5/27/2021 Grand Rounds

Part 1:

Part 2

Where There is One Psychiatrist

Speakers:

Micaela Owusu, MD, MSc

Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatrist, BMC

Program Director, General Psychiatry Residency and Assistant Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Babawale Ojediran MBBS, MSc

In-Country Associate Program Director, Liberia Psychiatry Residency Program

Benjamin Harris, MD, DPM

In-Country Program Director, Liberia Psychiatry Residency Program
This presentation will explore the state of psychiatric education globally including the crises of limited mental health treatments and inadequacies of task shifting models. We will take a deep dive into the international collaboration between Liberia and BU/BMC in establishing the nation’s first psychiatry residency training program under the leadership of Liberia’s sole psychiatrist, Dr. Benjamin Harris and the second psychiatrist recruited to be in-country, Dr. Babawale Ojediran.

Drs. Janet Lymas, Moses Ziah, Whyeayee Diggs, and Wilbur Harris will be the 2nd through 5th Liberian psychiatrists in the country upon their graduations in 2022 and 2023. They represent the first two inaugural classes of the Liberia Psychiatry Residency and will be offering some words on their experiences in the training program since its launch in July 2019.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Discuss the global burden of psychiatric disease and specific contributors to this burden in Liberia
  2. Describe one strategy for developing psychiatric training opportunities at the physician level in a low physician resource setting
  3. Describe the trajectory of growth for early psychiatry residency training programs including barriers and difficulties along the way