Electronic Fall 2023 | Issue 56

The Carl Bell Memorial Award

The Carl Bell Memorial Award was established by the IPS Health Equity and Anti-Racism committee (HEAR-C) in 2022 to honor the late Carl Bell, M.D who was a remarkable psychiatrist and nationally known for his community psychiatry work, especially on the Southside of Chicago. Dr. Bell authored over 500 publications and was the recipient of many awards throughout his career. In addition to working on many national scientific boards, Dr. Bell was a vocal crusader for health equity and violence prevention in underserved communities, and a pioneer in alcohol research with developing our current understanding of the long-term effects of in-utero alcohol exposure. He was a well-respected and beloved teacher, colleague, mentor, and clinician. Thus, the Carl C. Bell Memorial Award was developed in his honor to continue to fight for mental health equity, end community violence and inspire our youth for future greatness.

Submissions received this year were written by high school students from across the state in response to the questions “What does mental health mean to you, your peers and/or your community? Do you feel mental health has been affected by societal factors such as healthcare inequity, community violence, post-pandemic anxiety, isolation, or racial injustice?”

The essays received were impressive. Many essays discussed personal or family struggles with mental health, others highlighted social determinants of health they witnessed in their communities, and yet others voiced hope to make a difference so people struggling with mental illness would have access to support.

We did not receive any essay submissions in the first year of this award, but with help from the IPS membership, we were able to get the word out more effectively in our second year, resulting in 78 essay submissions! The members of the HEAR-C quickly recognized that we would need some help reviewing and scoring these submissions and thus reached out to IPS members. Extraordinarily, many of our membership quickly jumped in to assist with reviewing and scoring these essays. Thank you to all of you for your help and a special shout-out to the enthusiasm from the Medical Student committee.

We received many stellar essays, but there was one that particularly stood out. At this year’s IPS annual meeting, we will be awarding one high school student the inaugural Carl Bell Memorial Award. At the annual meeting we will also be recognizing an additional 10 high school students for their exceptional essays with honorable mentions.

Join us at the IPS annual meeting on October 7 to join us in congratulating this year’s Carl Bell Memorial Awardee!