N.M. PSYCHIATRIST WINS NATIONAL AWARD

Cynthia Geppert, M.D., poses with the plaque she was presented last month in Albuquerque by Nathan Geraths, interim director of the New Mexico VA Health Care System (NMVAHCS) for winning the VA's Hearts and Hands Award.

The award is given by Secretary of Veterans Affairs R. James Nicholson to VA employees who “provide exceptional, compassionate, sustained care to America's veterans.”

Geppert is a psychiatrist in the NMVAHCS Behavioral Health Care line (BHCL). She is the leader of the BHCL Inpatient Consultation Service and cares for veterans with mood and psychotic disorders. She is also chair of the BHCL Ethics Committee and works in the Substance Use Disorders Program, where she founded and now oversees the Buprenorphine Clinic. She teaches other physicians and residents in providing integrated medical and psychiatric care and is an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

“Dr. Geppert is always willing to help veterans and staff and keeps an `open door' to her office,” said Geraths at the award ceremony.“ She exhibits compassion, integrity, a lively sense of humor, and a high caliber of hands-on skills.”