Thank you for the great turnout at our Annual Department Picnic! It was terrific to see you all outside of our academic walls and to reconnect with you after the summer. I was reminded of what a vibrant, interesting and energetic community we have and how fortunate I am to work with such great people. It was fun to watch our faculty, staff, and trainees toss water balloons, to see how the kids have grown, and to meet new family members.
This summer, we did some serious cleaning and decluttering in the department offices at UWMC, and I discovered the last department annual report written by Herbert Ripley, MD who served as our department’s first Chair from 1949 to 1969. The report left me with mixed emotions; it was sobering to realize that we face some of the same challenges as a department that we did almost 50 years ago, but it was also gratifying to see how much we have accomplished since then. Mental health is garnering increasing attention locally, regionally, nationally, and around the world. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton recently released a Comprehensive Agenda on Mental Health, calling for the full integration of mental health services into the nation’s health care system. This is something we have been working toward for over thirty years since Jack Carr, PhD advocated for integrating psychology with the practice of medicine (see story below). The Center for Medicare and Medicaid recently announced that it plans to introduce new payment codes in January of 2017 for collaborative care programs pioneered at UW Psychiatry, a big step forward in our goal of getting effective mental health care to the greatest number of people. This is a wonderful vote of confidence for the work we have been doing for many years.
Mental health is also receiving attention through our University President’s new Population Health Initiative which is aimed at improving the health and well-being of populations here and around the world. As a participant of the 30-member Executive Council tasked with developing a 25-year vision for population health, I will work to keep mental health in the forefront and help our colleagues understand that there can be no health without mental health. Research from UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation shows that Mental Illness and Substance Abuse are among the most disabling of illnesses worldwide. Depression alone causes three times more health related disability than diabetes, 10 times more disability than heart disease, and 40 times more disability than cancer. President Caucé’s new Population Health Initiative is an excellent forum for us to share that perspective and I look forward to the dialogue and resulting actions.
Another important milestone is mental health becoming a top priority for the upcoming UW Medicine Campaign. Our Advancement Team led by David Chow and Cassidy Gammill and our Campaign Initiative Committee under the leadership of Craig Cole have worked hard to bring attention to our work and capture the interests of top donors. We will have exciting news to share on this front in the months to come, including a new initiative to raise money for our educational programs and a major fundraising event to support a new Behavioral Health Institute at Harborview. Stay tuned. The overarching goal for our campaign is to make sure that everyone will have access to effective mental health care. We will work to achieve this goal by opening new doors to reach people where they are, in schools, in primary care, in specialty care, and in communities; by discovering new treatments for the most challenging mental health and addiction problems; by training and inspiring the next generation of health care professionals; and by driving dialogue that will reduce prejudice and discrimination for people living with mental health problems and create healthier communities. These are lofty goals, but given our passion, drive, ingenuity, and tenacity I think we can make a big difference in the years ahead. I am inspired by the work done before us, invigorated by the work we are doing today, and excited for the work still left to do. Here's to a fantastic new academic year!
Jürgen
Welcome New Staff Members!
Nadia Khan joined the department as our new Associate Director of Finance and Administration and will provide budgeting, financial management and accounting activity leadership. She comes to us with 17 years of UW experience, most recently serving as the assistant director of finance and administration at the School of Social Work. In her free time she enjoys kayaking, playing soccer and gardening.
Michele Norman joins us as the Administrative Supervisor and Human Resources Liaison for the Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences team at Harborview. Michele comes to us with a background in academic and non-profit administration and has interests in falconry, archaeology and volunteering with seniors in Hospice care. She also stays very busy as a parent of two active teenagers. In addition to her liason role, Michele will provide executive support for Vice Chair and Service Chief, Mark Snowden.
Antronette Simmons is our new Division Administrator at the Division of Public Behavioral Health and Justice Policy (PBHJP). Her previous work experience includes serving as Program Manager with the UW Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, working in various roles with UW General Internal Medicine, UWMC, St. Francis Hospital, Harborview and Virginia Mason, and most recently serving as the Manager of Program Operations in the UW Department of Pathology.
Susan Reynolds joined the Department to manage a project team led by Jennifer Piel that is conducting a feasibility study for a forensic teaching service at Western State Hospital. Susan has extensive experience in administration and research management at the UW School of Medicine, most recently serving as Administrator of the Department of Bioethics and Humanities. A committed traveler, Susan's latest adventure took her on an extended trip through Eastern Europe from the Baltic states to the Balkans.
Cornelis Bakker Leaves Lasting Mark Cornelis Bakker, MD, Acting Chairman for the department from 1959-1960, died peacefully over the summer on July 12. Cor, as he was affectionately known, started his academic career in our department and worked his way up to full professor. While here, he designed and established a psycho-educational treatment program called the Adult Development Program which received an APA award for clinical innovation. He left Seattle for the University of Illinois but returned to the Northwest after five years, taking the position of Chair of Psychiatry at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. He became the most influential mental health professional in the inland region, facilitating close collaboration between Sacred Heart Hospital, the Spokane Mental Center and Eastern State Hospital. Working with our Residency Program in Seattle, he designed and established the Spokane Advanced Clinician Track which became the model for our regional track system.
Cor was beloved by his colleagues and by the residents. He was an inspiring teacher, a master clinician, an original theoretical thinker, and a wise mentor. The classes in human conflict resolution that he and his spouse, Marianne Bakker-Rabdau, taught were evaluated by the residents as “the most clinically useful of all the didactics offered during their training.” He has left a lasting mark on all those that were fortunate enough to work with him and to learn from him.
Active Search for Director of Global Mental Health
For the past few months, we’ve been partnering with the UW Department of Global Health in the Schools of Medicine and Public Health to hire a Director for the Global Mental Health program. We are pleased to report that four candidates have accepted invitations for interviews on campus between Oct 1-Dec 15, 2016.
The first candidate to be interviewed will be Paul Bolton, MB BS, DTMH, MPH, MSc, Oct 3-4. The rest of the Candidates (to be announced later) will be interviewed on Nov 30—Dec 1, Dec 12-13, and Dec 14-15.
If you wish to meet with any or all of the candidates, please contact Elisabeth Gunningham at eg01@uw.edu.
Reminder to Junior Faculty: Fill Out Your Individual Development Plan!
Every junior faculty member should meet with his/her department mentor at least every six months to complete their Individual Development Plan (IDP). Junior faculty members should fill out the IDP in advance of the meeting, provide comments at the end of the form, and submit the IDP to Jane Corkery-Hahn. IDPs are then reviewed by Drs. Unützer, Cowley, and the faculty member's Chief of Service. This will help all of us to make sure you are on track for promotion. Thank you!
SMART Center Awarded $4.7 million
The School Mental Health Assessment, Research, & Training (SMART) Center directed by Aaron Lyon recently received two grants from the Institute of Education Sciences, the primary research funding arm of the US Department of Education. Totaling $4.7M, these awards account for 1/6th of the total awards given this year under the IES "Social and Behavioral Context for Academic Learning" topic area, further establishing the SMART Center as an influential leader in school-based behavioral health research and implementation.
The Efficacy of a Brief Intervention Strategy for School Mental Health Clinicians (BRISC) project (Eric Bruns PI, Elizabeth McCauley co-PI) will evaluate the impact of an initial assessment, engagement, triage, and brief intervention strategy on mental health and academic outcomes of high-school students in 13 school districts in Minnesota, Maryland, and Washington. Previous studies showed that BRISC improved clinicians' capacity to efficiently apply evidence-based practices and improved students' functioning, emotional symptoms, and coping skills.
Serotonin in Seattle Success John Neumaier chaired the 2016 International Society for Serotonin Research, "Serotonin in Seattle," from July 24-27 at the Edgewater Hotel. He was ably assisted by Goldie Pontrelli and Mary Pyper from the Department in organizing the logistics of the conference. More than 170 serotonin researchers from five continents convened and discussed cutting edge research that involved psychiatric, basic neuroscience, and peripheral nervous system research.
In addition to three named Special Lectures, there were 16 symposia sessions and numerous brief oral and poster presentations. The meeting also hosted 20 NIDA travel awardees who each gave a poster and oral presentation. The meeting was notable for the integration of basic and clinical science, and cutting-edge molecular neuroscience involving the anatomy, neurochemistry, and gene regulation in the serotonin system. Serotonin modulates the activity of many brain regions and functions and has become important in the development of new treatments for schizophrenia, Parkinson's Disease, mood disorders, and Alzheimer's Disease. New safety and efficacy data on the use of the recently released 5-HT2C agonist lorcaserin (Belviq) in addictions including tobacco cessation, opiate, and cocaine use disorders. The society also hosted social events featuring a professionally-led tasting of Washington wines and a cruise to Tillicum Village on Blake Island. The next ISSR conference is slated for Cork, Ireland in 2018.
New T-32 Research Fellowship Focuses on AD and Dementias
A new Alzheimer's Disease Training Program directed by Elaine Peskind provides interdisciplinary training for basic science, clinical, and translational researchers so they can advance clinical hypotheses about the etiology, pathophysiology, and treatment of AD and related disorders. The training program is the only formal program at the University of Washington focused on training investigators to carry out basic, clinical, and translational research in AD and related neurodegenerative dementing disorders and is supported by the rich and interactive research environment of the University of Washington and Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System.
The program supports training positions for 3 postdoctoral trainees. The goal for postdoctoral trainees is to have ~40% clinical (MD, MD/PhD, or PhD in Clinical Psychology) and ~60% research (PhD) postdoctoral fellows. Incoming MD candidates are expected to have completed a residency, usually in psychiatry, neurology, neuropathology, radiology, internal medicine, or geriatric medicine. Postdoctoral PhD candidates can come from a broad range of disciplines including clinical psychology, neuropsychology, biochemistry, genetics, neurobiology, and pharmacology. The program also supports training positions for 3 predoctoral candidates. Brian Kraemer co-directs the program.
For more information contact Molly Chinn at wamble@uw.edu.
UW 2017 Innovation Research Awards: Applications due November 1
Innovation Research Awards seeded through existing gift funds from the President’s office are to support unusually creative early and mid-career faculty in health, natural, social and engineering sciences. Innovative discovery-based individual research or smaller scale collaborative research projects will be supported rather than extensions of large-scale ongoing research programs. The goal is to foster high-payoff work that promises to be transformational but for which other funding sources are limited. The awards will be up to $250K per year for two years with a preference given to Assistant and Associate Professors. Research Faculty are eligible to apply. More information
ITHS KL2 Program: Applications (also) due November 1
The ITHS KL2 Multidisciplinary Clinical Research Career Development Program is now accepting applications for their 2017 cohort. The program welcomes junior faculty who are pursuing research in health. The KL2 program, up to three years in length, offers rigorous training in clinical and translational research for junior faculty in an interdisciplinary cohort environment. Benefits include significant salary support and protected research time, funding to conduct research and develop career skills, mentorship from established translational researchers and intensive translational training with a multidisciplinary cohort. More information
Diversity Subinternship Students for Fall 2016
We are delighted to announce that five fourth-year medical students are joining us this fall, each for a four-week subinternship rotation. This is the second year of our department's Diversity Subinternship Program that recognizes medical students from groups underrepresented in psychiatry and who are committed to working with disadvantaged populations. The program is funded through private philanthropy; anyone interested in supporting a student in the future should contact Deb Cowley. The five students and their medical schools, subinternship, and dates with the department are as follows:
Christa Belgrave, New York Medical College, Adult Inpatient Psychiatry subinternship, Harborview (8/29-9/23) Stefanie Gillson, University of Minnesota, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry subinternship, Seattle Children's (8/29-9/23) Uju Ogbuawa, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, Adult Inpatient Psychiatry subinternship, Harborview (9/26-10/21) Evelyn Nelson, UC San Diego, Adult Inpatient Psychiatry subinternship, Harborview (10/24-11/18) Brittainy Erby, Wright State University-Boonshoft School of Medicine, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry subinternship, Seattle Children's (11/21-12/16)
Please welcome them to our department!
Christopher DeCou Wins Joseph Becker Research Award
This year's recipient of the Joseph Becker Research Award is Christopher DeCou, an Adult Track resident in the Psychology Internship Program. The award stimulates quality research by rewarding a psychology resident for independence, creativity and intellectual depth in a research effort. Christopher’s research broadly examines the potential mediators of the association between sexual assault severity, PTSD symptoms, and components of the Interpersonal Psychological Theory of Suicide, and may offer insight concerning effective targets for therapeutic intervention and prevention of suicidal behavior.
New Telehealth Initiative Helps Fellows, Providers
The new UW Psychiatry and Addictions Case Conference (UW PACC) series launched on July 7 has had an immediate, positive impact across Washington. The program, led by Mark Duncan and Rick Ries, offers telehealth resource support to build the confidence and skills of providers (especially in primary care) who care for patients with mental and behavioral health conditions and expands the mental health and addictions care capacity of health care professionals in remote, underserved areas of Washington State. It also trains fellows in the Integrated Care Fellowship program led by Anna Ratzliff to deliver a regional peer learning and support network for treating mental health and addictions. Nearly 100 providers have registered for the series so far. UW PACC is funded by the Washington state Legislature through the Hospital Safety-Net Assessment. Read more in HSNewsbeat and the Puget Sound Business Journal. For more information please email uwpacc@uw.edu.
FY 2016 Clinical Wrap Up
We ended FY 2016 on a high note for our clinical programs! We saw a 7% increase in productivity over last year and over budget in our adult practice sites, and a 4% increase at our children’s practice sites. Our biggest increases were seen at our UW Neighborhood Clinics and through Telemedicine, as well as at our outpatient clinics at Harborview. We’re continuing to expand our UW Neighborhood Clinic telemedicine access in FY 2017 and are starting coverage in Olympia and Smokey Point.
Unfortunately, our cash received has lagged behind production this year due to delayed billings and increased payor turnaround time, but we still ended the year above budget. We also started our first ever adult practice physician incentive plan! The first half of FY 2016’s incentives were paid out in April: 23 of our providers earned incentives that averaged $7,600. For the second half of the year, we’re expecting 25 providers to receive incentive payments averaging $7,300. We will be continuing with the same incentive program in FY 2017 for our adult providers.
Pilot Program at UWMC-Roosevelt Amanda Focht and Rebecca Engelberg will be piloting a resident medication management clinic at the Psychiatry Outpatient Clinic at UWMC-Roosevelt in which attending psychiatrists see patients for a key and critical portion of the visit in a direct supervision model. We hope that this model will be a great educational experience as well as capture what is now lost revenue.
UW Psychiatry Honored by APM
UW Psychiatry will be a common name at the upcoming annual meeting of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine in November. Drs. Ratzliff, Pellegrino, Fann and Unützer are all receiving recognition for their work.
The Integrated Care Pathway started by Anna Ratzliff received the 2016 Alan Stoudemire Award for Innovation and Excellence in Psychosomatic Medicine Education on behalf of the Fellowship and Awards Committee. The Career Enrichment Pathway for psychiatry residents, one of the first of its kind, provides a rich array of experiences to learn about integrated care and to develop unique clinical skills.
The Fellowship and Awards Committee also awarded Laurel Pellegrino, UW Outpatient Chief Resident, with the 2016 Dorfman Journal Paper Award for Best Case Report for her article in APM’s journal, Psychosomatics, “Service Dogs in the Hospital: Helpful or Harmful? A Case Report and Clinical Recommendations.” This case report was co-written with Joe Cerimele and Amelia Dubovsky.
Jesse Fann is the recipient of the 2016 Dlin/Fischer Clinical Research Award for his paper “Impact of a Telehealth Intervention on Common Comorbid Conditions of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Active Duty Service Members: A Randomized Controlled Trial.” This award, determined by the Research and Evidence-Based Practice Committee, is given to the author of the paper judged to be the most outstanding submission to the APM annual meeting.
The same committee awarded Jürgen Unützer the 2016 Don R. Lipsitt Award for Achievement in Integrated and Collaborative Care. This award recognizes an individual who has demonstrated excellence and innovation in the integration of mental health with other medical care through collaborative care.
Congratulations to all four for their APM sweep!
Jack Carr Recognized for Distinguished Professional Contributions John "Jack" Carr, Acting Chair for our department from 1981-1985, has been awarded the 2016 American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Institutional Practice. This highly selective award recognizes outstanding practicioners in psychology. Dr. Carr is especially recognized for his long-standing contributions of psychology within medical centers. He was one of the early proponents and champions of integrating psychology with the practice of medicine, integrating psychology and social science into the medical school curriculum, and serving as an institutional role model for medical school psychologists and psychology faculty members. Dr. Carr, now Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, is one of the few medical school academic psychologists who served as an acting chairman of a department of psychiatry at a research intensive medical school. Dr. Carr will receive his award at the 2016 APA Convention in Denver and will be acknowledged formally in the November 2016 Awards issue of the American Psychologist.
We thank Dr. Carr for paving the way for the integration of the biological and behavioral sciences!
VA/UW Faculty Shine at VA Section Meeting
VA Puget Sound was a 2016 Division 18 – VA Section award winner three times over in August, receiving 3 of 7 awards for Psychologists in Public Service at the VA Section meeting in Denver. Mark Reger was awarded Outstanding Researcher, Tracy Simpson received the Outstanding Supervisor or Mentor award, and Samantha Yard was recognized as the 2016 Outstanding Psychology Trainee. A very nice representation for VA/UW faculty!
University of Washington
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
1959 NE Pacific Street, Box 356560
Seattle, WA 98195
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Dear friends and colleagues,
Cornelis Bakker, MD, Acting Chairman for the department from 1959-1960, died peacefully over the summer on July 12. Cor, as he was affectionately known, started his academic career in our department and worked his way up to full professor. While here, he designed and established a psycho-educational treatment program called the Adult Development Program which received an APA award for clinical innovation. He left Seattle for the University of Illinois but returned to the Northwest after five years, taking the position of Chair of Psychiatry at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane. He became the most influential mental health professional in the inland region, facilitating close collaboration between Sacred Heart Hospital, the Spokane Mental Center and Eastern State Hospital. Working with our Residency Program in Seattle, he designed and established the Spokane Advanced Clinician Track which became the model for our regional track system.
