2023 WSPA Spring Meeting: June 3, 2023 
Disaster Psychiatry 

Psychiatric Care of Refugees and Political Torture-Survivors
James L. Griffith, MD, MS
Professor, George Washington University Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

James L. Griffith MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology and former Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.  As residency program director, then departmental chair, Dr. Griffith developed psychiatric training at George Washington University distinguished for its curriculum in cultural psychiatry, global mental health, psychotherapy, psychosocial care for medically-ill patients, and building resilience to adversity. 

In his clinical research, Dr. Griffith has published extensively on family-centered treatment of psychosomatic disorders and chronic medical illnesses, including a book, The Body Speaks.  A subsequent book, Religion that Heals, Religion that Harms, addressed destructive uses of religion and ideology in clinical settings and received the Creative Scholarship Award from the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture.  Dr. Griffith has provided psychiatric care for immigrants, refugees, and survivors of political torture at Northern Virginia Family Services in Falls Church, VA.  He has received the Human Rights Community Award from the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area and the Margaret B. and Cyril A. Schulman Distinguished Service Award from the George Washington University Medical Center, both for the training of mental health professionals and development of mental health services for survivors of political torture in the Washington metropolitan area.

As an educator, he has received the Distinguished Teacher Award from the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences.  He was selected by the Washington Psychiatric Society as its 2003 Psychiatrist of the Year and for its 2014 Distinguished Service Award.  He was the 2017 recipient of the Oskar Pfister Award from the American Psychiatric Association for his contributions to the field of religion and psychiatry.  He has been selected by Washingtonian Magazine as a “Top Doctor in Washington.”

Disaster Settings, Stages of Response & Stepped Care 
Doug Zatzick, MD
Professor, UW Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Douglas Zatzick MD, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at University of Washington School of Medicine, has spent 20 years developing a public health approach to trauma-focused research, specializing in PTSD and related conditions. From 2009-2012, he served as Chairperson of the National Institute of Mental Health, Services in Non-specialty Settings Study Section. Dr. Zatzick contributed to the U.S. Institute of Medicine's PTSD treatment assessment and WHO's PTSD guidelines.

He has participated in disaster relief and early intervention efforts after Hurricane Katrina and the January 2010 Haiti earthquake. He was medical director of the University of Washington’s Harborview Level 1 Trauma Center Psychiatric Consultation Liasion Service, and in this capacity provided front-line clinical services to ethno-culturally diverse acutely injured trauma survivors. He collaborates with trauma surgical policymakers to utilize clinical trial results to shape PTSD screening and intervention policies at U.S. trauma centers. Dr. Zatzick graduated from the UCSD School of Medicine and completed residency training at UCSF. 

Douglas Zatzick, MD

Medically-unexplained Symptoms and Syndromes
Charles Engel, MD, MPH
Professor, UW Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Charles Engel MD, Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, specializes in trauma-informed health systems and improving primary care for chronic health conditions. He is a Core VA HSR&D Investigator in the Seattle Center for Innovation, Co-director of the Center’s Advanced Fellowship on Learning Health Systems, and Adjunct Physician Policy Researcher at the RAND Corporation.

His research has covered traumatic injury and post-trauma syndromes ranging from blast injury, mild traumatic brain injury and Gulf War syndrome to PTSD and depression. Engel has led extensive trials, evaluations, and implementation studies, authoring nearly 200 papers. Funding for his work has come from the NIH, CDC, Department of Veterans Affairs, DoD, and other organizations. Prior to joining UW Psychiatry and the AIMS Center in 2021, he held senior roles at RAND Corporation and Uniformed Services University. Dr. Engel has testified before Congress and delivered lectures worldwide. He received both his MD and MPH from the University of Washington, trained in psychiatry at Letterman Medical Center in San Francisco, and completed the Psychiatry in Primary Care (C/L Psychiatry) Fellowship at UW

 Charles Engel, MD, MPH

Disaster Settings, Stages of Response & Stepped Care 
+ Q & A

Doug Zatzick MD
Professor, UW Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Medically-unexplained Symptoms and Syndromes
+ Q & A

Charles Engel, MD MPH
Professor, UW Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

Psychiatric Care of Refugees and Political Torture-survivors
+ Q & A

James Griffith MD MS
Professor, George Washington University Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences