News & Updates

Nationally and regionally, the Department of Psychiatry’s mission and impact continue to grow.

Research

The Department’s research activities range from bench to bedside and are strong and growing stronger.  Our research team is highly collaborative and emphasizes sharing and encouraging innovative ideas, as well as mentoring junior faculty and trainees.  Noteworthy items from 2015 include:

• Dr. Wei-Dong Yao was awarded an R01 grant from NIMH of $1,250,000 to study mechanisms underlying synaptic assembly and neuroplasticity linked to the immune response.
• A resident and a child fellow (Diane St. Fleur) won first place awards for outstanding research posters at national meetings
• Dr. Steven Youngentob was awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research
• Dr. Steven received a grant award from the NIAAA to continue funding a multi-site Developmental Alcohol Research Center
• Dr. Stephen Glatt was given the 2015 Gold Standard Award.  This award goes to the faculty member at Upstate who best represents Upstate’s values.          
• Dr. Seetha Ramanathan was awarded a SAMHSA grant to train community members and providers in Mental Health First Aid
• Dr. Steven Faraone received funding for an international Psychiatric Genomics Consortium
• An MD/PhD student, Dan Tylee, was selected to receive the 2015 Weatherstone Predoctoral Fellowship from Autism Speaks.  The fellowship provides support for his research on identifying risk and resilience factors for autism spectrum disorders through the analysis of genomic data
• Over $3 million in annual research expenditures in 2015

Clinical

Our clinical mission is reaching out to the underserved through innovative, humanistic, and dedicated efforts of our faculty and staff.  Notable developments in 2015 include:

• The faculty practice reorganized into a not-for-profit corporation entitled, Psychiatry Faculty Practice, Inc.
• Our faculty members provided direct care and telepsychiatry to rural residents of 12 counties throughout New York State
• Dr. Ronald Saletsky received the President’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service
• Dr. Sipho Mbuque won the President’s Team of the Year Award for his role in student counseling as part of the Pathway to Wellness team
• A recently recruited faculty member on our inpatient unit, Dr. Luba Leontieva, has begun a transitional program to assist recently discharged patients make the difficult transition to outpatient care.
• Hired an outstanding nurse practitioner to our consultation-liaison service, Molly Fischer
• Two trainees, a resident and a child fellow (Drs. Viral Goradia and Yajaira Rodriguez) were granted an award by the Association of Family Psychiatrists for demonstrating excellence in family-oriented clinical care
• Began development on a major reconstruction of the inpatient adult psychiatric unit at University Hospital
• Began planning on an adolescent psychiatry unit and on an adolescent dual diagnosis unit (learning disorders with mental illness)
• The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry-Primary Care (CAP-PC) contract was expanded to able to provide more primary care providers with the training and support that they need to diagnose and treat mentally ill children and

Education

Our educational mission is central to our identity as a department.  We emphasize a strong didactic program, close mentorship between trainees and faculty, and encouragement of personal and professional growth.  There have been a number of notable achievements in 2015:

• Our psychiatry residency training program continues to be ranked in the top third of programs by U.S. News and World Report and as the top-ranked program in New York State outside of the metropolitan New York City area
• Successful recruitment of our first resident into the innovative rural/community residency training program
• The Chief of Psychology, Dr. Roger Greenberg, was selected to receive the prestigious American Psychological Association Career Award for Distinguished Contributions to Education and Training in Psychology
• Dr. Eugene Kaplan won the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
• A record number of medical students at Upstate (15) applied for residency training in psychiatry
• Dr. Anthony Weiss achieved specialty certification in Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry
• Dr. James Knoll, Fellowship Director of Forensic Psychiatry, was appointed Vice President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law
• Books on psychotherapy by two of our faculty members were published this year.  Dr. Roger Greenberg wrote, Premature Termination in Psychotherapy.  Dr. David Keith wrote, Continuing the Experiential Approach of Carl Whitaker: Process, Practice, and Magic
• Began development of a new psychiatric nurse practitioner fellowship program and of an addiction psychiatry fellowship program