Paula Zimbrean, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and director of Transplant Psychiatry Services at Yale New Haven Hospital, is editor of the recently released book, “Transplant Psychiatry: A Case-Based Approach to Clinical Challenges.”
The book, written by experts in transplant psychiatry, including faculty from Yale School of Medicine, addresses the challenges clinicians face when working with patients who have complicated medical diagnoses for which transplantation is considered.
It originated from case discussions generated by members of the Academy of Consultation Liaison Psychiatry’s Transplant Psychiatry Special Interest Group (SIG), an organization of over 200 psychiatrists and psychologists who work with transplant patients in the United States and abroad.
A major role of the SIG has been peer-to-peer consultation regarding difficult cases psychiatrists see when consulting to transplant services, both on organ recipients and living organ donors, Zimbrean said. The idea for this book originated in those case discussions, which have proven extremely valuable to many participants.
Zimbrean has chaired the SIG since 2020.
Among the contributors to the book were Rabin Dahal, MD, assistant professor of psychiatry; Susan Rubman, PhD, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry, and many former Consultation Liaison fellows.
Among the topics discussed in the book are transplant-related posttraumatic stress disorder, post-transplant cognitive impairment, the collaboration between mental health and transplant clinicians, and substance use.