2024 Annual Meeting Guest Speakers
Keynote Speaker:
Ramaswamy Viswanathan, M.D., Dr.Med.Sc., a longtime advocate for mental health, medical educator, and clinician-researcher, began his term as president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) at the conclusion of the organization’s 2024 Annual Meeting in New York City.
Viswanathan currently serves as interim chair of psychiatry at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University, where he also directs the Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Service and its Fellowship Program. His involvement in the APA community spans decades, including but not limited to his roles as chair of the Bylaws Committee, vice-chair of the Council on Member and District Branch Relations, APA Board Trustee of Minority and Underrepresented Groups, and – for over 20 years – an APA Assembly representative, receiving the Ronald Shellow Award for outstanding service to the Assembly. He also served as secretary of the New York State Psychiatric Association (NYSPA) from 2016-2018.
He is board-certified in psychiatry, internal medicine, consultation-liaison psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry.
Viswanathan’s research has focused on communication, medical ethics, and treatment adherence, but also extends to substance use, HIV, innovations in psychotherapy, and more. He is the 2016 winner of the APA’s George Tarjan Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Integration of International Medical Graduates into American Psychiatry, and an APA Distinguished Life Fellow. He received the State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service in 2018. He was presiding officer of the Faculty and Professional Staff of the College of Medicine at SUNY Downstate from 2020-2022 and is currently a senator from SUNY Downstate to the SUNY Faculty Senate.
“I am grateful for the trust my fellow APA members have placed in me by electing me to help lead our organization, and excited for the year ahead,” said Viswanathan. “This opportunity to advance the practice of psychiatry and have a positive impact on the mental health of so many people is a career highlight. I look forward to working closely with colleagues at APA and around the globe to affirm APA’s role as a leading voice in psychiatry.
Awards Dinner Guest Speaker:
Theresa Miskimen Rivera, M.D., serves as Medical Quality and Clinical Effectiveness Officer for Behavioral Health of the Department of Psychiatry at Hunterdon Medical Center, Flemington, New Jersey. She is the current President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association and a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association (APA); active at both regional and national levels in leadership positions including President of the New Jersey Psychiatric Association (2009-2010) and Speaker of the APA Assembly (2017-2018), serving as a member of the APA Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees (2017-2018) and Vice-Chair of the Joint Reference Committee (2016-2017). She chaired the APA Board of Trustees Ad Hoc Workgroup (WG) on Insurance (2019) and contributed to APA Workgroups including the Spanish Language Communications WG (2021), Psychiatrist Wellbeing and Burnout WG (2017) and Interprofessional Collaboration WG (2019). She is a member of the American College of Psychiatrists and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.
Dr. Miskimen centered her public sector clinical practice on improving access and delivery of psychiatric care to bilingual and bicultural communities, developing and implementing intercultural clinical programs, and, most recently, deploying a hybrid model of care during the COVID-pandemic. Her clinical work has informed her research endeavors, resulting in numerous articles and lectures concerning diagnostic challenges and symptom phenomenology when treating racial and ethnically diverse populations, ethical issues affecting psychopharmacological research among ethnic populations, and cultural aspects of patient symptomatology.
Dr. Miskimen has served in numerous community-facing initiatives and appointed positions under three past Governors of the State of New Jersey addressing mental health issues spanning the intersection of technology and the delivery of psychiatric care, mental health in university settings, and youth suicide prevention.
She is a past Secretary General of the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry and was an advisor and presenter to the internationally recognized “Changing Minds, Advancing Mental Health for Hispanics” project. She serves as a Delegate of the APA to the American Medical Association Section Council on Psychiatry and is a member of the Steering Committee to the American Academy of Pediatrics Wellness through Equity and Leadership (WEL) program, tasked to develop a training curriculum and leadership experience for woman physicians, mentor participants, and establish principles on equitable work environments.
For over 30 years, Dr. Miskimen has brought forth her passion and expertise to critical roles including psychiatric clinical care, patient advocacy, community outreach, academic endeavors, and organizational leadership, and is committed to continuing her contributions in years to come.
Educational Session 1: Illinois Behavioral Health Workforce Center Update
Kari M. Wolf, M.D. joined SIU School of Medicine in 2016 to serve as Chair of Psychiatry. Since coming to SIU, she has served as a content expert for numerous pieces of legislation, created innovative psychiatric services to expand access in the region, served for 3 years as the Psychiatric Director for Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Service’s Behavioral Health Division, and participated in numerous national and regional talks on medical education, leadership, mental health policy, telehealth, and behavioral health workforce development. She currently serves as the PI on three grants related to workforce development grants and is actively working with multiple partner organizations to enhance the behavioral health system of care in the region.
Dr. Wolf came to SIU from Austin, Texas, where she built the psychiatry department to support the new University of Texas Austin Dell Medical School. Wolf served as Chair for the Austin Psychiatry Department from 2004-2015. She also served as CEO of Seton Mind Institute, Chief Medical Officer for Seton Shoal Creek Hospital, and as Associate Professor of Medicine at UT Austin and UT Southwestern.
Dr. Wolf completed a psychiatry residency at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics after earning her medical degree at the University of Iowa. Board Certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, she holds leadership roles in numerous professional organizations and has significant expertise in curriculum development, mentoring, quality improvement processes, clinical service redesign, health policy development, change management and strategic planning.
Educational Session 2: What If We Trained All General Psychiatrists to Be General Psychiatrists? Shaping Education for Public Health Needs
Adam Brenner, M.D., is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Psychiatry, Director of General Psychiatry Residency Training, and Vice Chair for Education in Psychiatry. He attended Harvard Medical School and completed his psychiatry residency at McLean Hospital. Dr. Brenner’s clinical focus is in the treatment of anxiety, depression, trauma, and personality disorders with a combination of psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. His publications include the book Psychotherapy: A Practical Introduction and the articles “Listening: An Underlying Competency in Psychiatry Education”, “Training as a Psychiatrist When Having a Psychiatric Illness”, and “Staying Grounded: Humility as an Aim in Psychiatry Education” . A graduate of the Boston Psychoanalytic Institute, Dr. Brenner is on the faculty of the Dallas Psychoanalytic Center. He is a past president of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training (AADPRT) and has received the University of Texas Regents’ Outstanding Teacher Award. Dr. Brenner currently serves on the Psychiatry Review Committee at the ACGME and as Editor-inChief for the journal Academic Psychiatry.
Educational Session 3: In the Same Sandbox: Effective Working Relationships with PAs and ARNPs
Rebecca Lundquist, MD, DFAPA is program director of the Broadlawns-UnityPoint Psychiatry Residency in Des Moines, Iowa. She has been a part of many efforts to find solutions to the workforce crisis including training psychiatrists, working on finding ways to support our primary care colleagues as well as utilization of our physician, physician assistant and nurse practitioner workforces.