Minutes of the Department of Psychiatry Meeting
September 20, 2007

Present: Jill Anderson, RN, Ph.D; Geena Athappily, MD; Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher, Ph.D; Marc Atkins, Ph.D; Edie Bamberger; Teresa Boguta, B.A; Saundra Brady, BS; Cheryl Carmin, Ph.D.; Rebecca Christophersen, RN; Edwin Cook, MD; Henry Dove, MD; Yogesh Dwivedi, Ph.D; Stacy Frazier, Ph.D; Suren Goel; Raul Gonzalez, PhD; Jennifer Gorski; Linda Grossman, Ph.D; Martin Harrow, Ph.D.; Jamie Honeyman, LSW; Lloyd Keith; Rachel Loftin, Ph.D; Maria Manzano; Eileen Martin, PhD; Gloria Martinez; Rob Marvin, M.D; Margo McClelland, M.S; Laura Miller, MD; Brian Mustanski, Ph.D; Fedra Najjar, MD; Michael Naylor, MD; Ghanshyam Pandey, PhD; Mani Pavuluri, MD, Ph.D; Louester Petty, BS, Ed; Eric Prensky, Ph.D; Andrea Rahlf, MA, CMPE; James Reilly, Ph.D; Judith Richman, Ph.D; Angela Roiko, LSW, MSW; Cherise Rosen, Ph.D; Carla Ross; Sabine Schmid, PhD; Rajiv Sharma, MD; David Simpson, MSSA; Lisa Stanford, Ph.D; Lisa Suarez, Ph.D; Karen Taylor-Crawford, MD; Patrick Tolan, Ph.D; Pyrai Vaughn; Laurie Wakschlag, Ph.D; Harvey Whitfield, MD; Pam Wiegartz, PhD; Marrea Winnega, Ph.D.

Dr. Dove called the meeting to order at 9 a.m.

Department Head Announcements

• Dr. Dove announced that Ed Biers, a long-time volunteer at IJR, died this week. Funeral arrangements are available from Katherine Roth in PI Reception.
• On Sept. 5, Dr. Patrick Tolan received the Star of Science Award from the Children’s Brain and Research Foundation, in honor of his outstanding leadership and contributions to the understanding and prevention of children’s mental illness.
• Dr. Rob Marvin is preparing for his first site visit review of the Residency Training and Education Program. He thanked everyone for their responsiveness in preparing for the site visit and providing required information.
• The Klingenstein Third Generation Foundation is offering four two-year (2008 – 2010) post-doctoral fellowship sponsorships of up to $30,000 for the two years. The awards are targeted at fostering promising young clinicians and basic scientists working in the area of childhood depression, and/or ADHD research. Candidates may be MDs or Ph.Ds. For more information, see Ms. Rahlf.

Search Update – Dr. Dove, Dr. Miller
Dr. Dove said there are four outstanding finalist candidates: Dr. Kumar from UCLA, Drs. Katherine Wisner and David Brent, both from the University of Pittsburgh, and Dr. Bennett Leventhal. In October, each will present 30-minute synopses of their views of the department. These presentations, attended by faculty and heads from other departments in the college, will be followed by Question & Answer periods. Dean Flaherty has said he intends to select the finalist by the first week of November. Early December might be a more realistic goal. It is hoped that the new head will come aboard in mid Spring, perhaps phasing with an initial part-time commitment, full-time by July 1. Dr. Miller emphasized that it will be important for faculty to attend the candidate presentations to provide input, learn about the candidates, and to convey that faculty here are invested. She noted that nationally there are many positions open for heads of Psychiatry departments across the nation; all four candidates are very strong, and are surely being recruited elsewhere. Dr. Carmin noted that it would be helpful, and would enhance attendance, to have more than three days’ notice before presentation dates. She suggested that Psychiatry faculty be notified of dates being held. Dr. Miller concurred, and explained that the Search Committee has disbanded. Scheduling and notification are up to the Dean’s Office. The department has asked that presentation times and dates align with grand rounds and the faculty meeting.

Clinical Operations – Dr. Dove; Ms. Rahlf, Assistant to the Head/Clinical Administrator
Dr. Dove announced that Ms. Rahlf’s new role is Assistant to the Head/Clinical Administrator. Effective Aug. 28, Ms. Rahlf has been charged with better integrating all components within Clinical Operations, with a goal of improving efficiency, productivity, and revenue. Dr. Dove said that all support staff who have reported to Sunita Prabhakar will continue to do so; Sunita will report to Ms. Rahlf; and Ms. Rahlf will be accountable to Drs. Dove and Miller. Ms. Rahlf gave a brief PowerPoint presentation summarizing her training, experience, new responsibilities, and initial target areas. Her presentation is available at: www.psych.uic.edu/presentations/Rahlf_presentation_92007.ppt

Department MSP Committee – Dr. Dove
Ms. Rahlf is accepting nominations, including self nominations, for candidates to serve on the MSP Committee. The committee advises the department head and the College Executive Committee on day-to-day operational needs of clinicians in the department. It is important that all MSP committee members be actively involved in the work of the committee. Initially, terms will be for two years. Ideally, terms will be staggered to ensure a balance of new and experienced committee members. The department MSP committee must meet at least quarterly. Dr. Dove recommended monthly meetings. One MSP committee member and Dr. Dove will serve as department representatives to central MSP, which meets quarterly. To date, there are six nominees for six committee positions. An election will be held as soon as an adequate slate of candidates is obtained.

October Faculty Meeting
Dr. Dove said that at the October faculty meeting, Ms. Bamberger will present an update on recent and near-future changes in central administration, and will introduce new support staff hired in HR and grants administration.