Dear Friends of the Psychiatric Research Institute,
It has been one and a half years since I joined UAMS as PRI’s Director and Chair of the UAMS Department of Psychiatry. It is true that time flies – this time feels like it has flown by as I’ve learned more and more about the state of Arkansas, its people, and of course UAMS.
I want to provide an update on some of the key initiatives that have occurred in the last year at PRI and the Department of Psychiatry.
A number of new faculty have joined the Department. We are excited that they have joined the PRI family, and we hope you enjoy learning more about them.
We have continued the expansion that we started in early 2022 in Northwest AR, where we have added two psychiatrists to our team. We also continue to provide consultation-liaison psychiatric services at Washington Regional Medical Center for medically hospitalized patients. In addition, we provide psychiatric care to University of Arkansas students at their student clinic.
Our AR ConnectNow program continues to provide virtual behavioral health services, usually for about four to six sessions, to Arkansans from all over the state. For more information on AR ConnectNow, see their webpage at: https://uamshealth.com/ar-connectnow/
Some very exciting news I would like to share: We recently received funding for two new projects through the Blue and You Foundation. The first of these two projects, called “Pathways to Wellness: Innovative Supports for Youth and Family Mental Health,” is jointly led by Nikki Edge, Ph.D. (Professor, Department of Family and Preventive Medicine) and myself. The goal of this project is to develop a virtual welcome center that will provide general resources about mental health, links to self- administered mental health screening tools, a digital toolkit of resources to support mental health destigmatization, treatment options and support for accessing care, access to AR ConnectNow for either treatment or care management (including connections to local treatment where available), and access to a collection of expert-curated, evidence-based behavioral health promotion and prevention resources.
The second project, jointly led by Srini Gokarakonda, MD (Assistant Professor, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry), Jason Williams, Psy.D., M.S.Ed. (Division Chief, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, and Senior Vice President and Chief Mental & Behavioral Health Officer, Arkansas Children’s Hospital), and myself, is entitled, “UAMS Adolescent and Young Adult Addiction Treatment Program.” As the name implies, the goal of this program is to develop and launch a new clinical service focused on the needs of adolescents and young adults with substance use disorders, as so many families in our state grapple with these conditions. In this program, all patients will receive individualized care for their substance use disorder, as well as relapse prevention and recovery services—all of which will be consistent with the most up-to-date evidence-based practices.
Our departmental researchers also have obtained new funding to study:
- Mental health and addiction peer support – Jessica Coker, M.D., $122,389 from the Blue and You Foundation for a Healthier Arkansas;
- Preventing child abuse in families exposed to violence – Sufna John, Ph.D., and Allison Smith, Ph.D., $49,606 from the Arkansas Commission on Abuse;
- Opioid and stimulant use in rural areas – Leah Tobey, PT, DPT, MBA, $65,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) for Project AURA;
- A behavioral health collaborative at clinics and health centers across Arkansas – Teresa Hudson, Pharm.D., Ph.D., $9,489,601 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA);
- Medications for opioid use disorder and justice-involved perinatal women – Mollee Steely Smith, Ph.D., $9,200 from the Justice Community Opioid Innovation Network (JCOIN);
- Treatment for co-occurring opioid use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder in jails – Melissa Zielinski, Ph.D., $915,611 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA);
- Cannabis use in older adults – Alison Oliveto, Ph.D., $80,000 from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA);
- Treatments for cocaine use disorder – Alison Oliveto, Ph.D., $350,134 from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA);
- Increasing knowledge and accessibility of harm reduction services in Arkansas – Leah Tobey, PT, DPT, MBA, $60,000 from National Association of County and City Health Officials;
- Implementation of collaborative care for depression in VA HIV clinics – Jacob Painter and Eva Woodward, $1,009,768 from VA HSRD Investigator Initiated Research;
- Improving emergency department management of acute and chronic pain using non-opioid strategies – Michael Wilson, $1,500,000 from Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA);
- Evaluation of the Caring Letters suicide prevention intervention – Sarah Landes, $645,589, from VA Quality Enhancement Research Initiative;
- Mental health clinician/chaplain collaboration – Jeffrey M. Pyne, M.D., $199,799 from VA Health Services Research & Development;
- Innovative treatment for moral injury syndrome – Jeff Pyne, MD $1,135,204 from VA Health Services Research & Development.
Every July, we welcome new psychiatry residents and fellows, as well as new psychology interns and fellows. We have provided some information inside on our new trainees. We are so excited to have them join PRI and to be able to work toward launching these trainees on their careers.
As always, we thank you for your continued support of the mission of PRI. If you have any questions or just want to chat, feel free to reach out to me at pri@uams.edu. I would love to meet for coffee!
Laura Dunn, M.D.