APS Member,

This Newsletter contains some great information on our upcoming Annual Meeting, reports from the March Area VII Meeting, legislative update, membership news (including our nominated slate) and opportunities, and happenings in our community. 

Welcome to the Spring issue of our quarterly newsletter.  As you may notice, our newsletter is becoming increasingly substantial as our Newsletter Committee works to provide more varied and informative content.  In this issue, you will find a report by our lobbyist, Joe Abate, which summarizes legislation of interest to us that has been proposed in the current legislative session.  Please also notice our newest Newsletter column, "Meet Your APS Colleague" which we plan to make a regular feature.  This month we highlight the accomplishments of one of our ECP members, Roland Segal.  If you would like to suggest a colleague (or yourself) to be featured in future Newsletters, please contact Robin Reesal who writes this column.

It was a busy winter for our District Branch.  Projects which occupied our attention included arranging for the speakers for our Annual Meeting at the end of this month, and I am pleased to announce that we are anticipating a very strong meeting this year with nationally recognized speakers presenting on topics of both clinical and policy-related interest. Particular thanks are due to our Past President, Michael Brennan, and our MIT Representative, Amie Kafer, for their work in contacting speakers.  Management of anxiety and pain disorders as well as the psychiatric manifestations of endocrine disorders will be topics under discussion at The Buttes on March 31st.  We hope to see you there.

Another accomplishment this winter was the finalization of a new structure for our state-level dues which will provide for a lower level of dues for our Early Career Psychiatrist members. Please see the Dues article below for details.  Thanks to Thomas Cyriac and Carlos Carerra, Co-Heads of the ECP Committee, for their work on this important initiative.

Additional activity came in the form of our first Winter Social, a networking and social event for our members which was held on February 3rd at the Sierra Bonita Grill.  About 40 of our members enjoyed drinks, appetizers and informal mingling as well as a brief discussion with our lobbyist Joe Abate on how we can engage more effectively with our state legislators.  We hope to make this the first of more networking and social events for our members.

On a final note, I am happy to report that under the leadership of our Assembly Representative, Jay Bastani and our Deputy Representative and President-Elect, Tariq Ghafoor, our District Branch has been actively represented this year at the national level in APA Assembly meetings and most particularly the activity of our regional APA governance body, the Area 7 Council.  Most recently, the spring meeting of the Area 7 Council was held here in Arizona with delegates from over 10 Western-region states attending.  A reception was hosted by Area 7 during the meeting and it was good to see a number of our members there.  Please see Jay's Area 7 report included in this issue of our Newsletter, as well as notice of Area 7's interest in having members from Arizona nominated to serve as Area 7's MIT Deputy Representative and Early Career Psychiatrist Deputy Representative.   We look forward to continued engagement with the APA Assembly in the future.  

As we look forward to the coming year, we hope to continue to increase our level of engagement with members in all parts of Arizona.  If you have thoughts or suggestions for programs you would like to see the APS implement, please feel free to contact me at Gretchen_Alexander@dmgaz.org or our Executive Director, Teri Harnisch, at teri@azmedassn.org at any time.  We welcome your thoughts and feedback; it is through open communication that we can serve you best.

Respectfully,

It is our pleasure to share with you the news that the American Psychiatric Association has elected Arizona Psychiatric Society members,

Martin B. Kassell, M.D. (Life Member), and

Michael Edward Brennan, M.D. (Fellow),

to the status of Distinguished Fellow of the APA.  Drs. Kassell and Brennan will be honored at the APA Annual Meeting in May with a President's Reception and a Convocation of Distinguished Fellows.  In addition, we are pleased to announce the following members of the Arizona Psychiatric Society were approved for Fellow status by the APA, and these Fellows will be honored during the Convocation ceremony in May: 

David Norman Boyer M.D.-Life Member

Ann Burgess Lettes M.D.-General Member

Diana Lampsa M.D.-General Member

Stephen Victor Streitfeld M.D.-General Member

Shelley J. Doumani-Semino M.D.-General Member

Michael C Rockwell M.D.-General Member

Eric Greenman M.D.-General Member

Russell S Gilbert M.D.-General Member

Terry A Vaughan M.D.-General Member

Karnail S Dhillon M.D.-General Member

Jose V Ventura M.D.-General Member

Roberto A Sebastian, Jr.,  M.D.-General Member

Thomas V. Cyriac, M.D.-General Member

Sanghamitra M. Chowdhury, M.D.-General Member

On behalf of the entire membership of the Arizona Psychiatric Society, we congratulate these newest Distinguished Fellows and Fellows of the APA on their distinguished careers and thank them for their continued support and membership in the APA and our Society. 

Members eligible to apply for Distinguished Fellow or Fellowship in 2012 will soon be receiving notification from APS.  Fellows may apply directly to the APA.  Distinguished Fellow applications must be presented by the District Branch to the APA.  Please contact the administrative office for any questions on the process.  We are here for your support. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield's recent actions in terminating mental health and addiction service providers and seeking new contracts through its affiliate New Directions Behavioral Health has generated many complaints.  APA is working with mental health and addiction recovery groups throughout the State of Florida and the U.S. to address these complaints about patient care and access to care through advocacy in Congress, with the Administration, and with BCBS FL and New Directions.  Following are also some actions you can take to improve the situation for your patients:

1. Complete the following survey and forward it to anyone who may b e a patient, patient family member, or provider in Florida that is impacted by BCBS FL's actions; and

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/mentalhealthparity

 2.Sign the petition available at the following link and send the link to everyone you know who wants to see parity in treatment for mental health and substance use patients regardless of whether or not they live in Florida:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/mental-health-parity

Your participation is important to ensuring quality care for mental health and addiction recovery patients.  More information is available at the Florida Psychiatric Society's website home page (www.floridapsych.org).

Confirming the January notification to the membership, the Nominating Slate is pleased to present the following nominees to serve as Executive Officers of APS for 2012-2013:

President-Elect: Joanna Kowalik, M.D., M.P.H.

Vice President: Payam M. Sadr, M.D. 

Treasurer: Emerson B. Bueno, M.D., F.A.P.A.

Secretary: Roland Segal, M.D.

Felicitas Koster, D.O. - MIT Representative

Note: All Arizona positions are for one year. Tariq Ghafoor, M.D. will automatically move from President-Elect to President.

Terms of office for the Arizona positions begin at the close of the Annual APA Meeting (May 2012) and end at the close of the 2013 Annual APA Meeting (May 2013).  The term of the APA Assembly Rep., Jehangir B. Bastani, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., automatically continues for an additional year, ending at the close of the 2013 Annual APA Meeting (May 2013).  Joanna Kowalik, as President-Elect automatically serves as the APA Deputy Rep.  

The slate will be voted upon at the APS Annual Meeting on March 31, 2012. 

In future Newsletters, we plan to continue to help introduce you to fellow APS Members from all areas of our organization.  Thanks to Dr. Segal for agreeing to be our pilot subject and to accepting the nomination to serve as the 2012-2013 Secretary of APS.  If you have a suggestion for a member to profile, please contact teri@azmedassn.org. 

At 14 years of age, Roland emigrated from the Soviet Union with his parents in 1991 speaking only a few words of English. Roland enrolled at Camelback High School in the English as a Second Language program. He quickly moved to the honors classes and graduating at the top his class. He was honored with scholarships and a free ride at Arizona State University.

Roland graduated four years later with a degree in biology from the Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Honor's college. When Roland was not studying during high school and college, he spent most of his time working to help support his family. After completing his degree in biology, Roland attended the University of Arizona, College of Medicine.

Roland developed a strong interest in psychiatry during his third year rotation at Good Samaritan Hospital. This is where he completed his adult psychiatry residency. In 2008 he completed a Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Southern California.

After the fellowship, Roland started a private Forensic Psychiatric practice and accepted a position as Chief of Inpatient Psychiatry at the Phoenix Veteran Affairs Carl T. Hayden Medical Center. In addition, Roland was also honored with a clinical appointment through the University of Arizona Medical School.

Roland and his lovely wife, Lynsey, have one-year-old and three-year-old sons. When Roland is not working, he is either pumping iron at the gym, goofing around with his boys, or somewhere fly-fishing. He next plans to take on hunting.

The new deadline for paying APA membership dues will be JUNE 30.  Membership dues for 2012 and hereafter must be paid by June 30 or your membership will automatically expire on that date unless members are enrolled in the APA Scheduled Payment Plan.  For more information,visit www.psych.org under the Membership link or call the APA directly at 1-888-357-7924.

To support and encourage membership in APS during early career years, effective with the 2012 dues billing, APS enacted a dues restructure of local dues for Years 1 through 3. Local dues for Years 1 through 3 will be $50, $100, and $150, respectively, with full local APS dues of $250 dues in Year 4 and thereafter. As an Early Career Psychiatrist (MIT), a strong APA and APS are important to your future career; the Association's advocacy work today will have a strong impact on how today's ECPs (MITs) practice in the future, and your patients' future access to quality psychiatric care.   ECPs and MITs, APS thanks you for your contributions as members, and we hope you will encourage your fellow ECPs and MITs to join as well.