Welcome

I am pleased to announce that our PSV Fall Meeting will be October 20-21 at the Hilton Richmond Downtown.  The theme for the meeting is Promoting Resilience through Innovation, Collaboration, and Motivation. We also include additional related themes about the American Culture Wars, access to healthcare for transgender persons, and gun violence. We will hear from various experts about some of the more timely and sometimes controversial topics.

We will have our usual Friday evening reception to meet our colleagues from across Virginia and to interact with local legislators. We will hear key updates from our legislative advisors and have an opportunity to ask questions about advocacy efforts. Also on Friday, prior to the reception, Dr. Bella Sood from VCU will talk about Gun Violence to kick off the topic sessions.

Our main scientific session will be held on Saturday, and we have an exciting panel of faculty. We will start off the morning session with a fascinating look at leadership analysis and political psychology from Dr. Kenneth Deklava. Following that, we will have our session on the psychiatrist’s role in health and wellness of transgender individuals with Dr. Jeremy Kidd and Zakia McKensey. Then we will have an update on telepsychiatry brought to us by Dr. Varun Choudhary, with guests from the APA, Abby Worthen, Becky Yowell.

After lunch, we will hear more about Gender Health and Affirming Care from Drs. Catherine Casey and Elena Herndon. This will be followed by a session on trauma and resilience by Dr. Kara Beatty and Anne McDonnell. We will wrap up with a lively discussion about what psychiatrists can do to help our patients with these issues. The discussion will be an excellent opportunity to discuss the additional cross-cutting themes of the meeting.

Our Fall Meeting is sure to be an exciting event and I looking forward to seeing all of you there! 

Sincerely,

Albert Arias, MD
PSV President