DISTINGUISHED LIFE FELLOW

DISTINGUISHED FELLOW

DISTINGUISHED FELLOW

Dr Dennis Gelyana received his Medical Degree (MD) from University of Tehran; and his Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Community Health Sciences, Health Education Health Promotion from University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA). He finished his residency in psychiatry at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in 2005, where he was elected as House staff to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society and served as Academic Chief Resident. He has been three times recipient of “Mark Fahami Award for the Passion for the Field of Psychiatry and Care of Psychiatric Patients.” After Residency he joined Associates in Psychiatric Medicine in Glenview, Illinois; and currently is Medical Director of the Group as well as being a provider for GreenbrookTMS. He also has admission/consult/ECT privileges at Endeavor Health and Advocate Lutheran General Hospital since 2005. In both places, he has been supervising medical students and residents during their ECT rotation. He has been involved treating mental illness among refugees especially those from ethnic/religious minorities in Middle East, who had left their homeland due to atrocities.

DISTINGUISHED FELLOW

Dr. Marilyn Griffin, is the Behavioral Health Medical Director for Aetna Better Health of Illinois, a CVS Health Company. She leads the development and implementation of behavioral health strategies and initiatives. She also provides clinical expertise and consultation. Previously, Dr. Griffin served as the medical director of outpatient child and adolescent psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center where she oversaw the daily clinical operations of and the delivery of behavioral health care. She was instrumental in departmental strategic and budget planning and hiring of clinical faculty and staff.

During her academic career, Dr. Griffin provided direct patient care in multiple settings and participated in the education and training of medical students, residents and fellows. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Griffin received her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford and completed a Triple Board Residency Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center where she served as chief resident.

DISTINGUISHED FELLOW

DISTINGUISHED LIFE FELLOW

Dr. Sandra Swantek is a geriatrician in Chicago, Illinois. She received her medical degree from Saint Louis University School of Medicine and has been in practice for more than 20 years.

FELLOW

LIFE FELLOW

Kenneth Gilbert graduated from Temple Med School in 1972. If it can be imagined by more recent medical school grads, that was a time before MRI had been invented, a time that didn't know Risperdal or Prozac, and when the great hopes for closing of the big state hospitals did not envision massive homelessness in the US.

My career has involved a wide variety of settings - inpatient, office practice, Prison psychiatry, care for mentally retarded mentally ill adults, and a lot of community mental health agencies. My wife's work took us to London where I contracted to the British Health Service for almost eight years. Our time in England was followed by six years working as project director in a village health program in West Africa at the time of AIDS. I have consistently rebuffed any offer to be doing administration. My satisfaction lies in the whole process of clinical work and patient relationships.

For three years I produced the column "Working on the Inside" which conveyed the experience of correctional psychiatry while working in State Prisons part time. My psychiatric background was dramatically expanded when, as part of treatment for a severe brain bleed episode, I developed a psychotic state in the neuro-intensive care unit. The stroke related loss of my right visual cortex produced hemianonopsia, which lead to the experience of visual hallucinations for the better part of a year. All of that gave me a sense of shared experience with other folks who have had to live with the experience of having brain not work quite right.

I have always loved the role of clinical psychiatrist. The patient load with which I've worked has included a great deal of trauma. This has forced me to be curious about how trauma and dissocation present in clinical practice and that has lead me to have a special interest and competence in that arena, while still necessarily being a generalist as happens to anyone who is the only psychiatrist in the downstate mental health agencies. I now contract half time as psychiatrist in downstate community mental health agencies where I continue to love the challenge of clinical practice.

FELLOW

Dr. Vasanth Kattalai Kailasam is a distinguished medical professional with a rich background in both clinical and academic settings. He completed his medical studies at Tirunelveli Medical College in India. He completed his psychiatry residency at Columbia University, NYC Health+Hospitals/Harlem, New York. He went on to complete a fellowship in Addiction Psychiatry at University of Illinois at Chicago and Pain Medicine fellowship at University of Washington, Seattle. He also holds a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. His certifications include Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in several specialties, including Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry, and Pain Medicine. Dr. Kailasam has extensive experience in interventional pain management, serving as the Medical Director at Mercyhealth Pain Center in Illinois and previously at Northern Light Health in Maine. He is the founder - Chief Medical Officer of CareMe Health, a health-tech and tele-therapy platform in India. His academic contributions are notable, with numerous peer-reviewed publications and significant teaching roles in various medical institutions. Dr. Kailasam’s professional journey is marked by his commitment to advancing chronic pain management and psychiatric care.

FELLOW

FELLOW

Tapan Parikh, MD, MPH is Medical Director of acute care services at Lurie Children’s Hospital, Chicago. He completed his general psychiatry training at Cooper Medical School of Rowan University in New Jersey, and child & adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Before his residency, he completed his Master of Public Health with a focus in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the City University of New York, and he worked in clinical research for several years. Dr. Parikh grew up in India and completed his medical training at Pramukhswami Medical College, Gujarat, India.

Dr. Parikh served as Chief Resident and Chief Fellow during his residency and fellowship training, respectively. In addition to his formal training, he completed a three-year intensive program in psychodynamic psychotherapy at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia. He has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and regularly presents at various national meetings, including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) and the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

FELLOW

Dr. Rachel Ramaswamy completed her general adult psychiatry training at Loyola University Medical Center in 2018. Since that time, she has been at Erie Family Health Center, an FQHC in Chicago. She started there as a staff psychiatrist, later becoming the Medical Director of Psychiatry and establishing a psychiatry department. Dr. Ramaswamy has a special interest in women's mental health and she has developed a behavioral health perinatal program at Erie, facilitating screening and treatment entry for pregnant and postpartum patients in need of mental health services.

FELLOW

FELLOW

Sudhakar Shenoy, MD earned his medical degree from the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute and was the valedictorian of his class. He completed his residency in psychiatry and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in Springfield, Illinois. He is a diplomate of ABPN with board certifications in both psychiatry and the subspecialty of child/adolescent psychiatry.

Before residency training, Dr. Shenoy participated in research training at Harvard Medical School, Virginia Commonwealth University-Medical College of Virginia, and the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in India.

When Dr. Shenoy was young, a life-threatening accident required him to undergo multiple surgeries. Due to a lack of resources and hospitals in India, it was initially difficult for him to receive medical care. However, this experience and the physicians who treated him with compassion and excellent care inspired him to become a doctor himself. The impact that these doctors had on him continues to be a driving force to provide exceptional care to his patients.

As an International Medical Graduate(IMG), Dr. Shenoy is deeply committed to medically underserved areas(MUAs) and health professional shortage areas(HPSAs). He is a Child and Adult Psychiatrist in Chicago at Clarity Clinic. As a clinician, he enjoys the challenges of learning and treating the brain and its complexities. Helping his patients succeed is the most fulfilling part of his work. He has won numerous awards and has been featured on TV multiple times. Interestingly, one such TV interview was about his photography talent. He enjoys travel, photography, and tennis.

FELLOW

DISTINGUISHED FELLOW

Dr. Houston is the current President-Elect of IPS. She is a native of Mississippi and served as the Program Director of the adult psychiatry residency at the University of Mississippi Medical Center before relocating to Illinois to assume the role of Vice Chair of Education in the Department of Psychiatry at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She has spent her career in academic psychiatry and has a particular interest in adult learning theory. She served on the ACGME Milestones 2.0 Work Group and has published in the areas of assessment, curricular development, residency development, and program director burnout. She is a co-editor of the textbook, Graduate Medical Education in Psychiatry: From Basic Processes to True Innovation (https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-00836-8). She currently serves as the Chair of the IPS Event Planning Committee, which is working to further organize and expand the educational and social offerings available to members. She is also active in the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training, where she serves on their Executive Council, and in the Association for Academic Psychiatry.

DISTINGUISHED FELLOW

Dr. Karnik is the Visiting Professor of Psychiatry, Director of the Institute for Juvenile Research, and Interim Director of the Center for Health Equity using Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence at the University of Illinois, Chicago. He serves as Director of the Great Lakes Node of the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network. His research focuses on data science, technology and community-based interventions for vulnerable populations with psychiatric and substance use disorders. In the past, he has worked with refugee children on the Pakistan-Afghan border, street children in India, foster youth in Central Illinois, and incarcerated youth in California. He worked at a youth homeless shelter in San Francisco and is continuing work with homeless youth in Chicago. He is presently a PI or Co-PI on grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

DISTINGUISHED LIFE FELLOW

Neal Spira MD has practiced psychiatry in Chicago for over 40 years. He is a training and supervising analyst at the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute where he served as Dean from 2014-2019.

FELLOW

FELLOW

Dr. Hawley graduated from University of Illinois College of Medicine—Rockford in 1996, trained in general psychiatry, and completed a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin, finishing training in 2001. Since that time, he has been employed at Carle Health, primarily seeing child and adolescent psychiatric patients, but also has administrative roles as Associate Program Director of the Carle Health Psychiatry Residency and is currently Interim Medical Director for Behavioral Health at Carle East Region.

FELLOW

FELLOW

FELLOW

Dr. Firas A. Nakshabandi is the founder & CEO of Empathic Resonance, LLC and formerly a clinical associate at the University of Chicago. Having completed a psychiatry residency in Saudi Arabia in 2008, he completed a second psychiatry residency at Harvard Medical School in 2014 and a fellowship in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Chicago in 2016. He has worked at over 40 different sites across two continents in a wide variety of clinical settings, drawing from those experiences to continue to refine his current private practice that has a treatment focus rooted in empathy and strives to heal by evoking it. Through his work at Empathic Resonance, he continues to advocate for empathy through public education, awareness, humanitarian work and mental health consultations and services. In addition to his core interest in empathy his other areas of clinical interest include trauma, grief, social and cultural issues, education, and leadership. Most recently he has been involved along with colleagues with an initiative to form an Arab Caucus within AACAP.

FELLOW

Dr. Ogundipe’s therapeutic approach addresses not only the psychological but also the biological (physical) and social factors that contribute to mental and overall health.

I have extensive training and interest in geriatric psychiatry (including but not limited to diagnosis and management of neurocognitive disorders) as well as PTSD, ADHD, sleep, movement, psychotic, anxiety and mood disorders (including TMS for depression). I plan to offer spravato soon.

I take pride in and have a passion for my work. I derive satisfaction in building a strong therapeutic alliance and seeing my patients overcome the functional limitation(s) that brought them to me so that they can live their best life possible.

LIFE FELLOW

FELLOW

FELLOW

DISTINGUISHED FELLOW

Dr. Adrienne Adams oversees clinical treatment and care at the Rosecrance Griffin Williamson Campus. She received her medical degree from Wayne State University, completed her general psychiatry residency and child and adolescent fellowship training at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and earned a master’s degree in clinical research from Rush University. Dr. Adams has over 15 years of experience in clinical care, administration, and education. She has served on the Illinois Council of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry board for many years and served as the first African American female president in the chapter. She is chair for the Diversity and Inclusion Committee for the Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training. She also is a counselor-at-large for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and a Councilor for the Illinois Psychiatric Society.

DISTINGUISHED FELLOW

Dr. John Korpics completed his general psychiatric residency at University of Illinois Medical Center Chicago where he was chief resident during his fourth year. Dr. Korpics is currently the Chief of Hospital Psychiatry at Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, an Assistant Professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Lecturer at Northwestern University. He has been active with APA since medical school as the founding president of an interest group and two-time representative to the APA’s Psychiatry Student Interest Group Network meeting and has been a member of the APA Assembly since 2015. Additional service to IPS has included positions on the Government Affairs and Access to Care Committees and a term as an IPS Councilor. Dr. Korpics’ interests include administrative psychiatry, federal medicine, professional and patient advocacy, opiate use disorder, and medical education.

FELLOW

Dr. Selena Shrestha is Board certified in Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She is the Division Chief (interim) Division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Southern Illinois university- school of medicine. She has written several book chapters (Case Files Psychiatry. McGraw Hill Professional); local media appearances on Child Mental Health; received community mental health grant; got awarded participation in AAMC Early Career Women Faculty Leadership Development; and is a Women In Medicine subcommittee member. Dr. Shrestha is dedicated to medical students, residents and Child Psychiatry fellow education. She developed an anxiety disorder specialty clinic at SIU, initiated Child Psychiatry out-patient integrated clinic in Pediatric department at SIU. Her special interest are Anxiety disorders, Psychotic Disorders and ADHD.

FELLOW

FELLOW