(February 13, 2017)

Powerpoints:

Integration of Family and Cultural Systems in Psychiatric Research and Practice Alison Heru, MD, Interim Chair & Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Denver

Clinical Tools for Rapid Assessment of Cultural and Family Issues Ellen Berman, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania

Families and Culture in Research Suzan Song, MD, MPH, PhD, Director of the Division of Child/Adolescent & Family Psychiatry, George Washington University 

By the end of the webinar, participants will be able to:

Develop an approach to integrate family and cultural systems in research and practice

Rapidly assess and work with systemic issues involved in patient care using the genogram and cultural formulation interview

Identify gaps in the global mental health literature and use practical tools for research in clinical and non-clinical settings for families

Alison Heru, MD (presenter), is Interim Chair and Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Denver. Dr. Heru received her medical degree from the University of Glasgow, Scotland and received psychiatric training at the University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica, the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and at Brown University, Providence, RI. From 1990 to 2007, Dr. Heru was unit chief at Butler Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island and served as the Consultant in Gender Equity at Brown University Alpert Medical School. In 2007, Dr. Heru joined the faculty of the University of Colorado Denver, Colorado as a specialist in Psychosomatic Medicine. She established and currently directs the Psychosomatic Medicine Psychiatry fellowship. She is the Inpatient Medical Director of Psychiatric Services at the University of Colorado Hospital and as Interim Chair, oversees the integration of psychiatry into other medical specialties. Nationally, Dr. Heru is the Treasurer of the Association of Family Psychiatrists, an APA allied organization. She has presented for many years at the APA and other national and international conferences on multiple topics including family training, culture and family. She has published articles on topics ranging from medical student mistreatment to family therapy and four books on families, most recently ‘Working with Families in Medical Settings. She publishes a monthly column in Clinical Psychiatric News called Families in Psychiatry. Dr. Heru is a member of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP), and the Chair of the GAP Family Committee. In recent years the GAP family and GAP cultural committees have had extended conversations about the interface between family and culture. The GAP family and cultural committees write a regular column for clinical psychiatric news called Curbside Consult which focuses on the intersection of family and culture.

Ellen Berman, MD (presenter), is a family psychiatrist and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. She is  founder and consultant to the Center for Couples and Adult Families in the Department of Psychiatry at UPenn, and also in private practice. Dr Berman’s interests focus on individual psychotherapy, couples, relationships between adult family members,  and families with a member with psychiatric illness.  She is in charge of training in family involvement for psychiatric residents at Penn,  and was previously director of training in the interdisciplinary post-degree  program at Council for Relationships (then Marriage Council)  in Philadelphia.  Her professional focus at the intersection of family therapy and psychiatry has been to bring systems thinking to psychiatry and psychiatric knowledge to family therapy.  She is a co-author of Couples and Family Therapy 4th ed, co author of the AADPRT model curriculum on family care for psychiatric residents, and articles on training, culture, adult development and sexuality.   

Suzan Song, MD, MPH, PhD (presenter), is a child/adolescent and adult psychiatrist, also trained in family therapy and parent-infant psychotherapy, currently Director of the Division of Child/Adolescent & Family Psychiatry and Associate Professor at George Washington University. She has been a humanitarian protection advisor in war-affected countries for about 7 years.  Her training is from the University of Michigan, University of Chicago Medical school, Harvard for residency and public health, and Stanford for a pediatric psychiatry fellowship and post-doctoral fellowship. Her PhD is from the University of Amsterdam, with a focus on intergenerational trauma and migration. She is also a former White House fellow and combines clinical work, research, and policy. Currently, she is commissioned by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for multiple reports, is a co-investigator on a research study on maternal-infant mental health and nutrition in the DR Congo, has just completed a multi-year study for UNICEF on the mental health and psychosocial needs of displaced Syrian adolescents living in the Jordanian refugee camps and community, and is the principal investigator on an NIH-funded multi-site clinical trial for survivors of trauma.

Kenneth Fung, MD, FRCPC, MSc (Moderator) is Staff Psychiatrist and Clinical Director of the Asian Initiative in Mental Health Program, Toronto Western Hospital, University Health Network and Associate Professor with Equity, Gender, and Populations Division, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto. His primary research, teaching, and clinical interests include both cultural psychiatry and psychotherapy, especially in cultural competence, immigrant mental health, HIV stigma, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. He co-leads Pillar 4 Dialogue of the UT Department of Psychiatry Strategic Plan. He is psychiatric consultant to Hong Fook Mental Health Association and Mon Sheong Scarborough Long-Term Care Centre. He is the President of the Ontario Chapter of the Association of Contextual Behavioral Science, President-Elect of the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, and past Chair and current Historian of the Federation of Chinese American and Chinese Canadian Medical Societies.