Yale Child Study Center Recognizes Spring 2026 Award Recipients and Retirees

Several internal awards recognizing outstanding contributions in various areas of service at Yale Child Study Center (YCSC) are awarded at an annual departmental event each spring. In addition, awards involving internal funding opportunities open to YCSC faculty, clinicians, or trainees are announced throughout each academic year. Recipients are announced internally on an ongoing basis. The following awardees were announced during the spring 2026 semester.

The following awards were presented to recipients at the fifth annual awards and recognition event (pictured), on June 3, 2026. These awards focus on clinical excellence, supervision, teaching, mentorship, and community service. Awardees were announced internally in May. YCSC Chair Linda Mayes, MD, serves as the host for this event each year. YCSC community members can learn more about these awards, some of which are open to nomination each spring, on the department intranet site on SharePoint.

Clinical excellence award

Anamaria Orozco, LCSW, was selected to receive this award, which spotlights an individual whose knowledge, skills, and professionalism in daily interactions with patients, families, and colleagues reflect a commitment to clinical excellence. YCSC faculty currently providing direct patient care are eligible for nomination by the community.

Jean Adnopoz community service award

Dejah Smith received this award, which recognizes members of the YCSC community who have contributed to the goal of maintaining children with their parent(s) and/or toward services that improve the life of a child through research, model development, clinical work, or administrative support. All YCSC faculty and staff members are eligible for this award, which is selected via community nominations.

Psychology faculty mentor/supervisor award

Danielle Garay, PhD, was chosen by YCSC psychology trainees to receive this award, honoring the contributions of a YCSC faculty or staff member who has demonstrated excellence in mentorship of psychology trainees. YCSC faculty and staff are eligible for this award, which is determined by current psychology fellows.

Research mentor award

Helena Rutherford, PhD, received this award, which recognizes YCSC faculty whose dedication to mentoring researchers supports the department’s mission to inspire care and improve the lives of children and families. YCSC faculty are eligible for nomination for this award.

Sally Provence award for excellence in supervision

Nancy Close, PhD, was the recipient of this award, recognizing exemplary supervision by a YCSC faculty member in any discipline. YCSC faculty from any discipline, including community and part-time faculty, are eligible to be nominated for this award.

Sam Ritvo teacher of the year award

Akashdeep Aujla, MBBS, was selected by YCSC child and adolescent psychiatry and integrated track trainees for this award, which honors the contributions of a YCSC faculty member who has demonstrated excellence in teaching and mentorship. YCSC faculty are eligible for this award, which is determined by current child and adolescent psychiatry fellows.

Social work fellowship service award

Sandi Gossart-Walker, LCSW, was chosen by YCSC social work fellows as the recipient of this award, which recognizes someone who embodies social work values and has demonstrated exceptional service and/or noteworthy contributions to the YCSC community, especially as related to the Social Work Fellowship. YCSC faculty and staff members are eligible for this award, the recipient for which is determined by current social work fellows.

Additional special recognition and resident awards

Two awards were given for service to the psychology training program for twenty years or more. The two recipients were Leslie Bogen, JD, PhD, and James McPartland, PhD. In addition, Dorothy Stubbe, MD, was recognized for marking thirty years of service as director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry training program and Albert J. Solnit Integrated residency program.

Stubbe then presented Sandy Boltax-Stern, MD, with a special lifetime achievement award, and Mayes announced the following recent or upcoming retirees: Kathy Armstrong, Danica Kelly, Kathy Koenig, Donna Macomber, and Joanne Richardson.

Separately, at a resident recognition event later in June, Emily Behling, MD; Alayna J. Freeman, MD; Max J. Rolison, MD; and Savion Smith, MD, were recognized as the recipients of the John E. Schowalter Chief Resident Award. Max J. Rolison, MD was also the recipient of the Melvin Lewis Medical Student Teacher of the Year Award.

This annual fund provides support for research, educational, and clinical efforts that contribute to the professional growth and development of YCSC research faculty and clinicians. Two separate awards are available. The Faculty Pilot Research and Intervention Award provides seed funding for pilot data to support external grant applications. The Faculty and Clinician Professional Development Award provides support toward training in new methods, conference attendance, and collaborator meetings.

The spring 2026 recipient of the pilot research and intervention award was Luis Farhat, MD, PhD. Farhat’s research project focuses on characterizing the molecular architecture of body-focused repetitive behaviors. The professional development awardees were Karen Hanson, LCSW; Amy Myers, LCSW; and Anamaria Orozco, LCSW.

This award offers YCSC postgraduate associates (PGAs) partial support toward the travel expenses of attending national or international scientific conferences. Awardees for 2025-2026 were: Casey Carrow, Kaitlyn Curtin, Sara Eberle, Hannah Ferguson, Jocelyn Lamore, Anthony Medina, Isabel Rodden, Hannahlise Wang, Sofia Wilson, Tian Xia, and Alexa Zelaya.

This annual opportunity, launched in early 2024, offers support to YCSC postdoctoral associates to reimburse or contribute to the costs associated with attending and/or presenting research at national and international academic scientific conferences. The fall 2025 postdoctoral travel award recipients were Quyen Ai Do, PhD, and Riya Rauthan, PhD.

Announced in November 2025, this new award was made possible through a generous gift to YCSC. It offered up to $100,000 in total research funding to support innovative pilot studies investigating research and intervention strategies for autistic adolescents without co-occurring intellectual disability. The aim is to foster innovative projects that advance understanding and support of autistic adolescents during critical life transitions.

Two awardees were selected in February and announced internally in March. Both proposals involved teams in collaboration with the Department of Radiology & Biomedical Engineering at Yale School of Medicine. Team members and their proposal titles are as follows.

• Adam Naples, PhD (PI); David Matuskey, MD (PI); and James McPartland, PhD (Co-I): "Multimodal Investigation of Excitatory Neurotransmission in the Adolescent Autistic Brain"

• Denis Sukhodolsky, PhD (PI); Michelle Hampson, PhD (Co-I); & Karim Ibrahim, PsyD (Co-I): "Building Resilience in Autistic Adolescents Using Real-time fMRI Neurofeedback"