Department celebrates achievements by Solnit residents

The Yale Department of Psychiatry, in conjunction with the Yale Child Study Center, is proud to announce news and achievements by five current residents and a 2017 graduate of the Albert J. Solnit Integrated Training Program.

The Solnit program is a joint venture in residency training between the two departments. It accepts two trainees a year who have a strong interest in developmentally-focused mental health and who intend to follow an academic career trajectory. Residents train with both adult psychiatry residents and child psychiatry fellows.

Andrea Diaz Stransky, MD, presented a poster at the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR) in San Francisco in May. The poster was titled, “Is Autism Left Handed?” It described the work she completed in the lab of James C. McPartland, PhD, Associate Professor in the Child Study Center and of Psychology.

Jennifer B. Dwyer, MD, PhD, was the first author of a case report titled, “Ketamine as a Treatment for Adolescent Depression” that appeared on the April cover of Journal of the American Academy Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Amalia Londono Tobon, MD, was awarded the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Pilot Award for her project “Lasting Effects of Minding the Baby Home Visiting Program for Young Families.” The community-based home visiting intervention program was developed at Yale for young families in New Haven. She also received an APA/SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program Award.

David Saunders, MD, PhD, received an American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Pilot Award for his study, “Mindfulness-Based ADHD Treatment for Children.” He is working under Hedy Kober, PhD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology; Lawrence A. Vitulano, PhD, ABPP, Clinical Professor in the Child Study Center; and James Leckman, MD, PhD, Neison Harris Professor in the Child Study Center and Professor of Pediatrics.

Saunders and Naomi Libby, MD, a 2017 graduate of the Solnit program, were elected fellows in the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, a psychiatry think-tank that seeks to offer critical perspectives, analysis, and recommendations on issues in the field. They will serve two-year terms.

Saunders also was awarded the APA Leadership Fellowship. The mission of the program, which spans two years, is to develop national leaders in the field. It provides opportunities for selected residents to interact with thought leaders in the field.

Judah Weathers, MD, DPhil, was selected to attend the 2017 Wisconsin Symposium on Emotion as a Travel Award recipient. The symposium was held April 19 and 20 at the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Weathers presented a poster titled, "Multimodal Neuroimaging of Emotion Circuitry in Adolescents At-Risk of Bipolar Disorder."

Weathers also received a Pilot Research Award for his project, “Brain Imaging in the Bipolar Prodrome.”

Eunice Yuen, MD, PhD, was selected to receive the Child Study Center Ritvo Pilot Research Award for her project, “Inhibitory Synaptic Dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorder” under the mentorship of Flora Vaccarino, MD, Harris Professor in the Child Study Center.