PaPS-Philadelphia-Colloquium-speakers

Judith S. Beck, PhD, is Clinical Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also President of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy in Bala Cynwyd, a nonprofit organization that provides state-of-the-art treatment and training in Cognitive Behavior Therapy, the most highly researched and widely practiced psychotherapy in the world. Dr. Beck and other faculty provide training locally, nationally, and internationally, and have trained over 40,000 health and mental health professionals since 1994.

Dr. Beck has written over 100 articles and chapters as well as books, workbooks, and pamphlets for professionals and nonprofessionals, including Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond, Cognitive Therapy for Challenging Problems: What to Do When the Basics Don’t Work, and The Beck Diet Solution book and workbook. She has made hundreds of presentations nationally and internationally on various applications of CBT and is the primary developer of the Beck Institute’s online CBT training courses. In addition to teaching, researching, writing, and directing the Beck Institute, Dr. Beck treats clients who experience a range of challenges.

Bettina Bernstein, DO, is a clinician educator and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Psychiatric Medicine and Neuroscience at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, a Clinical Affiliate in the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Bernstein is board certified in Child, Adolescent and Adult psychiatry as well as in Integrative Medicine. She is active in local and national organizations and advocates for children and families as a Delegate to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) National Assembly from her local Regional Council chapter (the Southeastern Pennsylvania Southern New Jersey).

Dr. Bernstein also serves as a committee liaison to the AACAP Schools Committee from the AACAP CIMED Committee and maintains a private practice and consults to child serving agencies including Family Court, Foster Care Agencies, Community Health Agencies, and K-12 Schools.

Anita Smith Everett, MD, DFAPA, currently serves as the Director of the Center for Mental Health Services in the US, Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.  There she oversees the administration of grants that aim to increase access to high quality treatment for persons with serious mental illness and children with serious emotional disturbances. 

Dr. Everett comes to SAMHSA with long-term experience in the delivery and leadership of psychiatric services for persons with schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions.  Dr. Everett is a past president of the APA and has received commendation for her work in national healthcare reform and advocacy. 

Dr. Sandeep Nayak, completed his MD at Brown University and his psychiatry residency at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He’s primarily focused on investigating psychedelics as treatments for psychiatric conditions, particularly substance use disorders and mood disorders.

Dr. Nayak also works as a psychiatrist at Addiction Treatment Services (ATS) at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center.

Dr. Chiadi U. Onyike, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, is a neuropsychiatrist and clinical epidemiologist who directs clinical and research programs focused on the frontotemporal dementias, young-onset Alzheimer disease and other neurodegenerative disorders in young and middle-age adults.

He is a principal investigator and co-investigator of research projects sponsored by NIH, foundation, industry and philanthropy grants. He sits on the Medical Advisory Council of the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration, the FTD Disorders Registry Scientific Advisory Board, and the executive committee of the International Society for Frontotemporal Dementias. He has also served on NIH Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias committees, the NIH Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Strategic Planning Working Group, and the FDA Advisory Committee for Central and Peripheral Nervous System Drugs.

Dr. Onyike received his Medical Degree from the University of Nigeria, and a graduate degree in Clinical Epidemiology from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He completed psychiatry training at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and research training in Psychiatric Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Neurochemistry/Cell Signaling at the University of Maryland at Baltimore.

Dr Karim Ghobrial-Sedky, is currently the psychiatry program director at Family Health Centers of San Diego (FHCSD). He has long track in education in which he served as director on inpatient services on one of the units at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and was teaching both residents and students. In addition, 11 years ago, he joined Cooper Health Care System in which he served as the Medical Student Education Director, 3 of which was the psychiatry program director as well. He is currently building with new psychiatry residency at FHCSD that will be starting in July 2024.

Dr Sedky is a quardiple board certificed in general adult psychiatry, child and adolescent, sleep and addiction medicine. In his early career, he identified the sleep problems as one of the integral issues commonly seen in patients with Psychiatric condition and enhanced his training in the field.

Dr. Benjamin Yerys, is an Associate Professor in the Center for Autism Research (CAR) and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (DCAPBS) at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and Department of Psychiatry in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He directs the Transition to Adulthood Program at CAR, providing clinical services for transition aged autistic youth in the outpatient clinic in DCAPBS. His research focuses on the development of cognitive skills and brain mechanisms that support adaptive behavior in children with neurodevelopmental conditions, including cognitive control, attention, and reward-based learning.

His research seeks to understand how these mechanisms develop differently in neurodevelopmental conditions, how it relates to common co-occurring conditions (ADHD and anxiety), and one’s daily functioning. He is also applying this knowledge to new treatments. Among his notable career accomplishments, Dr. Yerys demonstrated that

• Co-occurring ADHD symptoms in autistic children lead to more executive function impairments and wose functioning in day-to-day life.
• Repetitive behaviors or nonsocial features of autism are related to impaired function of cognitive control at the behavior and brain level.
• The reward system contributes to both social and nonsocial features of autism.