Dear friends,
I am pleased to share with you the first digital edition of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience Newsletter. I look forward to connecting with you more frequently throughout the year to highlight our latest news and accomplishments and shine a spotlight on our programs and faculty leaders.
In this edition, we are celebrating our exceptionally strong residency match and welcoming our newest residents. We are proud to report that over the past 14 years, we have increased our recruitment of underrepresented minorities to 23%, which represents a 90% increase over the previous 15 years.
Additionally, UC Medical Center was one of 100 health care systems in the United States, and the only health care system in Ohio to be awarded funding to permanently expand our Psychiatry residency program to seven residents per year through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Section 126 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act.
Also inside, please take a moment to read about the recipients of our annual Student, Resident, and Faculty Awards. These individuals exemplify excellence and contribute significantly to our department's success and reputation.
Our commitment to training the next generation of mental health professionals remains steadfast as we welcome and highlight several new faculty members to our department.
Our research endeavors continue to push boundaries, addressing critical questions in psychiatry and behavioral neuroscience and applying innovative findings to advance and improve patient care.
Thank you for your interest in our department’s news. Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated and essential to our success.
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Melissa DelBello, MD, MS
Dr. Stanley and Mickey Kaplan Professor and Chair
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
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Remembering Dr. Walter Smitson
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Professor emeritus and pioneer in community mental health services, Walter Smitson, PhD, passed away on June 12 at 90 years old.
Dr. Smitson led Central Clinic Behavioral Health since March 1972, first as acting director and then becoming executive director in February 1973. He retired as president and chief executive officer on Dec. 31, 2023 after 55 years of service. Founded in 1923 as Central Psychiatry Clinic, it provides mental health, addiction and forensic services to children, families and adults. It formed a partnership with the College of Medicine in 1933 to train psychiatry residents and medical students.
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During his more than 50 years of leadership, Dr. Smitson helped expand Central Clinic’s reach of mental health services, improve its quality of care and grow its professional staff from 35 to 250. The nonprofit serves more than 17,500 clients each year at 11 Greater Cincinnati locations in Hamilton, Butler and Clermont counties.
After receiving his doctorate in psychodynamic psychotherapy in 1967 from Boston University, Dr. Smitson joined the College of Medicine faculty the same year as an assistant professor and became an emeritus professor on Feb. 1 of this year. He is survived by his wife, Patricia, their five children, 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A steadfast believer in the power of education in providing pathways to accessible healthcare and giving back to his community, Dr. Smitson and his wife, Patricia Mann Smitson, established the Walter S. Smitson, PhD Multidisciplinary Education Fund in April 2024. The fund will provide dedicated support for training and educational initiatives and foster the department's relationship with Central Clinic Behavioral Health.
We are forever grateful for Dr. Smitson's loyal service to our students, patients and community and for the Smitsons' generosity and ensuring the future success of educating our next generations of leaders in the field.
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Kate Chard, PhD, was named the 2024 Crisis Intervention Team Champion of the Year by Mental Health America of Northern Kentucky and Southwest Ohio.
Crisis Intervention Teams are community-based programs that bring together law enforcement, mental health professionals, advocates, people living with mental illness and their families, and other partners to improve community responses to people experiencing mental health crises.
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Professor Emeritus Lawson Wulsin, MD, published his second book this spring, Toxic Stress: How Stress is Making Us Ill and What We Can Do About It.
Dr. Wulsin uses his decades of experience to show how toxic stress impacts our bodies. He gives expert advice and the tools needed to prevent toxic stress from taking over. Chapter by chapter, learn to help your body and mind recover from toxic stress.
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We are pleased to announce Stephen Rush, MD has been named Vice Chair, Ambulatory Services.
This newly-established leadership role is dedicated to our mission of enhancing patient care and strategic growth in our outpatient services through collaboration, innovation and community engagement.
As our outpatient services continue to rapidly increase and adapt to the changing landscape in mental health, Dr. Rush will be instrumental in shaping and executing our vision to deliver the best possible care while improving patient access, experience, and outcomes. Congratulations, Dr. Rush!
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Congratulations to our the 2023-2024 Student,
Resident and Faculty Awardees
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Resident of the Year Awards
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry PGY-1
Aaliyah McClure, MD
Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry PGY-2
Abigail Lanz, MD
Inpatient Services PGY-1
Faith Roberts, MD
Inpatient Services PGY-2
Spencer Gardner, MD
Outpatient Services PGY-3
Julia Stimpfl, MD
Outpatient Services PGY-4
Zachary Wickline, DO
Golden Apple Award for Excellence in Teaching
Corey Keeton, MD
Brian Dowling, MD
Students’ Choice for Outstanding Commitment and Dedication to Medical Student Teaching 2023-2024
Inpatient Faculty
Michael Newton, MD
Outpatient Faculty
John D’Imperio, MD
Melissa DelBello, MD, MS
Henry Nasrallah, MD
Rodrigo Patino, MD
Stephen Rush, MD
Residents
Austin Slone, MD, PGY-1
Brandon Valencia, MD, PGY-2
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The Stephan D. Weiss Award for Professional Achievement
Jake Pemberton, MD, PGY-4
The Warren Liang Excellence in Psychiatry Award 2024
Medical Student
Duncan Honeycutt, MD, MS
The Nasrallah Annual Psychiatry Residents Research Award
1st Place
Seth Reighard, MD, PhD, PGY-3
2nd Place
Akanksha Dadlani, MD, MPH, PGY-2
Spencer Gardner, MD, PGY-2
The Nasrallah Annual Psychiatry Student Research Award
Duncan Honeycutt, MD, MS
Eric Mendez, MD, MS
The Nasrallah Annual Award for Faculty Excellence in Teaching and Mentoring
Fabiano Nery, MD
Dr. Douglas Mossman Memorial Award – 2024
Zachary Wickline, DO, PGY-4 Chief Resident
The Maurice and Diana Levine Travel Award for Residents
Akanksha Dadlani, MD, MPH, PGY-2
The Martha Aden MD Child Psychiatry Champion Award
Cassie Nicotra, D.O., Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Chief Fellow, PGY-5
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Joseph Cerimele, MD, MPH, joins the department a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience and Director of Psychiatry Health Outcomes Research.
Dr. Cerimele is a native Ohioan. He obtained his BA at Case Western Reserve University and attended medical school at UC. He then completed a residency in Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and a NRSA Psychiatry Primary Care Research Fellowship at University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, where he has served as a faculty member for the past decade. Dr. Cerimele is Deputy Editor at the Journal of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry, and a Fellow of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry.
We are very fortunate that Dr. Cerimele and his family have decided to return to the Midwest. His professional interests include primary care psychiatry and health services research, with an emphasis on individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
With his vast experience, Dr. Cerimele will help us develop health outcomes research within the Department, and specifically, within our integrated psychiatry programs. His clinical responsibilities will include working at the Mood Disorders Clinic and the Hoxworth primary care clinic.
Dr. Cerimele enjoys reading fiction, ran cross country in college, and delivered newspapers (The Vindicator) as his first job.
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Thaddeus J. Nestheide, PsyD, joins the department as an Associate Professor and the Behavioral Health Director at the Freeman Center.
Dr. Nestheide has been with the Hamilton County Developmental Disabilities Services for the past 12 years and has also worked for the Ohio Department of Developmental Disabilities and Cincinnati Children's Hospital. He earned his PsyD at Xavier University after a pre-doctoral internship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. Dr. Nestheide's passion for the Developmental Disabilities population stems from having a brother with Fragile X Syndrome.
He is a Northern Kentucky native and resides in Taylor Mill with his wife Sarah, children Andrew and Alison, two dogs, two cats, and a guinea pig. He is a big fan of the Reds, FC Cincinnati, and the Bengals.
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Edward C. Wright, PhD, ABPP, joins us as an Associate Professor and board certified clinical psychologist. Dr. Wright will be working in our outpatient practice at West Professional Building.
He specializes in time-condensed ("massed") prolonged exposure therapy (PE) for PTSD, particularly for combat-related trauma. From 2009-2015, he provided therapy at Ft. Hood in a large scale trial of PE with active duty service members. He has worked within Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School for the past 8 years, where he co-led a two-week intensive PTSD program. He completed his PhD at George Mason University.
Dr. Wright is originally from Cincinnati and excited to be returning home. He has listened to all 1177 episodes of Armin van Buuren’s “A State of Trance” EDM radio show.
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A national effort to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths has laid the groundwork for more widely available opioid use disorder treatment, safer prescribing practices, and community-based overdose education and naloxone distribution that can save lives, according to T. John Winhusen, PhD, co-principal investigator for Ohio and director of the University of Cincinnati Center for Addiction Research.
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As recreational marijuana sales are coming to Ohio, more CBD shops are springing up in the meantime selling a variety of tinctures, topicals and tonics with various claims of health benefits. CBD is claimed to relieve pain, anxiety, insomnia and more, but what does the research say?
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UC researchers are co-leading a study using state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques and artificial intelligence to identify changes in the brains among children of adults living with bipolar disorder — a debilitating condition that interferes with daily life due to its dramatic mood, energy and activity level shifts.
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A new UC trial, in partnership with Spark Biomedical, will test a wearable neurostimulation device to help patients with opioid use disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder stick with medication treatment while finding the right dose.
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UC research on how eating strawberries may reduce dementia risk was featured in a recent "LIVE with Kelly and Mark" segment on superfoods to eat in 2024.
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U.S. News & World Report highlighted a recent UC trial that found electrical stimulation of the spinal cord is feasible, well-tolerated and shows therapeutic potential to treat depression. The results of the trial were published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry on Dec. 20.
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Alison Anderson McWhorter, MD
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Triple Board (PEDS, PSYCH, CHILD & ADOLESCENT)
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The UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute's dedicated development team is here to assist you. Contact our Office of Development to learn more about anything you've seen here and how you can support the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience.
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Emma Laverty
Assistant Vice President of Development
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Ben Jager
Associate Director of Development
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