No images? Click here
Happy Holidays from the Department of Psychiatry
As 2022 wraps up, we would like to wish everyone, including our staff, faculty, alumni, and community, a happy and healthy holiday season.
Pediatric Behavioral Health and Wellness Receives Cabrini Grant
Our Pediatric Behavioral Health & Wellness team recently were named awardees of a grant from the Cabrini Health Foundation. This grant will expand work led by Kenya Malcolm, PhD focusing on healthy child-parent connections and development in our community through a new
parenting group, Caregiver Connections. Congratulations to the team!
Shunthenia Hill Named Clinical Coordinator of South Avenue Clinic
We are excited to share that Shunthenia Hill, LMHC has been named the new Clinical Coordinator for our South Avenue Pediatric Behavioral Health and Wellness clinic! Shun has been with the clinic for seven years as a clinician and supervisor. She will also continue her work as Coordinator for Pediatric Behavioral Health and Wellness's Racial Justice Initiatives program. Thanks to Shun for her ongoing dedication to supporting our clinicians, services, and families!
Hochang Ben Lee Presents Plenary Session at Chinese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine
Hochang Ben Lee, MD recently gave a plenary presentation as President of the International College of Psychosomatic Medicine at the 28th Annual Meeting of Chinese Society of Psychosomatic Medicine. His presentation highlighted the Biopsychosocial Model and the future of healthcare.
Annual American Psychiatric Nursing Association National Conference
This October, our Psychiatric Nursing Leadership team presented two podium presentations at the American Psychiatric Nursing Association's National Conference at Long Beach, California. Nancy Bowllan RN, MSN, EdD, Heather O'Brien RN, MSN, NPD-BC and Courtney Blackwood RN, MSN, NE-BC presented on high-fidelity simulation with interdisciplinary clinicians in emergency psychiatric situations. READ MORE>>>
Beat the Holiday Blues
If you're struggling during the holidays, you're not alone. Postdoctoral fellows Anna Defayette, PhD and Morica Hutchison, PhD, LMFT chatted with the Center for Community Health and Prevention on tips for handling stress, depression, and grief during the holiday season.
Bridge Art Gallery Holds In-Person Reception for Mind, Body, and World
A big thank you to all those that attended the December reception for our Bridge Art Gallery reception for their latest exhibit, Mind, Body, and World. We were excited to welcome back our community artists and those in the community back for our first in-person reception since 2020! READ MORE>>>
Psychiatry in the News
Aging Reimagined: A New View of Old Age
Often, aging is paired with stereotypes like loss and limitations. However, older adults can be capable of far more. Researchers and providers at University of Rochester, including those in our own department, are promoting a new way of thinking in research, education, and care about old age. READ MORE>>>
Another Voice: More Treatment Centers for Serious Mental Illness Are Needed
Steven Silverstein, MD recently published an editorial with The Buffalo News on the need for more centers focused on treating serious mental illness, highlighting the work being done in INTERCEPT, our clinic for those at high risk for psychosis. READ MORE>>>
Research Examines Digital Interventions for Teen Suicide Prevention
Research has shown that many young people do not like face-to-face therapy. Coupled with barriers to care faced by those in underserved communities, many treatment options for high-risk youth can be seen as intensive. A new project by our very own Arielle Sheftall and led by Drs. Theodore Beauchaine and Kristin Valentino of University of Notre Dame will be using cell phones to deliver new, experimental treatments for youth at-risk for for suicide. READ MORE>>>
What You Need to Know about Lecanemab
In December, the New England Journal of Medicine published a clinical trial on Lecanemab, a potential new drug for Alzheimer's Disease. Anton Porsteinsson, Director of our Alzheimer's Disease Care, Research and Education Program, spoke with UR Medicine on what this trial means for the future of Alzheimer's care. READ MORE>>>
Discussing How to Help People Who Were Formerly Incarcerated Re-enter the Community
JoZ Powers, community health worker and a certified peer advocate at UR Medicine Mental Health and Wellness, was among those interviewed on an episode of WXXI's Connections with Evan Dawson on helping those formerly incarcerated re-establish themselves, as well as our our WISH Transitions Clinic which provides medical care and help navigating medical and social systems to women reentering the community. READ MORE>>>
Mark Your Calendars
Next Neilly Series Presentation Features Gitanjali Rao
We invite you to join the University of Rochester River Campus Library for the final presentation of their 2022-2023 Neilly Author Series featuring author, inventor, scientist, engineer, and STEM advocate Gitanjali Rao. This year's series is dedicated to our Department of Psychiatry in celebration of our 75th Anniversary and features works highlighting key concepts in the biopsychosocial model. READ MORE>>>
November/ December Psychiatry Publications
Kristen Holderle, PhD and Jeffrey Iler, MD published a chapter in Advances in Online Therapy on adapting the Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy model for telemedicine at UR Medicine's Complex Care Center and patients with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Hochang Ben Lee, MD published an editorial in General Psychiatry on the history of psychosomatic medicine and C-L Psychiatry and how the two fields can find unity under the biopsychosocial model.
Kimberly van Orden, PhD, Yeates Conwell, MD, Benjamin Chapman, PhD, MPH, April Buttaccio, MPH, Alexandra Van Bergen, PhD, and Ellen Beckwith published study protocol for a clinical trial examining employing the Americorps Senior volunteer program to reduce loneliness.
There has been a growing push for screening for Adverse Childhood Experiences. Andrea Garroway, PhD was a coauthor on a paper on racial and ethnic differences in how acceptable patients find such screenings.
- Rachel Raider, Wilfred Pigeon, PhD, and Michelle Carr, PhD published a study with colleagues from University of Montreal and Northwestern University examining how memories are incorporated into dreams across different stages of sleep.
- Cathy Peters, NP, MS, Gregory Sherman, MD, and Tara Augenstein, PhD published a review on the experience of providing offsite pharmacy services to a psychiatric inpatient unit during the pandemic and the lessons learned along the way.
- Michelle Carr, PhD, Donna Guardino, PhD and Wilfred Pigeon, PhD published a study examining the characteristics of sleep among deaf individuals.
- Howard Bi, MA, Pamela Butler, PhD, and Brian Keane, PhD published a technical note on avoiding spurious interactions between contrast sensitivity deficits and spatial frequency.
- A new paper by Brian Keane, PhD, Steve Silverstein, PhD, Megan Serody and Judy Thompson, PhD alongside colleagues from Rutgers University and Washington University at St. Louis found differences in fMRI data on dorsal attention network activity and visual shape completion in those with schizophrenia.
- Marsha Wittink, MD, MBE was a coauthor on a paper outlining a model describing how socioemotional processes fuel end-of-life treatment in the U.S. This model highlights the importance of psychological innovation in healthcare delivery.
- Thomas Caprio, MD, MS was a coauthor on a recent paper which created a scalar version of the Family Caregiver Activation in Transitions, a tool for guiding the care team in better understanding patient and family needs during care transitions.
- While prenatal antidepressant exposure has been associated with increased risk for neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood, a new study coauthored by Thomas O'Connor, PhD found no significant relationships once adjusting prenatal maternal depression.
- Todd Bishop, PhD and Wilfred Pigeon, PhD were coauthors on a paper examining the agreement between, and adherence to, wrist actigraphy and digital sleep diaries for sleep assessment among adolescents after psychiatric discharge.
- Thomas O'Connor, PhD was a coauthor on a study comparing metal levels between formalin-fixed, paraffin embedded and frozen human placentae. This study will help scientists better understand physiology, disease, and toxic and diagnostic exposures.
- While psychological aspects of well-being are increasingly recognized as a component of health, research on this topic is fragmented. Yeates Conwell, MD coauthored an editorial on the development of a provisional conceptualization of this form of well-being.
- Thomas O'Connor, PhD was a coauthor on a paper on independent associations between maternal exposure to adversity in childhood and pregnancy with children’s anxiety and depression symptoms in a large, sociodemographically diverse sample.
- Benjamin Chapman, PhD, MPH, MS was a coauthor on a paper out
of
the Department of Surgery examining a geriatric assessment intervention and its ability to reduce patient-reported symptomatic toxicity among older adults with advanced cancer.
Upcoming Events
