May 2013  

Andres Barkil-Oteo, MD, MSc (left) and Michelle Silva, PsyD (middle), assistant professors of psychiatry, with Marco Ramos (right), an MD/PhD student. Ramos is the manager of the HAVEN Free Clinic Behavioral Health Program for Depression. Barkil-Oteo and Silva serve as faculty advisors to the program.

Latino/a immigrants in the United States may face any number of common acculturative stressors including a lack of stable employment, discrimination, legal difficulties, or not speaking English, among others. Resulting behavioral and emotional health issues often go unaddressed due to a lack of specialist mental health providers available to this community.

Uninsured, largely undocumented, Spanish-speaking immigrants in the Fair Haven community now have improved access to much-needed mental health services thanks to the HAVEN Free Clinic Behavioral Health Program for Depression. The program is a model for integrating mental health interventions into the services of a student managed free clinic. Read more 

A recent study in Molecular Psychiatry suggests that one way that disturbances in glutamate function may contribute to symptoms of schizophrenia is by altering the synchrony of various brain regions. Naomi Driesen, PhD (left), associate research scientist in psychiatry, is lead author. John H. Krystal, MD (right), the Robert L. McNeil Jr. Professor of Translational Research and psychiatry department chair, is senior author. Read more / View the study 

New research published in JAMA Psychiatry suggests brain imaging scans might detect a recovering alcoholic in danger of relapse. Dongju Seo, PhD (left), associate research scientist in psychiatry, is lead author. Rajita Sinha, PhD (right), Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and professor in the Child Study Center and of neurobiology, is senior author. Read more / View the study 

Researchers have discovered that calories trigger responses in areas of the brain that control eating behavior independently of how much the subject likes the flavor. Dana Small, PhD (right), associate professor of psychiatry, is senior author of the study published in Current Biology. Ivan de Araujo, DPhil, MSc (left), assistant professor of psychiatry, is lead author. Read more / View the study 

People provided with a real-time readout of activity in specific regions of their brains can learn to control that activity and lessen their anxiety, according to findings published in Translational Psychiatry. Michelle Hampson, PhD (left), an assistant professor in  diagnostic radiology affiliated with the Yale OCD Research Clinic, is senior author. Christopher Pittenger, MD, PhD (right), assistant professor of psychiatry and the Clinic's director, is a co-author. Read more / View the study 

Second-year psychiatry resident Ayana Jordan, MD, PhD, was presented with a Yale University Seton Elm-Ivy Award at a ceremony on April 24. The award recognizes individuals and organizations whose efforts support the collaboration of Yale and its hometown. Jordan organized an internship for high school students, a warm clothing drive, and a fundraiser to benefit a local homeless shelter. Read more  

Charles Dike, MD, MPH, an assistant professor of psychiatry in the department's Law & Psychiatry Division, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Dike currently serves as the director of the Whiting Forensic Division at Connecticut Valley Hospital. Fellowship in the Royal College of Psychiatrists is awarded as a mark of distinction and recognition of significant contributions to the field of psychiatry. Read more 

Alan Anticevic, PhD, associate research scientist in psychiatry, was the recipient of a Young Investigator Award at the 14th International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (ICOSR). ICOSR is a biennial meeting where scientists involved with discovery in schizophrenia gather to exchange data, techniques, and ideas. Read more 

John H. Krystal, MD, the Robert L. McNeil Jr. Professor of Translational Research and psychiatry department chair, will help guide research into the origins of violent behavior in the brain as part of an effort funded by the Avielle Foundation. The Avielle Foundation was formed by the parents of Avielle Richman, one of 20 first-graders killed in the December 14th shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Read more 

Women's Health Research at Yale (WHRY), whose mission is to ensure that women are included in research studies, gender differences in health are examined, and health outcomes are analyzed by gender, celebrated its 15th anniversary in February. Carolyn M. Mazure, PhD, professor of psychiatry and psychology, and associate dean for faculty affairs, is director of WHRY. Read more 

Researchers and health officials urged Congress to support National Institutes of Health research efforts to improve effective treatments, ease dissemination, and use technology to help military personnel and their families deal with substance abuse. Among the experts delivering this message was Kathleen Carroll, PhD, the Albert E. Kent Professor of Psychiatry. Read more 

Deepak C. D'Souza, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Schizophrenia Research Program at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System, has received a 2013 Independent Investigator Award from the Brain and Behavior Foundation (formerly NARSAD) to study whether chronic, heavy, early cannabis exposure is associated with psychosis outcomes. Read more 

The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is calling on physicians to routinely recommend that patients stop smoking after a diagnosis of cancer. The call to action took place in a policy statement released at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013. Benjamin Toll, PhD, associate professor of psychiatry, is director of the smoking cessation program at Yale Cancer Center and chaired the committee charged with writing the policy statement. Read more 

Robin M. Masheb, PhD co-authored a Huffington Post Healthy Living article which encourages readers to change the cultural conversation by giving up "Fat Talk." Masheb is an assistant professor of psychiatry and the associate director of the Program for Obesity, Weight and Eating Research at Yale School of Medicine. Read more 

In the aftermath of the shootings in Sandy Hook, the Connecticut General Assembly passed "An Act Concerning Gun Violence Prevention and Children's Safety." In a New Haven Register op-ed, Arjune Rama, MD, a second-year psychiatry resident, expresses his thoughts about the law's mental health reporting requirement. Read more 

Jordan Sloshower, a fifth-year medical student, describes his six-week psychiatry elective in Peru. Sloshower is pursuing a Graduate Certificate of Concentration in Global Health from the Jackson Institute of Global Affairs. These graduate studies are focused on global mental health and mental health care in post-conflict and humanitarian settings. Read more 

We are pleased to announce the following new employees who have joined the Yale Department of Psychiatry. Please help us welcome Sara Andrzejewski, Patty Devaux, Ryan Hackett, Carrie Johnson, Meg Martins, Phal Patel, and Bernadette Roberson! Read more 

Alumni Spotlight

Sabina Lim, MD, MPH, has joined the Department of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She has been appointed that department's vice chair for clinical affairs. Dr. Lim is an alumnus of the Yale psychiatry residency (2001-2005) and was most recently the executive director of the Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital.

The Yale Department of Psychiatry will host a reception for its alumni at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association on Monday, May 20th at 6:00 pm in San Francisco, CA. Special guests William E. Bunney, Jr, MD (left) and Benjamin S. Bunney, MD (right) will be presented with the Yale Psychiatry Distinguished Alumni Award. Details and RSVP 

Alumni, please submit news and updates to psychiatry@yale.edu.

Upcoming Psychiatry Grand Rounds

Friday, May 17, 2013; 10:15-11:45 am

No Grand Rounds

Friday, May 24, 2013; 10:15-11:45 am

The Five Ancient Secrets to Modern Flourishing

Tamar Gendler, PhD, Vincent J. Scully Professor and Chair of Philosophy, Professor of Psychology, Yale University

CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St

Details / Download to Your Calendar 

Friday, May 31, 2013; 10:15-11:45 am

State of the Department 

John H. Krystal, MD, Robert L. McNeil Jr Professor of Translational Research and Psychiatry Department Chair, Yale School of Medicine 

CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St

Details / Download to Your Calendar 

Friday, June 7, 2013; 10:15-11:45 am

Commencement: "Title TBA"

Mark Schaefer, PhD, Clinical Psychologist, Medicaid Director in the Connecticut Department of Social Services, and Medicaid Leadership Institute Fellow

CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St

Details / Download to Your Calendar 

Grand Rounds video archive

The department's website includes videos of past Grand Rounds presentations. Talks are added as they are digitized.