Resident

• APA Leadership Fellow served on the communications council for two years, contributed to the APA re-branding efforts and re-design of APA website
• Won the International Travel Fellowship from the Association of Women Psychiatrists
• Member of the CT Psychiatric Society—contributed to the newsletter about my international work in Sierra Leone (Examining the link between substance use, mental illness, and associated stigma among former child soldiers)
• Edited the 3rd Edition of A Residents Guide to Psychiatric Training
• 2015 recipient of the APA Resident Recognition Award--given to outstanding residents or fellows who exemplify APA values

Fellow

• APA/SAMHSA Substance Abuse Fellow, with the funding awarded I completed a needs assessment to determine how best to deliver evidence based substance abuse treatment to minority populations
• Also, completed educational forums at various churches throughout the New Haven Area about drug use, and resources available about same from APA website
• Served as a speaker for the Global Mental Health Forum specifically geared at RFM and ECPs at the 2016 annual meeting

Attending

• Secretary of the Black Caucus
• Serve as an official mentor for the APA Mentorship Fellowship
• Given talks to Black sorority organizations on Mental Health and suicide, specifically highlighting resources available on the APA website 

Networking

Increase NETWORKING of ECPs from various areas both nationally and internationally to promote awareness of shared interests, creative visions, and research interests within the field of psychiatry.

Ways to achieve this would be to (1) Create a virtual “ECP Corner” on the APA website posting all information directly relevant to early career psychiatrists, ie (Streamline all conferences of interest for ECPs, with associated links for registration and a database highlighting other ECP APA members who are planning to attend that conference)

Collaboration

Increase membership of RFM and ECPs by COLLABORATION with other specialized psychiatric organizations, placing emphasis on racial and ethnic minorities, women, LGBTQIA, and International Medical Graduates, to ensure our membership reflects our diverse patient population.

Ways to achieve this would be to encourage (ie offer a financial incentive) for ECPs to attend conferences where under represented populations highly frequent, to increase APA membership, while fostering relationships between diverse sets of groups interested in psychiatry.  Examples of conferences/annual meetings ECPs could attend for the purpose of recruitment and presentations include, but are not limited to, Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, National Medical Association, Student National Medical Association, Latino Mental Student Association, Black Psychiatrists’ of America, etc.

technological innovation

Emphasis the relevance of the APA to ECPs by increasing visibility of all the work the APA does for its members and the greater community through the use of TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION.

Ways to achieve this goal would be to appoint an RFM/ECP social media guru from each district whose sole responsibility would be to increase APA visibility on social media, highlighting ECP relevant perks/information to engage new members and improve communication amongst the existing ECP membership