Brooklyn Psychiatric Society Celebrates Work of Residents

Each year the four residency programs in Brooklyn (Interfaith Medical Center, Maimonides Medical Center, Brookdale University Medical Center, and SUNY Downstate Medical Center) participate in a scholarly competition of poster and oral presentations. It was founded in 1992 by Ramaswamy Viswanathan, M.D., when he was president of the Brooklyn Psychiatric Society (BPS). The competition serves as a platform to exchange ideas and showcase projects that are the original works of residents produced during the course of their training.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the competition was held virtually this year. The event was hosted by Dr. Viswanathan, a professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center, with the help of Linda Majowka, executive director of BPS. The judges were Dr. Jeffrey Geller, APA president; Dr. Gabrielle Shapiro, a clinical professor at Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine; and Dr. Daniel Chen, chair of psychiatry at Medisys Health Network.

Here are the competition winners:

Oral presentations

• First Prize: “Combating Modern Slavery: The Anti-Human Trafficking Project” by Dr. Rachel Varadarajulu of Maimonides Medical Center.

• Second Prize: “Where Did the Tryptophan Go? A Meta-analytic Journey Through the Kynurenine System in Major Depression, Schizophrenia, and Bipolar Disorder” by Dr. Paulo Sales of SUNY Downstate Medical Center.

Poster presentations

• First Prize: “Avoiding the Chill Pill—Verbal De-escalation Training for Residents in a Simulated Lab” by the author of this article.

• Second Prize: “Investigation Into Disparities of Opioid Use Disorder Between Sexual Minority and Sexual Majority Populations Using Population-Based, Publicly Available Data” by Dr. Lance Irons of SUNY Downstate Medical Center.

The other competition participants were Dr. Olayinka Olaniyi of Interfaith Medical Center; Dr. Sapna Jairath and Dr. Mahfuza Akhtar, M.D., of Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center; and Dr. Olusegun Popoola, M.D., of Interfaith Medical Center.

This annual competition allows residents in training programs across Brooklyn an opportunity to network with colleagues and potential mentors. It fosters a sense of community, celebrates academic progress, and reminds residents of the multiple opportunities and avenues that exist for growth and development.

Having served as the resident-fellow member (RFM) Assembly representative and deputy representative of Area 2 and now APA’s RFM trustee-elect, I appeal to all trainees across the nation to find the time to come together and start events like these—they are not only rewarding and meaningful for growth, but also a symbol of unity within the profession. ■