Six members of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) Department of Psychiatry faculty were bestowed honorary membership in the Association of Neuropsychologists of Ukraine for their continued support to the country’s mental health community.
| Retired Army Col. (Dr.) David Benedek (pictured), chair of USU’s Department of Psychiatry, along with USU and Massachusetts General Hospital colleagues, were bestowed honorary membership in the Ukraine Association of Neuropsychologists for their continued support to the country’s mental health community. (Photo credit: Tom Balfour, USU) |
Retired Army Col. (Dr.) David Benedek, ret. Army Col. (Dr.) Wendi Waits, retired Navy Capt. (Dr.) James (Curt) West, Army Col. (Dr.) Vincent Capaldi, U.S. Public Health Service Capt. (Dr.) Joshua Morganstein, and retired Air Force Col. (Dr.) Robert Ursano, professor and former chair of Psychiatry, and founding director of USU’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress (CSTS); along with colleagues from Massachusetts General Hospital received the recognition during a virtual conference of more than 200 Ukrainian mental health professionals for the Association of Neuropsychologists of Ukraine in July.
Benedek, Morganstein, and Waits, in collaboration with professors from Massachusetts General Hospital, gave presentations focused on understanding and treating psychological responses to trauma. Speaking from his experience as a former U.S. Army psychiatrist, Benedek said the U.S. military now has a “greater recognition of the importance of care for traumatic psychological experience,” and a better understanding of the psychological impact on military personnel and civilians who witness violence and death.
Dr. Dmitry Garyshkin, President of the Association of Neuropsychologists of Ukraine, invited Benedek and his colleagues to share their specialized experience on operational mental health issues at the conference as part of the association’s mid-year events. Garyshkin also serves as director of the Simeino Center for Neuropsychology, Correction, and Neurorehabilitation and provides psychological care and treatment to soldiers and civilians impacted by the Russo-Ukrainian War as a clinical neuropsychologist.
