Community and Professional Education

The Mood Disorders Center (MDC) reflects Johns Hopkins’ practice of integrating clinical care, research and education. We educate the general community with programs, events and publications across a variety of media and the professional community through traditional avenues in residency education and continuing medical education.

COMMUNITY

Annual Mood Disorders Research/Education Symposium

Perhaps the most visible of the community programs sponsored by the Mood Disorders Center is the Annual Mood Disorders Research/Education Symposium.  Since its inception in 1986, this yearly event has provided an opportunity for clinicians, researchers, patients, and families to come together to participate in a unique blending of medical information with first person accounts of mood disorders. Themes have ranged from Innovative Treatments to Mood Disorders in Women and Children and have included such renowned participants as Mike Wallace, William Styron, Dorothy Hamill, and Mariette Hartley. The Symposium is usually held in April of each year. Check the department’s web site www.hopkinsmedicine.org/psychiatry for more information or sign up for the quarterly e-news update.

The Adolescent Depression Awareness Program (ADAP)

A well-received and expanding secondary education curriculum, this program formalizes long-standing efforts by the Department of Psychiatry to education adolescents, teachers and parents about depression. Click here to learn more.

Online Essays

Dr. James Potash (MDC Research Director) writes periodic essays for ABC News Online about aspects of mood disorders, from societal stigma to available treatments and the progress being made in genetic research. Click here to read past essays.

Inaugural Arts in Psychiatry Series

A recent initiative, spearheaded by Dr. Kay Jamison, began with a poetry reading by renowned Scottish poet, Douglas Dunn in 2007. In an effort to help integrate science and the arts, more events are planned in coming years. Sign up for the department’s quarterly E-News Update.

Publications

A number of MDC faculty members dedicate time to writing and editing publications geared to community audiences. Dr. Karen Swartz edits the yearly Johns Hopkins White Paper as well as the quarterly Bulletin, both titled Depression and Anxiety.  Dr. Francis Mondimore and Dr. Raymond DePaulo have written books on mood disorders specifically for patients and families. Dr. Kay Jamison has written extensively about her own experience of mood disorders and reflections about mental health and illness. Click here to see all our publications.

Community Presentations

MDC faculty regularly present clinical and research topics related to depression to community and religious organizations, mental health associations, and schools. Please email moodstalks@jhmi.edu if you would like to schedule a community presentation.

PROFESSIONAL

Continuing Medical Education

Faculty members of the Mood Disorders Center work to keep their colleagues in other medical disciplines abreast of the most current information about mood disorders. Through lectures, symposia, and Grand Rounds at Hopkins and other hospitals throughout the area, continuing medical education is regularly available to interested clinicians.

Residency Education

The Mood Disorders Center faculty members play a central role in residency education in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. By attending on the specialty mood disorder inpatient units, conducting weekly teaching rounds, and supervising mood disorder outpatient rotations, their expertise benefits not only residents but also medical and nursing students, faculty and staff.

The Alexander Wilson Schweizer Fellowship

The Alexander Wilson Schweizer Fellowship funds a mood disorders teaching program at Johns Hopkins. The Fellowship is a permanently endowed fund, the income from which is used to educate families and the public on understanding depression and bipolar disorder; and to train psychiatrists and other professionals in mood disorders research and clinical care.
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