Objectives: 

1. Understand the term Psychedelic Assisted Therapy and the history of  these treatments and how we got to where we are now 

2. Explore some of the most evidence-based psychedelic assisted  modalities and their treatment designs 

3. Discuss expectations for these treatments going forward both in and  outside the military  

Bio: Dr. Matthew Fisher was born an Army brat in Bavaria, Germany the  youngest of three boys. All three boys, though adamantly against  military service in their youth, would eventually join the Army during  college to the disapproval of their parents. He was raised mostly in the  South, moving to Georgia, Florida, and Texas ultimately ending up in  San Antonio where he lived from the age of 7. He attended St. Philip’s  College, a historically black community college, before obtaining a BS  in psychology at University of Texas in Arlington. He then went on to  attend McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas with an HPSP  scholarship. His psychiatric interests include addiction, adolescent  medicine, PTSD, complementary and alternative medicines, and psychedelic  assisted therapies. He is currently one half of the Knowledge  Management team for the Walter Reed Psychiatry program with plans to  graduate this June. In his free time he enjoys volunteering in the  community, hiking, listening to music and playing video games, eating  good food with great friends, spoiling his dog and cat, and of course,  annoying his amazing and very patient wife.

Learning Objectives:  

1. Define what trauma is. 

2. Identify the basic theory of the effects of trauma on the human body. 

3. Identify the DSM 5-TR criteria for PTSD. 

4. Explain how specific neural tracts relate to specific symptoms of  PTSD. 

5. Relate why specific modalities of treatment are effective for PTSD.  

6. Explore the concept of PTSI.   

Bio: Dr. Clark Noble was born and raised in Northeast Georgia. He  completed his undergraduate degree at the College of William and Mary  with a BS in Neuroscience and was a 4 year conference finalist in  swimming. He went on to complete Marine Corps OCS and Navy flight  school; piloting the CH-53E Super Stallion as part of the HMH-462  squadron at MCAS Miramar for one deployment supporting the 15th Marine  Expeditionary Unit and two deployments supporting Operation Enduring  Freedom in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He also competed in two All  Armed Forces triathlons as part of the USMC triathlon team. He then went  on to attend the Medical University of South Carolina with a Navy HPSP  scholarship and was involved in community veteran health and military  medicine within the institution.  His psychiatric interests include  Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in the military population and Aerospace  Psychiatry. In his free time he enjoys surfing whenever possible,  competing in the annual trans Lake Tahoe open water swimming race,  reading about Toyota LandCruisers, researching financial planning  topics, and spending time traveling with his best friend and wife, Jen,  and dog, Finnley.

Learning Objectives:   

1. Define Suffering and Its Subjective Nature.  

2. Introduce the “Bell Curve of Suffering.” 

3. Demonstrate the Epidemiology of Resident Burnout.    

Bio: Dr. Eric Lutz is a Northeast native. He was born in Connecticut,  but his family quickly settled down in Media, Pennsylvania. Growing up  Eric was always a jack-of-all-trades. He played many sports and many  video games. He had a passion for learning and was always asking  questions. His greatest of passions, however, were the questions that  did not always have answers. His favorite subject in High School was  Philosophy, and while he started his college career at Virginia Tech in  Engineering, it wasn't long before his passions overcame and he was  drawn to the more abstract major of Psychology. After graduating and  spending some time finding himself (at one point as a Starbucks barista,  and later as a medical assistance working for his dad who is an  Orthopedic Surgeon), he decided that medical school would be his  pursuit. He attended Temple Medical School with an HPSP scholarship  through the Navy. Eric continues to pursue some of his favorite hobbies  including playing his favorite sport Ice Hockey, his favorite video game  World of Warcraft, and most importantly spending time with his wife and  one-and-a-half-year-old son Oliver.

Learning Objectives:  

1. Define what is an active shooter drill and what are the psychological  implications on school age children. 

2. Demonstrate possible interventions to minimize gun violence and  iatrogenic trauma from drills. 

3. Discuss how psychiatrists can be involved in reducing gun violence  within their communities.  

Bio: Dr. Chelsea Younghans was born and raised in rural WI where there  was a lack of stoplights but no lack of cows.  She completed her  undergraduate degree at Valparaiso University with a BS in psychology  and minors in chemistry, biology and the Humanities.  She went on to  attend the Medical College of WI with an HPSP scholarship and was  involved in community veteran health and military medicine within the  institution.  Her psychiatric interests include veteran and veteran  family mental health as well as child and adolescent psychiatry and  perinatal psychiatry.  She currently acts as the chief of the psychiatry  residency and will be hanging around another two years to complete a  fellowship in Child and adolescent psychiatry.  In her free time she  enjoys cooking, hiking and traveling with her husband and 1 year old  daughter.

Learning Objectives:  

1. Explain the historical and neurological relationship between music  and the mind. 

2. Summarize the benefit of music therapy in several mental health  pathologies. 

3. Identify ways in which health care providers incorporate music into  their clinical practice.  

Bio: Dr. Katrina Wachter is a 4th year resident at the National Capital  Consortium Psychiatry Residency Program and currently serves as Chief  Resident. She is originally from Bath, Pennsylvania and received her  Bachelor of Arts from Franklin and Marshall College, graduating cum  laude. Dr. Wachter went on to receive her medical degree from the  University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine and was inducted  into Alpha Omega Alpha in 2019. She was recently selected for the  forensic psychiatry fellowship program at the Center for Forensic  Behavioral Sciences in Bethesda, MD and will start her fellowship in  July 2023. Her additional professional interests include academic  psychiatry and sports psychiatry. In her free time, Dr. Wachter enjoys  cuddling with her cats, trying new foods, and singing, among other  musical endeavors.

Learning Objectives:  

1. Describe the clinical features of autoimmune encephalitis and  paraneoplastic syndromes.  

2. Describe the key clinical features that differentiate these syndromes  from psychiatric illness. 

3. Describe the clinical management of these syndromes.   

Bio:  Dr. Williamson is a Neuropsychiatrist and specialist in Brain  Injury Medicine. He trained at The Universities of Edinburgh and London  in the UK, at Rockefeller University, NYC and Johns Hopkins Hospital in  Baltimore. He has been Medical Director of numerous treatment programs.  He has been working with the MHS since 2008. In 2008, Dr. Williamson was  recruited as Medical Director to develop the Inpatient Psychological  Health-Traumatic Brain Injury Program at the National Naval Medical  Center Bethesda. He remained in that position until 2016, through the  BRAC process and the integration of Walter Reed into the Bethesda site.  Dr. Williamson subsequently was Director of Behavioral Health at the  Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in Houston Texas, which is the  nation’s second largest VA Medical Center. More recently Dr. Williamson  was Medical Director of the Marcus Institute for Brain Health in Denver,  Colorado and a Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the University  of Colorado School of Medicine. In August 2021 he returned to Walter  Reed national Military Medical Center to resume directorship of the  inpatient Neuropsychiatry/TBI Program.  Dr. Williamson has numerous awards for clinical and academic  achievements including Physician of the Year from the National Council  for Behavioral Health in 2016. He is board certified in four specialties  including General Psychiatry, Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry,  Brain Injury Medicine, and Forensic Psychiatry.

Learning Objectives:  

1. Describe the Lived Experience of a Psychotic Illness 

2. Identify the effects of Stigma 

3. List interventions that help reduce psychotic symptoms  

Bio: Dr. Elyn Saks is Orrin B. Evans Distinguished Professor of Law,  Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the University  of Southern California Gould School of Law; Founder and Faculty  Director of the USC Saks Institute for Mental Health Law, Policy, and  Ethics; Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the UC San Diego, School of  Medicine; and Faculty at the New Center for Psychoanalysis in Los  Angeles. She served as USC Gould's associate dean for research from  2005-2010. Saks teaches at the USC Keck School of Medicine. She received  a MLitt in Philosophy from Oxford University where she was a Marshall  Scholar, a JD from Yale Law School, and a PhD in Psychoanalytic Science  from the New Center for Psychoanalysis. Saks writes on law and mental health, having published five books and  more than fifty articles and book chapters. Her research has included  the ethical dimensions of psychiatric research and forced treatment of  people with mental illness. Her memoir, The Center Cannot Hold: My  Journey Through Madness, describes her struggles with schizophrenia and  her managing to craft a good life for herself. She has won numerous  honors, including a 2009 John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship  (the so-called “Genius Grant”). Other books by Saks include Informed  Consent to Psychoanalysis: The Law, the Theory, and the Data (Fordham  University Press, 2013), Refusing Care: Forced Treatment and the Rights  of the Mentally Ill (University of Chicago Press, 2002), Interpreting  Interpretation: The Limits of Hermeneutic Psychoanalysis (Yale  University Press, 1999), and Jekyll on Trial: Multiple Personality  Disorder and Criminal Law (New York University Press, 1997). Her TED  talk has garnered over five million views.

Dr. Rick Doblin, founder and CEO of MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association  for Psychedelic Studies) speak on behalf of MDMA-assisted therapy for  PTSD. MDMA assisted psychotherapy is a novel approach to treating PTSD  and is currently in its last phase 3 trial, expected to obtain FDA  approval next year for treating PTSD. Dr. Doblin is one of the premier  experts in the field and has been working in this area since the 1970's.

Learning Objectives:  

1. Describe the brief history of psychedelic therapy research 

2. Summarize the results/insights from our psilocybin study 

3. Explain Future Studies/Regulation/Legalization  

Bio: Dr. Paul Thambi is co-founder and Chief Medical Officer of Sunstone Therapies. Sunstone Therapies is a company with expertise in the delivery of psychedelic assisted therapy, specifically in the clinical trial setting. The company is located in Rockville, MD where they have built a purpose built space for psychedelic assisted therapy.  Dr. Thambi did his fellowship in medical oncology at the National Cancer Institute with a focus on clinical research including clinical trial design. Afterwards, he practiced as a medical oncologist in a large  private practice for 18 years where he developed a deep understanding of the emotional needs of those  facing cancer and the end of life.

Part Three: Medical Boards for Providers