The Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship in the Yale Department of Psychiatry has matched new fellows for the 2021-22 academic year.
Dr. Cecilia Fitz-Gerald is a second-generation psychiatrist, her mother being Dr. Mary Jo Fitz-Gerald, currently Speaker-Elect of the APA Assembly. Cecilia Fitz-Gerald is a graduate of the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport, where she received the John W. Bick Excellence in Psychiatry Award and other recognitions, as well as serving as PsychSIGN president. She is completing her residency at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas where she serves as administrative chief resident.
During residency, she was a PRITE Fellow assisting in development of the in-service exam and played several roles in resident and physician wellness programs. She has published in several areas, including hospital delirium. Her interests include physician wellness, sports psychiatry, emergency psychiatry, and toxicology.
Dr. Naila Karim received her MD from Aureus University and HBSc from University of Toronto. She is completing her residency at the St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, DC. She has been active in community health organization during college, medical school, and residency. For example, she assisted in establishing free screening clinics in Oranjestad, Aruba, and has been active in Homeless Outreach providing behavior healthcare in Washington, DC.
Her research work with Dr. T.T. Postolache in the Old Order Amish resulted in multiple publications. Her interests include transplant psychiatry and the intersection between psychology and pharmacology.
Dr. Onyi Okeke attended medical school at Rutgers and is completing her psychiatry residency at the Medstar- Georgetown University Hospital. She is currently is a fourth-year Clinical Research Fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health, conducting clinical research in patient populations with comorbid medical and mental illness. She is a collaborator in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease study "A Longitudinal Study of COVID-19 Sequelae and Immunity" which aims to elucidate the neuropsychiatric consequences of surviving COVID-19, and is a member of the Clinical Center Ethics Committee.
In medical school and residency she has been active in initiatives to foster diversity and recruitment in the medical system and to provide outreach to underserved populations in the community. Her primary interests are improving behavioral health equity and eliminating mental health disparities through consultation-liaison psychiatry.
The service will also be joined by Dr. Brooke Lifland as chief resident.