May 2014

Demonstrating clinical video conferencing. (Left to right) Linda Godleski, MD; Ismene Petrakis, MD;
Toral Surti, MD, PhD; and Michael Ebert, MD. Onscreen are John H. Krystal, MD (left);
and Robert Rohrbaugh, MD (right).

Godleski and telemental health team honored by American College of Psychiatrists

Linda Godleski, MD and the Veterans Affairs National Telemental Health Team have received the Creativity in Psychiatric Education Award from the American College of Psychiatrists for developing and implementing a curriculum on telemental health training throughout the Veterans Health Administration. The award was presented in February at the Annual Meeting of the College. Read more

New finding suggests a way to block damage from stress

In Nature Medicine, Yale researchers report that deleting a single gene called REDD1 can block the effects of stress in mice. Kristie Ota, PhD (left), a postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry, is lead author. Ronald Duman, PhD (right), the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and professor of neurobiology, is senior author. Read more / View the article

Brain at rest yields clues to origins of mental illness

Researchers have devised a method to simultaneously identify many genes that play a role in disrupting the brain's default mode network. This network is often disrupted in people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which appear to share underlying genetic causes. Godfrey Pearlson, MBBS, professor of psychiatry and of neurobiology, is senior author of the article that appears in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more / View the article

Schizophrenia markers hidden in brain-wide signals

Researchers at Yale have discovered important details about how variability of brain signals and brain-wide neural disruptions may contribute to symptoms of schizophrenia. The results are reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Genevieve Yang (left), an MD/PhD candidate at Yale, is first author. Alan Anticevic, PhD (right), assistant professor of psychiatry, is senior author. Read more / View the article

Advanced liver disease caused by alcohol consumption was more prevalent among people infected with HIV and the hepatitis C virus, a new study has found. The study is published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. Joseph Lucien Goulet, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry, is a co-author. Read more / View the article

Smoking's toll on mentally ill analyzed

A study in Tobacco Control shows those with any psychiatric diagnosis have greater rates of smoking and are less likely to quit smoking than those with no diagnosis. Sherry McKee, PhD (left), associate professor of psychiatry, is senior author. Carolyn Mazure, PhD (right), the Norma Weinberg Spungen and Joan Lebson Bildner Professor in Women's Health Research and professor of psychiatry and of psychology, is a co-author. Read more / View the article

Ribbon-cutting for newly-consolidated Psychological Medicine Service

The Yale Psychological Medicine Service recently hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the opening of newly-renovated space for the Behavioral Intervention Team, the Psychiatric Consult-Liaison Team, Smoking Cessation Services, and other embedded specialty programs at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Hochang (Ben) Lee, MD, associate professor of psychiatry, is director of the Service. Read more

As Mellon Distinguished Scholar, Yale's Crusto will focus on well-being of vulnerable children in South Africa

Cindy Crusto, PhD, an associate professor of psychiatry affiliated with the department's Psychology Section and The Consultation Center, has joined a multidisciplinary research project that will focus on vulnerable children in South Africa. The project is led by the Humanities Department at the University of Pretoria and supported by the Andrew Mellon Foundation. Read more

LaPaglia selected for leadership development program

Donna LaPaglia, PsyD, an assistant professor of psychiatry affiliated with the department's Psychology Section, has been selected as an Association of American Medical Colleges Leadership Education and Development Fellow. She will be one of only 16 fellows from the Northeastern Group on Education Affairs region to participate in the prestigious program. Read more

Current topics in alcohol use disorders

A Psychiatric Times series explores current topics in alcohol use disorders. Yale-affiliated contributors include:

The Brave New World of Behavioral Therapies for Alcohol Use Disorders - Kathleen Carroll, PhD (top left), the Albert E. Kent Professor of Psychiatry
The Empire of Alcohol - Richard Kravitz, MD (top right), assistant clinical professor of psychiatry
Alcohol Use Disorders and Psychiatric Comorbidity: Pharmacological Management - Ismene Petrakis, MD (bottom left), professor of psychiatry
Elderly Alcohol Use Disorders: Epidemiology, Screening, and Assessment Issues - Louis Trevisan, MD (bottom right), associate clinical professor of psychiatry

Psychiatry faculty named "Healthcare Heroes"

New Haven Magazine recently published its list of 2014 Healthcare Heroes including Laurie Harkness, MSW, PhD, clinical professor of psychiatry; Seth Feuerstein, MD, JD, assistant clinical professor of psychiatry; and Benjamin Steve Bunney, MD, professor emeritus of psychiatry. David Scheer, chairman of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, also made the list. Scheer founded Long Wharf Theatre's Global Health and the Arts Series which has had regular mental health and addiction themes. Read more

Residents' Journal selects two Yale psychiatry residents as editors

Two psychiatry residents from Yale will join the leadership of The American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal. Rajiv Radhakrishnan, MBBS, MD, a second-year resident, will serve as the journal's deputy editor in 2014-15 and subsequently as editor-in-chief in 2015-16. Tobias Wasser, MD, a fourth-year resident and current program-wide chief resident, will become associate editor for 2014-15. Read more

Yale at the 2014 American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting

The 167th Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association was held in New York City from May 3-7, 2014. Yale faculty and trainees made significant contributions to the program. Read more

In Memoriam

Sidney Blatt, PhD

Emeritus Professor Sidney J. Blatt, PhD, 85, died at his home on May 11, 2014. Dr. Blatt came to Yale in 1960 as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychology. He joined the Department of Psychiatry in 1963 and served as chief of the department's Psychology Section of the for nearly 50 years. Read more / New York Times obituary

Earl Giller, MD, PhD

Earl Laux Giller, MD, PhD passed away on April 28, 2014 at the age of 70. Giller was a long-standing member of the Yale Department of Psychiatry faculty who, among his many roles at Yale, served as Acting Chief and Research Director for the VA Connecticut Healthcare Psychiatry Service. Giller came to Yale as a psychiatry resident in 1974. Read more

John Mason, MD

John W. Mason, MD, emeritus professor of psychiatry at Yale, passed away on March 4, 2014 at the age of 90. Mason was a pioneering scientist who helped to establish "psychoneuroendocrinology" as an important field of research within psychiatry. At the time he was recruited to Yale in 1977, Mason was already a leading stress researcher. Read more

Photo Album

PHOTO 1: April 26, 2014 - Neuroscience 2014 symposium: "New Treatments for Mental Illness: From Emergence to Recovery." (Left to right) Tyrone Cannon, PhD; Patricia Rehmer, MSN; honoree Elyn Saks, JD '86, PhD, the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences, University of Southern California Gould School of Law and author of The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness; Marisa Walls; Joan Kaufman, PhD; Morris Bell, MD; John H. Krystal, MD; and Judson Brewer, MD, PhD. Photo: Terry Dagradi. Watch video presentations from Neuroscience 2014

PHOTOS 2-5: May 5, 2014 - Yale reception during the Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. At the reception, the Yale Psychiatry Distinguished Alumnus Award was presented to Henry G. Jarecki, MD. PHOTO 2: (Left to right) Henry G. Jarecki, MD; psychiatry residents and 2013-14 Detre fellows Youngsun Cho, MD, PhD; Alan Lewis, MD, PhD; Daniel Moreno De Luca, MD, MSc; and Albert Powers, MD, PhD; and John H. Krystal, MD. PHOTO 3: Tichianaa Armah, MD (left) and Jose Bejarano, MD (right). PHOTO 4: (Left to right) Guillermo Vald�s, MD, MBA; Kara Bagot, MD; Pascale Chrisphonte, MD; and Dale Sebastian, MBBS. PHOTO 5: (Left to right) Abigail Kirchman; Jasper DeAntonio; and Mark DeAntonio, MD. View more photos from the reception

Psychiatry Grand Rounds

Friday, June 6, 2014; 10:15-11:30 am

Psychiatry Residency Commencement

Nancy McWilliams, PhD, ABPP, Author and Visiting Professor, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University

CMHC Auditorium, 34 Park St

Details / Download to your calendar

Friday, June 13, 2014; 10:15-11:30 am

State of the Department

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