Speakers & Topics

Carmen Andreescu, MD
Hidden in Plain Sight: Anxiety in the Community
Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Andreescu is an expert in the cognitive and affective neuroscience of anxiety disorders in late-life and across the lifespan, and her research explores topics such as the effect of anxiety and stress on accelerated aging, as well as the clinical and neural markers of treatment response in late-life anxiety and depression. 

Saira Kalia, MD 
Ask an Expert
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of Medicine

Dr. Kalia is a perinatal psychiatrist, an educator, and serves as the Associate Training Director for the Department of Psychiatry Residency program at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and runs the Psychiatry Department’s  Perinatal Psychiatry Track. 

Jordan Karp, MD 
Taming the Black Dog: Delivering Effective and Confident Depression Treatment in Primary Care; Ask an Expert
Department Chair and Professor of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of Medicine

Dr. Karp is an expert in the fields of geriatric psychiatry, depression treatment, and suicide prevention. He is committed to educating healthcare providers about the principles of psychiatry and behavioral medicine.

Hanadi Ajam Oughli, MD
Key Tips on Finding and Fixing Bipolar Disorder
Health Sciences Assistant Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA

Hanadi Ajam Oughli is a board-certified adult and geriatric psychiatrist and Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the University of California Los Angeles. Her clinical interests include mood, anxiety, and cognitive disorders in adults and older adults. Her research focuses on pharmacological and combination augmentation strategies using integrative and behavioral interventions. 

Barbara Pritchard, PhD
Working with Personality Disordered and Challenging Patients: Understanding and Managing Such Encounters
Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Arizona College of Medicine

Drawing on over 35 years of clinical practice, Dr. Pritchard has served as a consultant to individual mental health practitioners as well as various agencies, institutions, and hospitals. She has been an invited speaker at local and national meetings, with a particular focus on the treatment of such challenging areas as personality disorders, eating disorders, and chronic depression. 

Carolyn Rodriguez, MD, PhD
Taming Clutter: Hoarding Disorder Research and Treatment Advances
Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Associate Dean, Stanford Medicine

As the Director of the Translational Therapeutics Lab and Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Dr. Rodriguez leads studies investigating the brain basis of severe mental disorders. Her landmark clinical trials pioneered rapid-acting treatments for illnesses including Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and related disorders. She is coauthor of Hoarding Disorder: A Comprehensive Clinical Guide.

Ginny Sprang, PhD
Trauma Informed Care Is Primary Care: Strategies and Solutions
Professor of Psychiatry, Center on Trauma and Children Executive Director, University of Kentucky College of Medicine

Dr. Sprang has published extensively on topics such as child trauma, trauma informed care, the commercial sexual exploitation of minors, implementation and sustainability, disaster response and secondary traumatic stress. Her work involves the creation of translational tools, and the development, testing and implementation of evidence-based treatments and practices to treat those exposed to these traumatic experiences.

Debra K. Weiner, MD
Keynote - Meeting the Chronic Pain Care Needs of Older Adults: What is the role of the PCP?
Associate Director for Research, Geriatric Research, Education & Clinical Center, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Professor of Medicine, Psychiatry, Anesthesiology and Clinical and Translational Science, University of Pittsburgh

Dr. Weiner has focused her clinical practice on caring for older adults with chronic noncancer pain conditions since 1998 when she began her tenure at the University of Pittsburgh. She has conducted interdisciplinary research on various aspects of pain and aging since 1994 when she was awarded an NIH career development award to study pain in nursing home residents. Since then, she has been continually funded as principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on a federally funded grants focused on older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain, primarily chronic low back pain, and more recently lumbar spinal stenosis.