Two postdoctoral researchers in the Yale Department of Psychiatry have been selected to participate in the Anxiety and Depression Association of America’s (ADAA) Alies Muskin Career Development Leadership Program.
Teddy J. Akiki, MD, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the National Center for PTSD Clinical Neurosciences Division, and Samantha Holmes, PhD, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Division of Prevention and Community Research, will participate in the program, which offers intensive mentoring and professional development opportunities for early career clinicians and researchers.
The program challenges thinking and encourages creative discourse about anxiety, depressive, obsessive-compulsive, and trauma-related disorders in a diverse, multidisciplinary community of professionals involved in practice and research. Awardees receive complimentary registration to the Anxiety and Depression Conference, a full day of small-group mentoring sessions, assignment of a senior mentor, and recognition at the conference’s opening session.
Akiki’s research work is focused on the network neuroscience of stress- and trauma-related psychiatric illness, and pharmaco-imaging trials of rapid-acting antidepressants. At the conference he will give a presentation titled, “Subthreshold Symptoms of Depression, Anxiety, and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity are Characterized by Distinct Large-Scale Brain Network Abnormalities in Modularity.”
“Teddy is a great resilient team player who is very well-liked and valued by all the team members and the go to person when help is needed,” said Chadi G. Abdallah, MD, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Deputy Director for Research and Director of Neuroimaging for the Clinical Neurosciences Division at the National Center for PTSD. “He has excellent scientific acumen and outstanding computational skills that I believe will be critical for his success as a clinician neuroscientist. We are glad he was selected for this award. Teddy makes us proud!”
Holmes’ research focuses on understanding diverse women’s experiences of trauma, which includes clinical outcomes, individual- and system-level risk and protective factors, and treatment and prevention efforts.
She will give two presentations at the conference. One is titled, “Associations Among Depression, PTSD Treatment Non-Completion, and Clinical Outcomes in Cognitive Processing Therapy for PTSD.” The other is titled, “Testing the Applicability of the Family Stress Model to Black Women Receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).”
“This well-deserved award highlight’s Sam’s unique and critically important work that focuses on the intersectionalities of race, gender, material hardship, discrimination, and trauma,” said Megan Smith, DrPH, MPH, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and in the Child Study Center, and Director of The MOMS Partnership®. “I look forward to following her career trajectory with great anticipation.”