postdoctoral research fellowship in psychiatric epidemiology

Name :

Vandad

Surname :

Sharifi Senejani

From :

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

To :

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Academic Rank :

Associate professor

School/Research center :

School of Medicine

subject :

postdoctoral research fellowship in psychiatric epidemiology

Venue :

Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Country :

United States

1.Brief summary of Leave :

During my sabbatical leave at department of mental health in Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, I developed and conducted some research projects under the supervision of my mentor (Dr Ramin Mojtabai). I completed a project on the long-term health consequences and mortality associated with psychotic disorders and experiences ascertained in the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA). I completed one paper based on these analyses which examines all-cause mortality associated with psychotic symptoms in the total ECA sample of over 15000 participants followed up to 27 years. I also worked on another project examining long-term social and clinical consequences of psychotic symptoms in the Baltimore ECA which is the only ECA site with long-term follow-up data. I organized the datasets and generated analytic variables and wrote a summary proposal for the analyses and started the analyses. In addition, I started working on a project implementing and investigating child mental health interventions in Iranian primary care settings. For that purpose, I collaborated with my mentor and Dr. Lawrence Wissow on this project which involved a comprehensive review of the literature on the topic and started writing a grant proposal.
During this period, I attended brief courses in mental health services, psychiatric epidemiology, basic and advanced statistics for psychosocial research. I have attended weekly seminars and guest lectures, as well as grand rounds and journal clubs at department of psychiatry.

3.Acheivements(Publications,research,et.al.) :

A paper has been accepted for publication in Psychiatric Services in which I was a collaborator and another paper is submitted for publication in British Journal of Psychiatry in which I was the first and corresponding author that currently is under review and a revision is requested. A third paper will be submitted in a few months.

4.Assessment of Value of Sabbatical leave(benefits,faculty development,future professional activities,...) :

My sabbatical leave was a highly valuable experience in a highly prestigious academic center. I have benefited from the expertise of researchers and faculty at the department of mental health in Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that is a top ranking public health schools around the world. I was coached in the process of different research activities, from writing a proposal to statistical analysis and writing scientific papers. I also learned doing some sophisticated analytic methods in mental health research that would be very beneficial in conducting high stake research analyses in our country. Moreover, I gained up-to-date knowledge about the methods and result of latest research activities in psychiatric epidemiology and mental health service research. I hope, the experience would help me in future development and conduct of high quality, policy and practice relevant epidemiological and mental health service research that contributes towards improved treatment and care for our people who are affected by mental health problems, especially in a context with limited resources.