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EDI Action Council Members

  • Greg Aarons
  • Varsha Badal
  • Tyler Bell
  • Margarita Behrens
  • Molly Berman
  • Sandy Blackburn
  • Anne Bird
  • Amanda Bischoff-Grethe
  • Veronica Cardenas
  • Jessica Carrasco
  • Samantha Chalker
  • Kimberly Claudat
  • Shanna Cooper
  • Kelly Courtney
  • Erika Crable
  • Kelsey Dickson
  • Neal Doran
  • Kristen Duarte
  • Stephanie Dulawa
  • Jeremy Elman
  • Mark Ettenhofer
  • Lisa Eyler, Chair
  • Danielle Franz
  • Adam Fields
  • Carol Franz
  • Tiffany Greenwood
  • David Grelotti
  • Julia Griffith Boyd
  • Adam Halberstadt 
  • Karen Hanson Bondi
  • Matt Herbert
  • Suzi Hong
  • Steve Huege
  • Janis Jenkins
  • Marsida Kallupi
  • Ruth Klaming
  • Maulika Kohli
  • Katharine Lacefield
  • Ariel Lang
  • Amy Lansing
  • Eve Lasswell
  • Ellen Lee
  • Chuchu Li
  • Laurie Lindamer
  • Lawrence Malak
  • Carrie McDonald
  • Yesenia Mejia
  • Victoria Merritt
  • Alejandro D. Meruelo
  • Arpi Minassian, Co-Chair
  • Jessica L. Montoya
  • Lama Muhammad
  • Marina Nakhla
  • Jacques Nguyen
  • Dafna Paltin
  • Matthew Panizzon
  • Tonya Pan-Weisz
  • Jessie Park
  • Seong Park
  • Herry Patel
  • Susan Powell
  • Eric Rafla-Yuan
  • Sandra Sanchez-Roige
  • Dawn Schiehser
  • Alyx Shepard
  • Pei-an Betty Shih
  • Christine Smith
  • Isabella Spaulding
  • Nicole Stadnick
  • Erin Sundermann
  • Michael Taffe
  • Susan Tapert
  • Kelsey Thomas
  • Emily Treichler
  • Elizabeth Twamley
  • Clare Viglione
  • Tasha Wade
  • Crystal Wang
  • Katherine Williams
  • Jared Young

 

Subcommittees

Each member of the EDI Action Council also actively participates in a subcommittee(s). Please click "expand all" to learn more about each subcommittee, their mission, and their members. 

Champion of Diversity

Description/Mission

To solicit nominations, review applications, and select a trainee and faculty Champion of Diversity each year. Members of the subcommittee also help to write remarks for presenting the award and descriptions of each awardee for the website.

Point of Contact

Lisa Eyler

Members
  • Neal Doran 
  • Lisa Eyler
  • Steve Huege
  • Arpi Minassian
  • Matt Panizzon
  • Jessie Park
  • Katherine Williams

Community Engagement and Equity

Description/Mission
  • Raise awareness about the importance of Community Engagement in our research, clinical, and teaching spheres.
  • Create education and training opportunities for UC San Diego Health Sciences to promote meaningful engagement with research participants, patients, invested parties, and the broader community we serve.
  • Advocate for more direct and collaborative involvement of the community “in the work” so that the Department of Psychiatry is better positioned to address the community’s health-related needs.
  • Advocate for adding community engagement as an evaluation pillar in faculty merit and promotion reviews, and work with Health Sciences to establish relevant evaluation metrics.
Point of Contact

Nicole Stadnick & Amy Lansing

Members
  • Amy Lansing
  • David Moore
  • Nicole Stadnick
  • Natasha Wade

Cultural Celebration

Description/Mission
To plan and execute the annual Department of Psychiatry Cultural Celebration event, including choosing a date and location, securing a room reservation and permission for serving alcohol, planning activities and entertainment, creating invitations and monitoring RSVPs, preparing the room and running the activities, documenting the event for the website, and soliciting feedback via surveys.
Point of Contact

Lisa Eyler

Members
  • Lisa Eyler
  • Tiffany Greenwood
  • Arpi Minassian
  • Betty Shih
  • Elizabeth Twamley
  • Jared Young

DisAbility

Description/Mission
  • To provide solutions, education, and resources to support the untapped abilities of disabled faculty, trainees and students.
  • To provide education on disability issues to non-disabled faculty and administrators.
Point of Contact

Dawn Schiehser

Members
  • Mark Ettenhofer
  • Adam Fields
  • Adam Halberstadt
  • Laurie Lindamer
  • Marina Nakhla
  • Dawn Schiehser

EDI Training Development & Dissemination

Description/Mission

Focus on the dissemination of existing workshops and training materials to advance EDI related knowledge and skills for faculty and trainees. Identify gaps with the goal of developing new materials and trainings.

Point of Contact

Jeremy Elman

Members
  • Kelly Courntey
  • Karen Hanson Bondi,
  • Jeremy Elman
  • Lisa Eyler
  • Emily Treichler

Facilitating Research Programs on Mental Health Disparities

Description/Mission
  • Provide forums to discuss best practices in conducting mental health research in diverse populations to increase rigor and promote health equity.
  • Select and award investigators conducting excellent research in diverse populations at the annual Department of Psychiatry Judd Young Investigators Research symposium.
  • Disseminate disparity-related funding opportunities to Department of Psychiatry faculty and trainees.
  • Promote disparity-related research within the department.   
Point of Contact

Susan Powell

Members
  • Samantha Chalker
  • Danielle Fettes
  • Ariel Lang
  • Arpi Minassian
  • Jessica L. Montoya
  • Tonya Pan-Weisz
  • Susan Powell
  • Alexis Thompson

Gender

Description/Mission
  • Raise awareness, promote transparency, and disseminate information related to gender equity, family issues, and ensuring a safe and healthy work environment for all genders.
  • Advocate for structural changes to address existing gender inequities.
  • Recognize and promote women and gender non-binary individuals in the Deparment of Psychiatry and their accomplishments via a quarterly newsletter.
Point of Contact

Kelsey Thomas

Members
  • Kimberly Claudat
  • Erika Crable
  • Stephanie Dulawa
  • Suzi Hong
  • Kelsey Thomas
  • Jared Young

LGBTQIA+

Description/Mission
  • Educate the department about research, clinical, and teaching competencies related to the LGBTQIA+ community
  • Disseminate educational resources (scholarly work, trainings), plus community and social events promoting LGBTQIA+ health
  • Support advocacy efforts for equal access to care for patients with an LGBTQIA+ identity 
  • Support advocacy efforts for our LGBTQIA+ community within the Department
Point of Contact

Arpi Minassian & Jared Young

Members
  • Tyler Bell
  • Anne Bird
  • Neal Doran
  • David Grelotti
  • Katharine Lacefield
  • Eve Lasswell
  • Arpi Minassian
  • Dafna Paltin
  • Herry Patel
  • Christine Smith
  • Jared Young

Mentorship / PCP

Return soon for updated content.

Morale Liaison

Description/Mission
  • Prioritize wellness - Place staff, trainee and faculty’s wellbeing and health as the highest department priority by encouraging, providing and facilitating time for wellness, health, family and other personal priorities.
  • Create a culture of compassion, mutual respect and equity
  • Cultivate community at work by creating space and activities fostering team cohesion
Point of Contact

Sidney Zisook

Members
  • Sandra Sanchez-Roige
  • Carol Franz

Recruiting, Retaining, & Elevating Diverse Individuals (RREDI) in Psychiatry

Description/Mission
The UC San Diego Department of Psychiatry is committed to promoting the inclusion and success of individuals from historically underrepresented backgrounds in academic medicine. We strive to foster a supportive and inclusive environment for trainees, staff, and faculty representing all aspects of diversity (including, but not limited to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and religion). This EDI Action council subcommittee aims to advocate for and facilitate recruiting and retaining diverse individuals. Some of our recent efforts include advocating for increased transparency and accountability with respect to hiring and departmental diversity data. We also create and promote resources that bolster recruitment and retention of underrepresented individuals in the Department of Psychiatry. 

Point of Contact
Kristen Duarte, Lieselot Carrette, & Yesenia Mejia

Members
  • Greg Aarons
  • Marga Behrens
  • Lauren Brookman-Frazee
  • Veronica Cardenas
  • Lieselot Carrette
  • Kristen Duarte
  • Lisa Eyler
  • Elizabeth Rangel
  • Ellen Lee
  • Ariel Lang
  • Laurie Lindamer
  • Lawrence Malak
  • Carrie McDonald
  • Yesenia Mejia
  • Shavon Moore
  • Lama Muhammad
  • Herry Patel
  • Betty Shih
  • Mike Taffe
  • Susan Tapert
  • Kelsey Thomas
  • Emily Treichler
  • Beth Twamley
  • Jared Young

Service to Minoritized/Underrepresented Patients

Description/Mission
  • Strive to enhance awareness in the Department of Psychiatry and UC San Diego of the needs of diverse and underrepresented patients within local communities and improve patient-centered practice by engaging in community networking and evaluation of community needs and assets.
  • Educate our own providers about how to contribute to serving minoritized and underrepresented patients (e.g., strengthen departmental clinicians’ skills in cultural sensitivity, humility)
  • Education and outreach to patient communities
  • Advise on best practices for providing care to underrepresented communities based on assessment of community mental health needs and barriers to care at UC San Diego
Point of Contact

Arpi Minassian 

Members
  • Sandy Blackburn
  • Victoria Merritt
  • Arpi Minassian
  • Erin Sundermann
  • Clare Viglione

VA-CESAMH Research

Description/Mission
The goals of the CESAMH DEI Measurement Workgroup are to improve strategies for the collection and presentation of of sociodemographic information, recommend measures of identify-based trauma, facilitate data interpretation of small group comparisons, and establish procedures for dissemination of resources and recommendations to other VA researchers, clinicians, and educators.

Point of Contact
Matt Herbert

Members

  • Marianna Gasperi
  • Matt Herbert
  • Anne Malaktaris
  • Victoria Merritt
  • James Pittman
  • Daniel Stout