Horizons – Fall 2012

Nurturing the next generation of clinicians and researchers is a vital part of McLean’s mission. In this issue of Horizons, you’ll read about the unique ways two very generous donors are investing in the future of psychiatry. The O’Keefe Family Junior Investigator Awards for Excellence in Imaging Research give seed funding to young scientists conducting novel studies that would probably not attract funding from traditional sources. Meanwhile, the Nellie Blumenthal fellowship provides one advanced practice nurse with invaluable hands-on experience at McLean through the nursing equivalent of a medical residency.

The theme of nurturing also plays out in our story about the Barr Foundation’s support of McLean’s Program in Education, Afterschool and Resiliency (PEAR), a powerful multi-pronged effort to tend to the socioemotional needs of vulnerable adolescents.

Of course, we could not sustain the full breadth of our comprehensive mission without the leadership of our board. We introduce to you two new trustees.

The O’Keefe Awards: Catalyzing Research, Jump-Starting Careers
One researcher is looking at how administering xenon gas may minimize injury to a traumatized brain. Another is studying how childhood sexual abuse affects brain function and increases the risk of re-victimization. A third is trying to understand the connection between early tobacco use and later vulnerability to drug abuse. Each study is likely to make important contributions to the field of psychiatry in the near-term, yet none of them would likely be funded through traditional channels.

Two Trustees Join McLean Board
McLean welcomed Stacey J. Lucchino and Jennifer Guckel Porter to its board of trustees in July. “We are delighted to add two such talented and passionate people to our community,” said Chairman David S. Barlow. “I know both of them will make distinct and important contributions as stewards of the hospital’s mission.”

Partnerships Key to PEAR and Student Success
In ten Boston classrooms last year, students who habitually “acted out” were handed cameras and asked to document the things that angered them and offended their sense of justice. Their images ranged from the commonplace to the profound, everything from a crumbling school bathroom to a sidewalk memorial for a murdered youngster. After participants wrote about their photos, they created a school-wide exhibit. And in the process, remarkable things happened.

Fellowship Advances Master’s-Level Nurses Into Practice
In partnership with a private foundation, McLean is embarking on a pilot effort to enhance the clinical workforce in mental health by offering a one-year fellowship to an advanced practice nurse. The Nellie Blumenthal Fellowship is the nursing equivalent of a medical residency program: it gives a newly minted master’s-level psychiatric nurse invaluable experience—under the supervision of seasoned clinicians—in the process expanding McLean’s ability to deliver high-quality patient care.

Horizons is published by the McLean Hospital Development Office.