Not all the learning at APA’s 2016 Annual Meeting will take place within the walls of the Georgia World Congress Center.
A lucky few early birds will be able to sign up (before April 29) for enlightening visits to three sites around Atlanta doing important psychiatric research and treatment.
The Edutours are open only to registrants of the APA Annual Meeting and will provide access and guided tours to a major community psychiatric emergency department in Atlanta, a novel treatment setting for adults, and a leading primate research center.
Grady Memorial Hospital (Sunday, May 15, 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m.)
The Department of Psychiatry at Grady Memorial Hospital provides emergency and inpatient psychiatric services for patients residing in Fulton and Dekalb counties. Researchers at Grady have studied patients in the emergency department to better understand the interaction of stress-response genes with risk of PTSD, work that may lead to early interventions to reduce the onset of PTSD.
Edutours participants will learn more about the new psychiatric emergency room and how it is advancing collaboration with Grady’s medical emergency room.
Skyland Trail (Monday May 16, 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m.)
On Monday, the Edutours bus will depart for Skyland Trail, a nonprofit, voluntary mental health treatment center for adults with primary psychiatric diagnoses. Many patients also have co-occurring alcohol or substance abuse diagnoses. Skyland also has a primary care medical clinic on site, allowing for close integration of physical and mental health care.
Participants will tour the Skyland Trail campus and speak with staff psychiatrists, psychologists, and other clinicians.
Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center (Tuesday May 17, 1 p.m.-3:30 p.m.)
At Emory University’s Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center, scientists study neurobiological and genetic mechanisms underlying behaviors observed in developmental and psychiatric conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, anxiety, depression, and PTSD.
The center maintains a colony of more than 3,000 monkeys (macaques, sooty mangabeys, and squirrel monkeys), 57 chimpanzees, and nearly 10,000 rodents (mice, rats, and voles) for use in behavioral and biomedical research and breeding programs. Significant research on oxytocin has been conducted on voles at Yerkes.
Participants will have an opportunity to speak with the animal care personnel, researchers, veterinarians, and behavioral management staff to discuss their work and have their questions answered. ■
Space for the Edutours is limited: 30 seats for the Grady and Skytrail tours, and 40 for the Yerkes visit. Cost is $179 each, and participants must be preregistered for the APA Annual Meeting.
