33rd Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy Update - PSYCH-CORE

Dr. Saklad was born in Los Angeles, California in 1953, and graduated from Pacific Palisades High School in 1970. He received his baccalaureate degree cum laude in Bacteriology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974. His Doctor of Pharmacy degree was earned at the University of Southern California in 1978. He had a National Institute of Mental Health training fellowship in Psychiatric Pharmacy supervised by Jim Wilson, Pharm.D., BCPP at the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute of the University of Nebraska Medical Center at Omaha in 1978-9. He then joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy and the clinical staff at San Antonio State Hospital (SASH) in 1979. He was the first clinical pharmacist employed by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (now Texas Health and Human Services) when he began as Clinical Coordinator at SASH. He has lived in San Antonio, Texas since 1979. He is married and the father of triplet sons.

During his 38 years career, Dr. Saklad has provided clinical care, education, and research in a variety of settings and treatment roles at SASH. He team teaches didactic courses for second and third professional year pharmacy students. He is the course director for Advanced Pharmacotherapy Laboratory, a third professional year opportunity for students to develop their clinical presentation skills that is given across four campuses. He precepts and mentors third and fourth professional year pharmacy students (P3’s & P4’s) at SASH. He received the UT Austin College of Pharmacy’s Teaching Award from the Class of 2014. He authored and successfully discussed with members of the Texas Legislature the creation of a clinical research unit at SASH that was funded by the Texas Legislature and jointly governed by the UT Austin College of Pharmacy, UT Health Science Center San Antonio Department of Psychiatry and SASH.

Dr. Saklad initiated and developed the first websites for the UT Austin College of Pharmacy in 1994, the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP) in 1997, and the CPNP Foundation in 2015. He helped to design, organize and was a founding member of CPNP when it incorporated in 1998 as well as the CPNP Foundation in 2012. In 2003, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the CPNP for a two-year term. He has served as a member or officer of the CPNP Communications Committee since the creation of CPNP from 1995 to 2011 and was the Founding Senior Editor of the Mental Health Clinician, CPNP’s Open Access journal, from 2011-13. Currently, Dr. Saklad is Treasurer of the CPNP Foundation a member of the CPNP Business Development Committee. He was on the task force that developed The Mental Health Pharmacy Directory to improve patient access. He is the Director of The University of Texas Psychiatric Pharmacy Program. In 1988, he helped to create and has chaired The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy’s Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy Update since 2007.

Dr. Saklad publishes articles and presents to many groups around the country on a variety of pharmacy and mental health-related topics. He edited Psychopharmacology Update newsletter from 1998-2002 and edited two editions of a compendium based upon this newsletter, Psychopharmacology Desktop Reference, published by Manisses Communications Group in 1999 and 2002. He provides updates on his Twitter feed on a variety of topics @pharmacopsych.

Dr. Saklad is a principal or co-investigator for several studies of the efficacy and adverse effects of Phase II, III, and IV psychotropic agents in schizophrenia, mood disorders, depression, and other serious and persistent mental illness, as well as their pharmacokinetics and interactions. He was the Director of UT Health Science Center San Antonio’s Advanced Pharmacotherapy Research with research facilities located at Laurel Ridge Treatment Center and President of Alamo Superior Research, LLC. He has been affiliated with the Behavioral Wellness (“Be Well”) Center, Department of Psychiatry, UT Health San Antonio since 2009.

Disclosure: Dr. Saklad has the following relevant financial relationships, potential or perceived, with commercial or conflicts of interest to disclose:

Dr. Blader is a child and adolescent clinical psychologist who received his undergraduate education at Tufts University and obtained his doctoral degree in psychology at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada. He completed clinical training at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa. He has held clinical and faculty positions North Shore – Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New York University School of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Disclosure: Dr. Blader has the following relevant financial relationships, potential or perceived, with commercial or conflicts of interest to disclose:

Dr. Jason Schillerstrom is a Professor of Geriatric Psychiatry at UT Health San Antonio. He provides clinical care to elders with mood, anxiety, and cognitive disorders. He serves as a consultant to Adult Protective Services and local attorneys who request decisional capacity assessments for elders suffering from neglect or exploitation. Dr. Schillerstrom is the Residency Program Director for Psychiatry where he teaches and guides 78 civilian and active duty psychiatrists in training.

Disclosure: Dr. Schillerstrom has no relevant financial relationship(s), potential or perceived, with commercial or conflicts of interest to disclose.

Dr. Toups is a clinician scientist specializing in the study of the interplay between physical and mental functions in health and disease. Her work focuses on understanding the effects of medical illness, particularly chronic inflammatory disorders, on mood and function. She completed a clinical research fellowship at the Center for Depression Research and Clinical Care at UT Southwestern in Dallas, TX and is an expert in the management of treatment resistant depression with a special interest in patients with co-morbid autoimmune and metabolic disorders. She also has extensive experience in clinical trials developing new ways of assessing and treating depression.

Dr. Toups’ current research focuses on understanding specific mechanisms of bi-directional communication between the brain and immune system. Imbalance in this communication increases the risk of depression, as well as chronic inflammatory disorders such as diabetes. Dr. Toups is using genomic, gene expression, and metabolic analyses to better understand why some people are more vulnerable to this maladaptive pattern of brain-immune function with the ultimate goal of identifying targets for future therapies.

Disclosure: Dr Toups has no relevant financial relationship(s), potential or perceived, with commercial or conflicts of interest to disclose.

Amanda J. Simonton, PhD, APRN, PMHNP-BC is a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing and Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at the Texas Child Study Center at Dell Children’s Medical Center. She has been a Registered Nurse since 2013 and previously worked in the Intermediate Care Unit at Seton Medical Center Austin and Psychiatric Emergency Department at University Medical Center Brackenridge. As a psychiatric nurse practitioner, she has primarily worked with adults with dual-diagnosed (substance use and mental health) disorders and with children and adolescents. She earned her Bachelor of Science in Nursing (’13), Master of Science in Nursing (’18), and Doctor of Philosophy (’20) through the School of Nursing at the University of Texas at Austin. She is active in presenting at the annual conferences for Texas Nurse Practitioners and the American Psychiatric Nurses Association. She is currently on the Policy Council for Texas Nurse Practitioners and the President-Elect on the American Psychiatric Nurses Association Texas Chapter Board of Directors. Dr. Simonton is also a member of two steering committees, which focus on treatment of schizophrenia spectrum disorders and bipolar depression, for Medscape Inc. Her research and clinical interests are to improve the lives of individuals with substance use disorders and serious mental illness by utilizing evidence-based care and best-practices in the field of psychiatry and psychology.

Disclosure: Dr. Simonton has no relevant financial relationship(s), potential or perceived, with commercial or conflicts of interest to disclose.

Troy A. Moore received his PharmD from the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy in 2003. He subsequently attended the University of Texas at Austin College, receiving his Master of Science in Pharmacy in 2005 while completing a 2 year Psychiatric Pharmacy at the San Antonio State Hospital and the South Texas Veterans Health Care System (STVHCS). He joined the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio Department of Psychiatry, Division of Schizophrenia and Related Disorders in 2005 and became Assistant Professor in 2007. He joined the STVHCS as Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Psychiatry in 2010 where he served the Substance Abuse and Domiciliary Programs. He accepted an appointment as the PGY-1 Pharmacy Residency Program Director and Clinical Pharmacy Specialist in Mental Health at the VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System (ECHCS) in Aurora, CO in December 2018. He currently a member of the ECHCS PTSD Clinical Team (PCT) program. He has also been on the planning committee for UT Psych Update since 2007

Disclosure: Dr. Moore has no relevant financial relationship(s), potential or perceived, with commercial or conflicts of interest to disclose.

Dr. Saklad was born in Los Angeles, California in 1953, and graduated from Pacific Palisades High School in 1970. He received his baccalaureate degree cum laude in Bacteriology from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1974. His Doctor of Pharmacy degree was earned at the University of Southern California in 1978. He had a National Institute of Mental Health training fellowship in Psychiatric Pharmacy supervised by Jim Wilson, Pharm.D., BCPP at the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute of the University of Nebraska Medical Center at Omaha in 1978-9. He then joined the faculty of The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy and the clinical staff at San Antonio State Hospital (SASH) in 1979. He was the first clinical pharmacist employed by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (now Texas Health and Human Services) when he began as Clinical Coordinator at SASH. He has lived in San Antonio, Texas since 1979. He is married and the father of triplet sons.

During his 38 years career, Dr. Saklad has provided clinical care, education, and research in a variety of settings and treatment roles at SASH. He team teaches didactic courses for second and third professional year pharmacy students. He is the course director for Advanced Pharmacotherapy Laboratory, a third professional year opportunity for students to develop their clinical presentation skills that is given across four campuses. He precepts and mentors third and fourth professional year pharmacy students (P3’s & P4’s) at SASH. He received the UT Austin College of Pharmacy’s Teaching Award from the Class of 2014. He authored and successfully discussed with members of the Texas Legislature the creation of a clinical research unit at SASH that was funded by the Texas Legislature and jointly governed by the UT Austin College of Pharmacy, UT Health Science Center San Antonio Department of Psychiatry and SASH.

Dr. Saklad initiated and developed the first websites for the UT Austin College of Pharmacy in 1994, the College of Psychiatric and Neurologic Pharmacists (CPNP) in 1997, and the CPNP Foundation in 2015. He helped to design, organize and was a founding member of CPNP when it incorporated in 1998 as well as the CPNP Foundation in 2012. In 2003, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the CPNP for a two-year term. He has served as a member or officer of the CPNP Communications Committee since the creation of CPNP from 1995 to 2011 and was the Founding Senior Editor of the Mental Health Clinician, CPNP’s Open Access journal, from 2011-13. Currently, Dr. Saklad is Treasurer of the CPNP Foundation a member of the CPNP Business Development Committee. He was on the task force that developed The Mental Health Pharmacy Directory to improve patient access. He is the Director of The University of Texas Psychiatric Pharmacy Program. In 1988, he helped to create and has chaired The University of Texas at Austin College of Pharmacy’s Psychiatric Pharmacotherapy Update since 2007.

Dr. Saklad publishes articles and presents to many groups around the country on a variety of pharmacy and mental health-related topics. He edited Psychopharmacology Update newsletter from 1998-2002 and edited two editions of a compendium based upon this newsletter, Psychopharmacology Desktop Reference, published by Manisses Communications Group in 1999 and 2002. He provides updates on his Twitter feed on a variety of topics @pharmacopsych.

Dr. Saklad is a principal or co-investigator for several studies of the efficacy and adverse effects of Phase II, III, and IV psychotropic agents in schizophrenia, mood disorders, depression, and other serious and persistent mental illness, as well as their pharmacokinetics and interactions. He was the Director of UT Health Science Center San Antonio’s Advanced Pharmacotherapy Research with research facilities located at Laurel Ridge Treatment Center and President of Alamo Superior Research, LLC. He has been affiliated with the Behavioral Wellness (“Be Well”) Center, Department of Psychiatry, UT Health San Antonio since 2009.

Disclosure: Dr. Saklad has the following relevant financial relationships, potential or perceived, with commercial or conflicts of interest to disclose:

Disclosure: Dr. Newport has the following relevant financial relationships, potential or perceived, with commercial or conflicts of interest to disclose:

Review of Conflicts Policy: The UT Austin College of Pharmacy has a very strict policy to ensure against commercial conflicts of interest in CE programming. For this conference, the planning committee picks two committee members who have appropriate backgrounds to review content, and report any potential conflict of interest to the CPE Director. If conflict issues are discovered, they are addressed with speakers to make appropriate changes. Evaluations are collected from all participants with specific questions around the listed conflicts of commercial interest.

Dr. Tampi is the Chairman, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Cleveland Clinic Akron General, Akron, Ohio and the Chief, Section for Geriatric Psychiatry, Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. In addition, he is a Professor of Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Learner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University and a Professor of Psychiatry at North East Ohio Medical University. Dr. Tampi also maintains his appointment as an Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.  Dr. Tampi is the Past President of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP). He was the President of the AAGP for 2019-2020 and the Co-President for 2020-2021. Dr. Tampi was the Secretary and Treasurer of the AAGP for 2017-2018. He was the Program Chair for the 2017 AAGP Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas. Dr. Tampi is the Past President of the International Medical Graduates (IMG) Caucus at the American Psychiatric Association (APA). He is a Distinguished Fellow of the APA and of the AAGP.

Dr. Tampi is a graduate of the University of Kerala, Kerala, India. He trained in Psychiatry at the University of Leeds, Leeds, England and at the University of Vermont, Burlington, Vermont. During his residency training in England, Dr. Tampi also attained a Post Graduate Diploma in Clinical Psychiatry from the University of Leeds. He completed his Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship at Yale School of Medicine.  Dr. Tampi has received three ‘Outstanding Teaching Attending Awards’ and the ‘Chairman’s Award’ for outstanding teaching, research and clinical work from the Department of Psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine. He received the ‘Teacher of the Year’ Award from the Department of Psychiatry, Case Western Reserve University MetroHealth Program in 2015, 2016 and 2018.  Dr. Tampi is a recipient of the Geriatric Academic Career Award (GACA) instituted by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). He was a recipient of the AAGP’s ‘Clinician of the Year Award’ in 2013.  Dr. Tampi also received the AAGP’s ‘Recognition and Appreciation’ Certificate in 2018. In 2019, he received the AAGP’s ‘Educator of the Year Award’. Dr. Tampi received the ‘2019 Outstanding Academician of the Year Award’ given by the Indo-American Psychiatric Association (IAPA). He is the recipient of the 2021 Jack Weinberg Award for Geriatric Psychiatry given by the APA.  Dr. Tampi has over 180 publications on various topics in psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry. In addition, he is the Editor of 9 books in psychiatry published by reputed publishers including Lippincott Williams & Wilkins (LWW), Oxford University Press (OUP), Springer International Publishing (SIP) and Cambridge University Press (CUP).

Dr. Tampi serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the World Journal of Psychiatry, Associate Editor for Drugs in Context (Psychiatry), Associate Editor for Aging Psychiatry Section of Frontiers in Psychiatry and the Section Editor of Geriatric Psychiatry for Psychiatric Times. He is on the Editorial Board of ‘Clinical Interventions in Aging’, the ‘Annals of Clinical Psychiatry’ and ‘Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology’. Furthermore, Dr. Tampi serves as an ad-hoc peer reviewer for 52 journals including the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry, JAMA Psychiatry, the Journal of American Geriatrics Society and the American Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and other Dementias amongst others.  Dr. Tampi’s clinical and research interests are the management of psychiatric disorders in late life, neurodegenerative disorders, ethical & legal issues in geriatric psychiatry, integrated geriatric -psychiatric care and undergraduate and postgraduate education in psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry.