Career Development Sessions For ECPs to be Held at Institute

To address the career development needs of early career psychiatrists (ECPs), APA is featuring four special leadership sessions at the Institute on Psychiatric Services, which is being held October 10 to 14 in Orlando, Fla. Topics include transitioning from resident to ECP, ECP leadership, career development for international medical graduates (IMGs), and grass-roots advocacy.

“The Other Side of the Mountain: From Residency to Reality” will be the topic of Friday morning’s workshop, led by Steve Goldfinger, M.D., Deborah Hales, M.D., and Ronald Albucher, M.D. While trainees learn the basics of clinical psychiatry, many programs address only peripherally, or not at all, how to translate this training into practice. This interactive discussion between ECPs and senior professionals will explore how training programs have and have not met young professionals’ needs and how young doctors can best acquire the skills to prepare for the challenges in their first few years out of residency.

Learning how to excel as a leader is another crucial skill for ECPs. During the afternoon session on Friday, Edward Simmer, M.D., Satya Chandragiri, M.D., Warren Ng, M.D., and Jill Williams, M.D., will draw on their experiences as leaders in their field and as ECP leaders in the APIRE/Janssen Public Policy Program. The participants will discuss their own exemplary programs, as well as the reasons they chose a career in public psychiatry. Special interests of the presenters include military psychiatry, suicide prevention, HIV/AIDS, chronic mental illness, and comorbid mental illness and substance abuse.

Saturday morning’s session, led by Renato Alarçon, M.D., Norma Panahon, M.D., Nyapati Rao, M.D., and Gabrielle Beaubrun, M.D., will serve to identify and discuss topics of interest to IMGs. Issues to be discussed will include discrimination, acculturation of IMGs, cultural competency training, bureaucratic barriers to success, and qualification through tests that are as controversial as they are complicated. Said Alarçon, “The panelists hope to foster some interesting dialogue with the audience on these and other topics. We hope that some specific recommendations emerge out of this event.”

The final session will focus on advocacy and lobbying skills for psychiatrists. It will be led by APA Division of Government Relations Director Jay Cutler, J.D., and staff Heather Whyte, as well as Ronald Shellow, M.D. They will teach participants how to do constituent grass-roots advocacy easily and effectively. As Rep. Ted Strickland (D-Ohio) recently told Ohio Psychiatric Association members, “Physicians are still greatly respected by legislators. . .and have a high credibility and err in underestimating the impact they can have.” Audience members will learn to educate decision makers on public health policy matters and about resources available from APA to help psychiatrists impact legislation that affects their patients and their practice.

“We really hope ECPs will take full advantage of this opportunity to dialogue with experts in these areas,” commented James W. Thompson, MD, director of the APA Division of Education, Minority, and National Programs. “These sessions will contain a number of practical suggestions, which will be immediately helpful to those in their early careers,” he said.

Participation in each workshop is limited to the first 35 attendees. More information on the sessions is available by contacting Tara McLoughlin by phone at (202) 682-6171 or by e-mail at [email protected]. ▪

Tara McLoughlin is director of APA’s Office of Career Development and Women’s Programs.