynamic interplay of personal growth and professional growth. The highlights of his career to date include being honored with the Miles Crowder Teaching Award last year and participating in the invaluable trainings at the Emory Psychoanalytic Institute and the Existential-Humanistic Institute.
Although his “prime directive” is the furtherance of truth, goodness and beauty in his family, this isn’t easy considering at times his children (5 and 2) seem to be hell-bent on disorder and destruction (and yet also incredible tenderness and joy, and so on). In this continual, intimate, existential struggle that is parenting, he finds solace in the words of Aldous Huxley in reference to the psychedelic experience: “a transience that was yet eternal life, a perpetual perishing that was at the same time pure Being, a bundle of minute, unique particulars in which, by some unspeakable and yet self-evident paradox, was to be seen the divine source of all existence.”
With regard to his goals for the future, in addition to some concrete goals related to curricular development, he’d like to continue exploring how to integrate various modalities in increasingly meaningful and effective ways. Perhaps there’s a thread of working to broaden and deepen his understanding of what it means to be a good psychiatrist/father/teacher/“magician” (in a word, wisdom).
ADJUNCT FACULTY SPOTLIGHT: David Lipsig, MD
David Lipsig, MD, completed both his general and forensic psychiatry training at Emory. After graduating in 2002, he co-created and worked in private practice at Psychiatric Associates of Atlanta. In 2021, he started his own solo-practice. Over the past 23 years. He has loved treating patients either in the form of therapy (individual or couples) and/or medication management. One of his greatest joys has been to see someone go from struggling in life to exceling. He treats a number of different mental health conditions, but his focus has been on issues involving anxiety, depression, ADHD, as well as certain somatic conditions. He always had a philosophy of trying to engage his patients as being a member of a treatment team where they are working together to figure out ways to help them live a more fulfilling life. Throughout his career, he has enjoyed conducting a variety of different types of psychiatric forensic evaluations including fitness for duty, disability, criminal competency/responsibility, etc. David always has loved both participating in and watching sports throughout his life. This contributed to pursuing his interest in sports psychiatry. Throughout his career, he has enjoyed working with athletes, coaches, teams and athletic departments at all different levels. When he works with an athlete, the focus is on helping them create a more fulfilling experience both in terms of the enjoyment of their sport and ways to maximize their performance.
Since graduating from his training in general and forensic psychiatry at Emory in 2002, he has always enjoyed working with and mentoring future general and forensic psychiatrists. He conducts a monthly seminar with the forensic fellows with a focus on ethical issues involved with forensic psychiatry. In addition, he has worked with Emory residents as a supervisor in psychotherapy. He enjoys teaching residents about different therapy modalities including insight-oriented, supportive, CBT, ACT, etc. In addition, he has enjoyed providing practical advice to help residents and fellows in their pursuit of a career they are passionate about. He enjoys engaging with residents and fellows. He finds it especially gratifying watching the growth from the start of the year compared to when they graduate. He also feels having discussions and insights from trainees adds to his appreciation for different perspectives and opinions. He especially loves to hear from the residents and fellows he trained who contact him with updates or questions as their career progresses.
One driving force toward his training, career and work as an adjunct faculty member has been Peter Ash. He has been an ongoing mentor and a friend since his fourth year of residency. Peter always created a sense of family in the forensic psychiatry program and in the ways that he has mentored David. David strives to provide the same environment and support when mentoring others.
David has always been fascinated by the ways the rapid advancements in technology can play either a positive or negative force in people’s lives. He enjoys working on ways to maximize the positive uses including helping upcoming doctor’s starting their career, incorporating technology as a tool in treating mental health issues and helping others pursue a more fulfilling life. He also focuses on helping others avoid the use of technology that creates more problems in people’s lives (ex. watching too much news, not unplugging from their work, etc.).
David was an English major at the University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and considered a career as a novelist. He has a passion toward pursuing writing both fiction and non-fiction. Early in his career, he had the privilege to consult on a script later produced into a movie starring Al Pacino as a forensic psychiatrist.
STAFF SPOTLIGHT: Ashley Davenport
In her current role as an HR Generalist, Ashley Davenport provides support of various aspects of human resources operations for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. When adjusted, she hopes to be more involved, outside of the department. When asked what she enjoys most about work, she said, “Each day there is something new I encounter, which ideally creates an environment for continuous development in my role. Although this can be a challenge at times, reaching a resolution is always rewarding and enjoyable.”
Outside of Emory, Ashley is a member of a non-profit organization, in which her responsibilities consist of youth mentorship and community service efforts in the metro Atlanta area. She enjoys traveling with my family, tackling DIY projects and recently she has committed herself to learn a second language. Most importantly, as a mom of three, the majority of her time is dedicated to her children and the many activities they're involved in!
In a few months, she will begin her studies as a doctoral student. Her main goal as of now, is to gracefully embrace the next phase of her educational journey.
TRAINEE SPOTLIGHT: Danielle Currin, MA
Danielle Currin is currently a pre-doctoral intern, so over the course of the year (July 2023-June 2024), she works in numerous settings within the Grady system. Currently, she is in her final rotation, in which she works within Grady's Behavioral Health Outpatient Center (10 Park Place) in multiple roles. Danielle provides diagnostic assessments, group therapy and individual therapy for individuals with serious mental illness, and supervision to current practicum students. She is also developing a series of blog posts and a workshop presentation to address the overarching question: "What makes mental healthcare, mental healthcare?" Outside of my formal internship role, she is also a member of the Atlanta Behavioral Health Advocates.
Outside of Emory, Danielle is in her sixth and final year of a PhD program in Clinical Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Most recently, this meant she was carrying out research related to her dissertation on anhedonia as a transdiagnostic symptom in adolescence and early adulthood, which she defended in mid-March. She will be presenting a portion of her dissertation as a flash talk at the Georgia Psychological Association Annual Conference at the end of April.
The reason Danielle enjoys what she does is she finishes each day feeling she has made a difference, whether that be for her clients, supervisees or community. Empowering the individuals she sees in therapy to make changes in their lives, guiding practicum students to develop their professional identities and encouraging the general public to engage with their own mental health all remind her how lucky she is to have found work that gives her such a sense of fulfillment.
In many ways, graduate school is a series of goalposts for Danielle: obtaining her MA, proposing her dissertation, matching with an internship site, etc. For the true highlights, she would point not only to these goalposts, but also to smaller but equally meaningful moments. Two that come to mind are delivering a workshop to high school students about taking care of their mental health and having an individual therapy client tell her she was a "way cool" therapist.
Looking to the future, Danielle will be staying at Grady next year as a postdoctoral resident, splitting time between Grady's Bipolar Clinic and Action in Recovery Program. Her primary goals for the next year include getting licensed in Georgia and developing a meaningful balance between direct clinical service and community involvement so she can begin building a clinical career providing her with as much fulfillment as she has had in her training thus far.
When Danielle is not working, she enjoys hiking with her fellow interns, spending time with family in and around Atlanta and reading a mixture of fiction and non-fiction books (most recently, The Center Cannot Hold by Elyn Saks). She also can be found frequenting the Dekalb Farmers Market or taking long walks with her dog, Rose.
PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT: Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute Fellowship Program
In Spring, 2023, as a long-time Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, John Paddock proposed to the Executive Committee of EUPI a program designed to inform mental health professionals in the Southeast about the relevance contemporary psychoanalytic models to current clinical practice. Specifically, he had noticed that recent clinical psychology trainees (graduate students, interns, postdoctoral fellows), psychiatric residents and social workers were frequently well-schooled in behavioral and cognitive-behavioral treatment conceptualizations often trained to place patients in DSM-5-TR diagnostic pigeonholes at the expense of more comprehensive, developmentally oriented, empirically based and de-pathologizing case formulations.
Many seemed neither to ask (nor think to ask) the question: Why does it make sense that this person is having these sets of problems with these people in these situations in their life, and what can they do to be more effective, satisfied and vitalized in these relationships? It seemed to him that the current training models across mental health often missed the mark in a number of ways by failing to address the following questions:
- How do a patient’s problems in living follow from their lived experience?
- How do a patient’s problems in living reflect relational disruptions/ruptures that occurred across the life span?
- How do empirical, infant-caregiver observational studies inform our understanding of interpersonal attachment patterns and the multiple systems that seem to motivate behavior?
- How does the majority culture (read: white privilege) in the United States often frame and encourage what we often call psychopathology?
- How will assisting patients to increase awareness of mental processes that have been out of awareness (the unconscious) increase their sense of self-understanding, self-efficacy and vitality?
- How can contemporary psychoanalytic models work with medications, that often necessarily optimize one’s ‘hard drive’ (brain), enhance the therapeutic alliance and facilitate the patient revising their ‘software’ routines to process more adaptively affective, behavioral and cognitive subjective and relational experience?
His idea was to engage EUPI faculty to address this gap in training and showcase what the EUPI faculty and curriculum have to offer mental health professionals.
Participating EUPI Faculty
Since he embraces a relational analytic approach, John pitched this idea to EUPI Executive Director Stefanie Speanburg, PhD, and then recruited Supervising/Training Analyst Bruce Rudisch, MD, to Co-Direct this program. Please note: He is enormously grateful for Stefanie’s enthusiastic endorsement and organizing administrative support with Ayanna Webb, and Bruce’s partnership in launching the Fellowship. He hoped the program, delivered both in-person and virtually, and structured around one-presentation per month (2 CE/CME per session) from an EUPI faculty member, would whet the appetite of participants to make a larger educational commitment to either the EUPI Core Program, the Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Training Program or to dive all-in to the Psychoanalytic Training Program. Further, his idea was that it could expose the community of mental health professionals about contemporary and research-based approached to psychoanalytic thinking and theorizing (a.k.a., “this ain’t your Momma’s/Daddy’s psychoanalysis”), and dispel the idea that psychoanalytic thinking was outdated, anachronistic, reductionistic and not empirically validated. Further, he hoped to highlight EUPI’s defining characteristics; that we are one of a few psychoanalytic institutes deeply embedded in a world-class university and medical school with a significant endowment and ongoing philanthropic support.
EUPI faculty enthusiastically endorsed this proposal.
Instructors covered a diverse sampling of topics: (1) Susan Chance, PhD - Winnicott & Balint: Two levels of psychoanalytic work; (2) Geoff Goodman, PhD, ABPP - Expert clinicians’ prototypes of an adolescent treatment: Common and unique factors among four treatment models; (3) John R. Paddock, PhD, ABPP - The analyst’s use of self; (4) Bruce Rudisch, MD - Working through in the psychotherapeutic process; (5) Karen M. Schwartz, PhD - Making unformulated experience real through painting; and (6) Stefanie Speanburg, PhD, LCSW, FABP - Why do you always make this about you?: What it means to “take” the transference and once you do, and how to work with it creatively?
NEW FACULTY
Aparna Das, MD – Aparna Das completed her medical school and psychiatry residency from Delhi, India. Her curiosity, drive and quest for knowledge led her to come to the US where she did another psychiatry residency. She graduated from the University of Arkansas in 2021. After finishing residency, she moved to Orlando to be with her husband. She worked at AdventHealth providing inpatient and consultation liaison services before deciding to join Emory. At Emory, she will be working to provide clinical care across PSTAR, Project ARROW and the forthcoming Clinical High Risk for Psychosis Program. Aparna’s clinical and research focus is on severe mental illnesses, substance use disorders and their intersection.
WELLNESS COMMITTEE
Wellness Resources:
Healthy Emory is bringing back the Eat Smart, Move More, Weigh Less program in September.
Challenges with Healthy Emory are ongoing - the Sharecare app is the platform and incentive dollars are available!
Operation Eat Right encourages you to improve your nutrition and boost your well-being using Healthy Emory Connect!
Resources from Healthy Emory and a link below to the ACPH:
- Benefits
- Rewards
- Career
- Learning
- Wellness
- Work Life
- Employee Assistance
- Employee Assistance – Physician Wellbeing Conference
Healthy Emory resources including the Sharecare platform for Move More, Refresh from Stress and more! Open to University and Healthcare Employees Healthy Emory Connect | Emory University | Atlanta GA
Wellbeing and mental health support for Emory University Employees Faculty Staff Assistance Program and for Emory Healthcare Employees username EHC (800 327 2251)
Graduate Medical Education Well-being Resident Well Being | Emory School of Medicine
International Conference on Physician Health (alternates years with American Conference) International Conference on Physician Health™ | American Medical Association (ama-assn.org)
Office of Well- Being established for Woodruff Health Sciences Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center establishes Office of Well-Being | Emory University | Atlanta GA
FACULTY KUDOS
Major Leadership Appointments, Activities and Achievements
Justine Welsh has accepted an appointment as the Vice Chair of Child, Adolescent, and Young Adult Programs.
Research
Bedrick BS, Cary C, O'Donnell C, Marx C, Friedman H, Carter EB, Raghuraman N, Stout MJ, Ku BS, Xu KY, Kelly JC. County-level neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome rates and real-world access to buprenorphine during pregnancy: An audit ("secret shopper") study in Missouri. Drug Alcohol Depend Rep. 2024 Feb 2;10:100218. doi: 10.1016/j.dadr.2024.100218. PMID: 38380272; PMCID: PMC10877162.
Borst B, Jovanovic T, House SL, Ressler KJ, Stevens JS, van Rooij SJH. Sex differences in response inhibition-related neural predictors of PTSD in recently trauma-exposed civilians. Biological Psychiatry CNNI, in press.
Elbasheir A, Fulton TM, Choucair KC, Lathan EC, Spivey BN, Guelfo A, Carter SE, Powers A, Fani N. (in press, Journal of Psychiatric Research) Moral injury, race-related stress and posttraumatic stress disorder in a trauma-exposed Black population.
Haering S, Seligowski AV, Linnstaedt SD, Michopoulos V, House SL, Beaudoin FL, et al., *Powers, A. & *Stevens, J. S. (In press). Disentangling sex differences in PTSD risk factors: a systematic overview and multiple mediation analysis in the AURORA study. Nature Mental Health.
Joshi P, Hendrie K, Jester DJ, Dasarathy D, Lavretsky H, Ku BS, Leutwyler H, Torous J, Jeste DV, Tampi RR. Social connections as determinants of cognitive health and as targets for social interventions in persons with or at risk of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders: a scoping review. Int Psychogeriatr. 2024 Feb;36(2):92-118. doi: 10.1017/S1041610223000923. Epub 2023 Nov 23. PMID: 37994532.
Kaplan D, Palitsky R, Arconada Alvarez S, Pozzo N, Greenleaf M, Atkinson C, Lam W What’s in a Name? Experimental Evidence of Gender Bias in Recommendation Letters Generated by ChatGPT J Med Internet Res 2024;26:e51837 DOI: 10.2196/51837
Ku BS, Ren J, Compton MT, Druss BG, Guo S, Walker EF. The association between neighborhood-level social fragmentation and distressing psychotic-like experiences in early adolescence: the moderating role of close friends. Psychol Med. 2024 Feb 16:1- 9. doi: 10.1017/S0033291724000278. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38362835.
Lathan EC, McAfee E, Spivey B, Garcia V, Kaslow NJ, & Powers A. (In press). Risk for posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms by trauma type: The role of self-compassion. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy.
Lipschutz R, Powers A, Minton S, Stenson A, Ely T, Stevens J, Jovanovic T, van Rooij SJH. Smaller hippocampal volume prospectively predicts anxiety symptoms in high-risk Black youth. Journal of Mood and Anxiety Disorders, in press.
Walker EF, Aberizk K, Yuan E, Bilgrami Z, Ku BS, Guest RM. Developmental perspectives on the origins of psychotic disorders: The need for a transdiagnostic approach. Dev Psychopathol. 2024 Feb 26:1-11. doi: 10.1017/S0954579424000397. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38406831.
Webb KE, Carter SE, Ressler KJ, Fani N*, Harnett NG*. (in press, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews). The neurophysiological consequences of racism-related stressors in Black Americans.
Honors, Awards, Rankings
Christina Clarke was awarded faculty development funds to provide culturally responsive DBT training to faculty and trainees in Addis Ababa.
Rob Cotes was awarded faculty development funds to attend the 2024 Columbia Cornell Obesity Conference in New York.
Erica Lee is board certified in serious mental illness psychology through the American Board of Professional Psychology.
Justin Palanci was awarded faculty development funds to present at the ISPS Helsinki 2024 Conference. His presentation is entitled “Feasibility of an Open Dialogue-Inspired Approach for Young Adults with Psychosis in the US.”
Cristina Pritchett was awarded faculty development funds to present at poster titled “Navigating the Platelet Puzzle: Clozapine Treatment in Parkinson’s Disease – The Dilemma of Continuation” at the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry Conference in Atlanta.
The following faculty members were recognized for the 2024 National Doctors’ Day:
- Rachel Ammirati
- Carissa Balderas
- Anjan Bhattacharyya
- Kara Brendle
- Christina Clarke
- Erin Elliott
- David Goldsmith
- Alyson Goodwin
- Jennifer Grant
- Adriana Hermida
- Karen Hochman
- Jennifer Holton
- Michael Lucido
- Liz McCord
- Julie Pace
- Jeff Rakofsky
- Patricio Riva Posse
- Allison Schwartz
- Mikle South
- Charlotte Van Hale
- Joseph Vinson
- Justine Welsh
- Jennifer Wootten
- Ray Young
Presentations
Nori Lim presented at the Atlanta Mental Health Summit (sponsored by the Lotus Project) on the third-year anniversary of the Atlanta Spa Shooting. He presented on Culturally Adapted CBT for Asian American and Asian Immigrant Youth.
Rebecca Schneider gave a presentation to the OCD, BDD and Related Disorders Clinic at the Maudsley Hospital in London titled “Leveraging Group-Based Exposure for OCD.”
Geoff Goodman's Psychodynamic Research Lab had six poster presentations accepted to the American Psychological Association convention in August: (1) Barsch, A., Yang, E., Yang, V., Fannon, J., Valle-Frias, K., Haushalter, S., Kim, D., Li, C., Marure, C. C., Zhou, D., Zweig, R, & Goodman, G. (2024, August). Food addiction and childhood experiences of shame, body image, and weight-stigma. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA. (2) Fannon, J., Barsch, A., Haushalter, S., Zhou, D., Yang, V., Yang, E., Li, C., Kim, D., Valle-Frias, K., Zweig, R., Marure, C. C., & Goodman, G. (2024, August). Understanding the significance of spiritual beliefs in the recovery from food addiction. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA. (3) Fleming, D., Barsch, A., Fannon, J., Haushalter, S., Kim, D., Li, C., Marure, C. C., Yang, E., Yang, V., Zhou, D., Zweig, R., Dent, V., & Goodman, G. (2024, August). Relationship between Ugandan caregivers’ quality of life and their storytelling content relevance. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA. (4) Li, C., Kim, D., Barsch, A., Fannon, J, Haushalter, S., Marure, C. C., Valle-Frias, K., Yang, E., Yang, V., Zhou, D., Zweig, R., & Goodman, G. (2024, August). The role of spirituality in the recovery journey of sex addicts. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA. (5) Valle-Frias, K., Barsch, A., Marure, C. C., Zweig, R., Fannon, J., Haushalter, S., Kim, D., Li, C., Yang, E., Yang, V., Zhou, D., & Goodman, G. (2024, August). Understanding sex addiction: The factors involved in reaching rock bottom. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA. (6) Zhou, D., Barsch, A., Fannon, J., Fleming, D., Valle-Frias, K., Haushalter, S., Kim, D., Li, C., Marure, C. C., Yang, E., Yang, V., Zweig, R., Dent, V. F., & Goodman, G. (2024, August). Relationships between caregivers’ storytelling content relevance and indices of school readiness in rural Ugandan preschoolers. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Association, Seattle, WA.
Media
Negar Fani (1) NPR Short Wave – Experiencing Racism May Physically Change Your Brain (2) American Press Institute – How Moral Injury is Impacting the News Industry and What You Can Do About It (password protected)
Jennifer Holton (1) CBS News – Parents Struggle to Find ADHD Medication for Their Children as Shortage Continues
Sheila Rauch (1) Georgia Today – Mental Health App (March 8 episode).
Larry Young (1) Washington Post – Six Ways to Get More Joy with Your Dog.
Education
Ann Schwartz gave two workshop presentations at the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (AADPRT) Annual Meeting:
“Professional identity formation and addiction psychiatry education: How to navigate mixed messages and misperceptions.”
“The disciplinary process: Navigating the evolving landscape in residency training.”
ADJUNCT FACULTY KUDOS
Mark Ackerman (1) moderated and presented on the Forensic Skills panel at the ACFP Conference and (2) was invited and agreed to serve on the Caron Treatment Center Regional Advisory Board.
TRAINEE KUDOS
The following trainees presented in the Teaching Competition Presentation at the Southern Division of Society of General Internal Medicine:
Abby Clark, “Buprenorphine for the Internist.” Abby won the very competitive teaching competition.
Zoe Clark, “Contraceptive Counseling in the Primary Care Clinic.”
Lipschutz R, Powers A, Minton, S, Stenson A, Ely T, Stevens J, Jovanovic T, & van Rooij S. (In press). Smaller hippocampal volume prospectively predicts anxiety symptoms in high-risk Black youth. Journal of Mood and Anxiety Disorders.