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Honors & Awards

Charles honored for excellence in social work

Antonia Charles, a senior social work clinician on the Inpatient Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Unit, has been honored with the 11th Annual Beverly Jean Howard Award for Excellence in Social Work. She has been described by one of her nominators as demonstrating the utmost professionalism in all areas of her work: family therapy, discharge planning, [...]

U-M dementia study named to journal’s top 10 list

Journal Watch Psychiatry has named a University of Michigan Health System study as one of the top 10 stories of 2012. The study – whose lead author is Helen C. Kales, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry at the U-M Medical School and researcher at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System – evaluated how antipsychotics affect [...]

Best Doctors in America list

Several members of the U-M Depression Center and Department of Psychiatry were among the more than 500 U-M physicians named to the 2013 Best Doctors in America® list, placing them among the top 5 percent of doctors in their specialties. They include: Norman E. Alessi Elissa P. Benedek Ronald M. Benson Harvey H. Falit Thomas [...]

League of Educational Excellence honors

Rachel L. Glick, M.D., professor of psychiatry and director of Psychiatric Emergency Services, and Michael D. Jibson, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and director of Residency Education for the Department of Psychiatry, were among the nearly 100 inaugural members inducted into the U-M Medical School’s League of Educational Excellence. This honor was established in 2013 [...]

Cooper receives staff excellence award

Dawn Marie Cooper, administrative assistant in the Department of Psychiatry’s Resident Education Office, has been selected to receive the 9th Annual Candace J. Johnson Staff Award for Excellence, an award established by the U-M Office of the Provost to commend staff members who truly make a difference by combining enthusiasm with excellence. In nominating letters, those who work with [...]

Autism social skills curriculum goes global

A manual that provides lessons and hands-on activities for children with autism to learn essential social skills is now benefiting a new audience – young people in Taiwan. Judith Coucouvanis, MA, APRN, BC, a psychiatric nurse practitioner and clinical specialist at the U-M Department of Psychiatry, wrote Super Skills: A Social Skills Group Program for [...]

Bocknek receives 2012 Ouida Clinical Scholar Award

Congratulations to Erika London Bocknek, Ph.D., a postdoctoral research fellow in the Women and Infants Mental Health Program in the Department of Psychiatry, who is the 2012 recipient of the Todd Ouida Clinical Scholar Award. These awards are designed to further the work of outstanding young researchers working in childhood anxiety and depression.   Dr. Bocknek’s [...]

National mental health research award goes to U-M duo

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A pair of University of Michigan mental health researchers who are partners in both research and life have won a prestigious national prize for their studies on the biological roots of emotions, mental illness and substance abuse. Huda Akil, Ph.D., and Stanley J. Watson, M.D., Ph.D., who co-direct the U-M Medical School’s [...]

Addiction Research Center to implement research training in Ukraine

The University of Michigan Addiction Research Center (UMARC), in association with the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and the Research Institute for Social and Forensic Psychiatry and Neurology in the Ukrainian Health Ministry, has received a 5-year NIH award to implement a research training program. The program will build the cadre of Ukrainian substance abuse [...]

Weisenbach receives NARSAD Young Investigator Grant

The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (formerly NARSAD) has announced that Sara Weisenbach, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry and a Depression Center member, has been selected to receive a 2012 NARSAD Young Investigator Grant. Dr. Weisenbach’s research aims to first identify and then combine biomarkers, in individuals with first-onset, unmedicated, late-life depression (LLD), with neuropsychological and behavioral measures. [...]

Howard Shevrin, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus was recently awarded fellow status in the Association for Psychological Science in recognition of his sustained outstanding contributions to the advancement of psychological science.

Linas Bieliauskas, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, wins the 2010 Russell J. Bent Award for Distinguished Service and Contributions to the American Board of Professional Psychology.

Robert A. Zucker, Ph.D., Director of the Addiction Research Center (UMARC) and the Substance Abuse Section to receive highest award for research on alcohol use, abuse

Mary Heitzeg, Ph.D., a research scientist in the Substance Abuse Section Addiction Research Center was recently awarded the 2010 National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Early Career Investigator Award for her work exploring impulse control, reward, and risk as neuroimaging markers of vulnerability to substance abuse.

Maria Muzik, M.D., M.S., Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry, receives MICHR Funding Award

Jim Abelson wins Teaching Award from the Association for Academic Psychiatry.

Divy Ravindranath, M.D., Psychosomatic Fellow, is a recipient of the 2010 Laughlin Fellowship Award.

James Swain, M.D., Ph.D. and collaborators receive Federal Grand Opportunity Grant

Jon-Kar Zubieta, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and radiology at the U-M Medical School and a member of the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, was awarded $1.2 million for a project that examines neurobiological mechanisms involved in the development of placebo effects in patients with depression and nicotine dependence. These studies are expected to clarify the predictability of placebo effects and define the neural systems mediating them.

James Swain, M.D., Ph.D. a member of our Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Section, was awarded a for an Outstanding Mentor Award from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in October, 2008, and associate membership of the prestigious American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 2009.

Dr. Lisa Seyfried has been awarded the Dlin/Fischer Clinical Research Award given by the Scientific Program Committee of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine (APM). This award is given to the author of the paper judged to be the most outstanding submission to the annual APM meeting. Lisa's paper, "Predictors of Suicide in Older Patients with Dementia" is research that she has been working on with her mentor Helen Kales as well as with Marcia Valenstein and Yeates Conwell (University of Rochester). It also represents one of the first "fruits" of the new Program for Positive Aging which among its goals to collaborate on work across sections (Hospital Services, Geriatric Psychiatry and Mental Health Services Outcomes and Translation) and to foster research opportunities for clinical faculty in mental health and aging.

Victor Hong won special recognition for his exemplary work as intake evaluator for the psychodynamic psychotherapy clinic. His evaluations were complete, sensitive, and successful in helping patients find appropriate psychotherapy for their difficulties in living and emotional problems.

Tony Wolf was recognized for his courage in discussing and working witih patients and for his enthusiasm in understanding the psychodynamic issues in working with all of his patients.

M. Justin Coffey, M.D., of the University of Michigan, have been named a recipient of the 2009 Golden Beeper award. Members of the Galens Medical Society annually recognize the resident physicians viewed as the best teachers, leaders and patient care providers by presenting them with Bronze Beeper awards. Bronze Beeper awardees are selected by a vote of M3 and M4 Galens members. Dr. Coffey was also a recipient of a Bronze Beeper in 2008.

Emily R. Stern, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, have been named a recipient of the Society of Biological Psychiatry’s Travel Scholarships for 2009. The training of a new generation of psychiatric academicians is a major objective of the Society of Biological Psychiatry. Participation in professional meetings, where new information is exchanged and contacts are made, can have a critical impact on the career of a developing clinician-scientist. In recognition of the importance of academic exchange, the Society of Biological Psychiatry, through an educational grant from Eli Lilly and Company, Forest Laboratories and Elsevier Science, is pleased to announce the continuation of annual Travel Fellowships. Each Fellowship will provide $1,500 to help defray the cost of attending the Society’s Annual Meeting. In addition to the stipend and the opportunity to attend sessions of interest to them, Fellows also receive certificates of excellence and participate in a special ceremony held during the meeting in their honor.

Sarah Garfinkel, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan, has been named a recipient of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America’s Travel Award for 2009. The Anxiety Disorders Association of America Career Development Travel Awards aim to help early career professionals with a career interest in fields related to anxiety disorders, such as basic and clinical neurobiology and psychopharmacology, clinical psychology, genetics, neuroimaging, epidemiology, and public health. ADAA is dedicated to promoting the prevention and ultimate cure of anxiety disorders and to improving the lives of all people who suffer from them through education and research. Sarah will present her research at the Poster Session at the ADAA 29th Annual Conference, March 12-15, 2009, at the Hyatt Regency Tamaya, Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico.

Kate Fitzgerald, M.D., a member of our Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Section, was awarded a prestigious Dana Foundation grant for Neuroimaging. This will provide $200,000 in grant support over 2 years for Kate's innovative studies of brain activity in error response detection in children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Gregory Hanna, Ph.D. recently received a 2008 Obsessive Compulsive Foundation (OCF) Research Award in the amount of $63,000 to fund his proposal “Error-Related Negativity in Unaffected Siblings of Youth with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder.”

Justin Coffey, M.D. was awarded the APA/GlaxoSmithKline Fellowship 2008-2009.

Jonathan Morrow, M.D. (PGY III resident as of July) selected as a NIMH Outstanding Resident Award winner for 2008. The NIMH Outstanding Resident Award Program was introduced to the medical community in 1988. Each year residency training program directors and/or department chairs are invited to nominate one Resident from their program to receive the NIMH Outstanding Resident Award in Psychiatric Research.

Justin Paltrowitz, M.D. and Justin Coffey, M.D. selected by Medical Students to receive "2008 Bronze Beeper Awards".

Huda Akil, Ph.D., who is the Gardner C. Quarton Collegiate Professor of Neurosciences in Psychiatry, the Distinguished University Professor of Neurosciences and co-director of the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, was awarded the Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Cognitive Neuroscience by the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. The alliance presents five awards annually to recognize top scientists for outstanding advances in brain science and improved patient psychiatric treatment. Akil has made significant contributions to the understanding of the neurobiology of emotions, including pain, anxiety, depression and substance abuse.

Robert A. Zucker, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Psychology and director of the Addiction Research Center, was presented with an honorary diploma marking his election to honorary membership in the Polish Psychiatrists Association at the first annual meeting of the Polish Society on Addiction Research. The Polish Psychiatrists Association also unanimously elected Zucker to the Polish Society of Psychiatrists Hall of Fame.

Rashad Albeiruti, an undergraduate at University of Michigan doing research with Helen C. Kales MD, was recently selected to participate in the NIMH-funded 2008 Summer Training on Aging Research Topics - Mental Health (START-MH) Program. START-MH is a unique national program that offers competitive scholarships to predoctoral and medical students interested in aging and mental health research. There was a great deal of competition for these training slots with only 30% of applicants accepted into the program. The program gives students an opportunity to gain research experience and work closely with an established mentor/investigator. During the 10-week summer program, students work on specific projects in conjunction with their mentor. A 2-day START-MH conference will be held at UCSD in early August where the trainees will present posters on the research done. Additionally, the conference will include discussions of all trainees’ research experience and plans for future research careers.

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