ASHP Session to Discuss Community Initiatives, Address Shortage of Hispanic/Latinx Clinicians, Investigators

Three leaders of the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry (ASHP) will speak at a special presidential session at this year’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

In the opening talk, Bernardo Ng, M.D., a past president of the ASHP, will describe the history of the society, including the date it was founded, the founding members, the mission and goals of the society, and its seminal role in creating a space for Hispanic psychiatry in the United States while staying connected with colleagues in other places.

Ng will provide examples of past ASHP presidents who have also been leaders of other societies, such as Carlos Zarate, M.D. (American College of Neuropsychopharmacology), Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D. (APA), Mauricio Tohen, M.D. (International Society of Bipolar Disorders), and Roberto Lewis Fernandez, M.D. (World Association of Cultural Psychiatry). He will also explain the origins of the Don Quixote Award, which was created under his tenure to recognize young Hispanic/Latinx researchers.

Ruby Castilla-Puentes, M.D., Dr.P.H., M.B.A., the immediate past president of ASHP, will follow with a discussion of her book Quijotes de la Psiquiatria, which recognizes distinguished Hispanic/Latino professionals for their outstanding contributions to the field of psychiatry and mental health. She will then describe important community activities and initiatives being led by the ASHP, such as the speaker series for La Casa de Don Pedro, a community-based, grassroots organization in New Jersey that seeks to empower the marginalized Latino community. This lecture series, sponsored by the Hispanic Organization for Leadership and Achievement (HOLA), an employee resource group at Johnson & Johnson, offers monthly virtual talks on diverse topics including bipolar disorder, substance use disorders, and schizophrenia. Importantly, these talks are in Spanish by members of the ASHP and seek to educate members of Latinx/Hispanic communities about ending the stigma associated with mental illness and improving access to and the quality of mental health care for these communities.

In the third part of the session, ASHP President Juan A. Gallego, M.D., M.S., will describe the society’s efforts to train early career Hispanic/Latinx investigators to increase their representation in the research workforce. Gallego will describe the success of a mentoring program called Critical Research Issues in Latino Mental Health (CRI-LMH), which ran between 2002 and 2013. He will then describe a new training program based on the CRI-LMH to be held in conjunction with the society’s annual meeting. It will be called Critical Research Issues in Latinx Mental Health/American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry (CRI-LMH/ASHP). This comprehensive mentoring program seeks to support 12 early career Hispanic/Latinx investigators who will receive a stipend for travel and accommodations to attend the annual ASHP meeting, present their work, and receive research mentoring from senior and accomplished investigators. Several training and mentoring activities will take place during the meeting, including a grant writing workshop and leaders at dedicated lunch tables to discuss research-related themes such as applying for career development awards, navigating the job market, and mentor/mentee relationships. Importantly, all early career attendees, even if they did not obtain the travel award, may attend and participate in all mentoring and training activities. The Don Quixote Award will be given for the best presentation by one of the 12 travel awardees. The award includes a plaque and a three-year membership to the society.

All psychiatrists are invited to this session, particularly Hispanic/Latinx psychiatrists, psychiatry residents, fellows, and early career psychiatrists since they will learn all the necessary information to apply for a travel award for the ASHP/CRI-LMH meeting next year. ■