Over 75 researchers, clinicians, educators and supporters attended the Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions second annual meeting held last week at South Lake Union. Mike and Lynn Garvey who established the Institute with a $ 50 million foundational gift and their daughter Denise Tabbutt were in the audience as well as President Ana Mari Cauce, Garvey Institute Community Advisory Board members Craig Cole, Rita Egrari, Joe Whittinghill and Ken Worzel, members of our five Faculty Advisory Groups and Jürgen Unützer, Director of the Institute.
The meeting provided an overview of the 36 projects currently funded by Garvey Institute Innovation Grants in the areas of cognitive aging, addictions, trauma, technology and brain health, and adolescent and young adult mental health. Investigators supported by these grants come from 23 departments in 9 schools and colleges across all three UW campuses. Several investigators presented on their work to provide a flavor of what is being accomplished including:
- Michele Bedard-Gilligan, PhD (Increasing access to evidence-based and culturally-responsive trauma-focused treatments)
- Amritha Bhat, MBBS, MD, MPH (Texting to support maternal wellbeing in the perinatal period)
- Denise Chang, MD (Addressing suicide risk in primary care to reduce youth suicide)
- Sunny Cheng, RN, PhD (Leveraging technology to support families who are navigating serious mental illness)
- Kathleen Pagulayan, PhD (The microbiome and trauma-related symptoms in Veterans)
- Richard Ries, MD, FAPA, FASM (Suicide prevention in addiction treatment settings)
- Marco Pravetoni, PhD, Rick L. Seaver Endowed Professor for Brain Wellness, presented on the recent accomplishments of his Center for Medication Development for Substance Use Disorders and Overdose
The meeting also gave an overview of a new Clinician Scientist Training Program that will be launching this spring, a new Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry Fellowship Program directed by Michael Schrift, DO, and Mike Persenaire, MD, that just received national accreditation, and new and emerging training opportunities in cognitive aging presented by Tom Grabowski, MD, Tim B. Engle Endowed Professor for Brain Health Innovations. Speakers also talked about exciting opportunities on the horizon such as the new Behavioral Health Teaching Facility on the Northwest Campus presented by Ryan Kimmel, MD, powerful new treatment modalities such as neuromodulation and novel therapeutics presented by Jürgen Unützer, MD, MPH, MA, the expansion of the outpatient psychiatry clinic at UW Medical Center-Roosevelt presented by Amanda Focht, MD, and patient and family education opportunities presented by Mollie Forrester, MSW, LICSW. Becky Sladek, MS, invited all of us to help with networking to recruit the ‘best and brightest’ for the new Behavioral Health Teaching Facility and other new programs we are building over the coming year.
To learn more about the Institute’s work, visit gibhs.psychiatry.uw.edu or view a recording of the annual meeting.