Guest Blog: Stanford Psychiatrist Awarded Second PRMS-Endowed Fellowship

As part of PRMS’ ongoing commitment to behavioral health, we invited Janet Baek, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine in Stanford, CA, to be featured as our guest blogger this month and share her goals as the new PRMS Fellow in Child Psychiatry with the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry.

I applied to become a fellow with the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) for the 2021-2023 term as an opportunity to collaborate with leaders in psychiatry and potentially help shape our field. I am particularly interested in advocacy for children, adolescents, and families, as well as the intersection of culture and mental health. My goals for the fellowship are to: 1) collaborate on ways to promote health equity, 2) strengthen my communication and leadership skills, and 3)  discuss ways to meet the needs of communities during a time of pediatric mental health crisis.

My interests in organized psychiatry and health equity come from my long-standing interest in systems-based work. Prior to entering medicine, I was originally interested in a career in special education and education policy, and studied Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. I participated in an education internship at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, where I rounded with the inpatient child psychiatry team and learned that psychiatric and medical comorbidities can greatly impact a child’s learning. This discovery, along with my research on substance use among ethnic minority youth, inspired my career change from education to psychiatry. Because of my background in education and policy, I continue to be drawn towards conceptualizing psychiatric issues at community and systemic levels, and this fellowship has provided a forum for that.

At Stanford, I have been fortunate to train and work with child and adolescent psychiatrists, other physicians, and researchers who are content experts in various aspects of child and adolescent mental health. Given that several professional organizations have declared a national emergency in child and adolescent mental health, multidisciplinary collaborations are more crucial than ever before. I am also involved in exciting projects that involve 1) understanding the experiences of Asian/Asian American transgender youth and 2) incorporating yoga and mindfulness practices in clinical settings to promote emotion regulation and stress management among youth.

At GAP, I appreciate having access to a small group of experts – members of GAP – to discuss current events in psychiatry. I have found that as a child psychiatry fellow working in various settings and systems, I am able to contribute to the discussions and share information on what training and current practices look like. The PRMS Fellowship in Child Psychiatry with GAP will help my career development and creative efforts, and I am thrilled about this unique opportunity to discuss and potentially address systemic issues in our field.

Janet Baek, MD

Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellow at Stanford University School of Medicine and PRMS Fellow in Child Psychiatry with the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry

PRMS is pleased to support a Fellowship in Child Psychiatry with GAP, the leading think tank for mental health. Interested in learning more about a GAP Fellowship? Visit https://ourgap.org/page-18144 to learn more about the application process.

If you have any questions or are interested in receiving a quote, contact PRMS at (800) 245-3333 or TheProgram@prms.com.