Keep on Playing Those MindGames!

David Leach, M.D. (left), Mildred Fajardo, M.D., and Basant Pradhan, M.D., of Albert Einstein Healthcare Network in New York were the winners of the MindGames competition at APA's 2009 annual meeting in San Francisco in May.

The trio competed against teams from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Texas at Houston before a jubilant crowd of fans from each of the training programs. Moderating MindGames for the third straight year was Glen Gabbard, M.D., who quizzed the teams on psychiatric diagnosis, neuropsychiatry, psychoanalysis, and psychodynamic theory, among other topics.

Serving as judges this year were Beth Ann Brooks, M.D., director of the general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry residency programs (as well as associate chair for education) at Wayne State University/Detroit Medical Center; Larry Faulkner, M.D., president and CEO of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology; and Lowell Tong, M.D., a clinical professor who holds an endowed chair in psychiatry medical student education at the University of California, San Francisco.

The three teams were finalists in a competition that began earlier this year when residency teams of three members each from around the United States and Canada took an online examination consisting of time-limited multiple-choice questions. The questions followed the ABPN Part I content outline.

The three top-scoring teams with the fastest posted time received a $5,000 grant from APA to send their teams to the MindGames final round at the annual meeting. Next year's finalists, who will compete at the 2010 annual meeting in New Orleans, will be announced in March at the annual meeting of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training.

Contestants from the University of Pennsylvania were Josh Blume, M.D., Ryan Connolly, M.D., and Regina Szucs, M.D. Their training director is Anthony Rostain, M.D. Contestants from the University of Texas at Houston were Peter Ly, M.D., Tanya Krolls, M.D., and Elizabeth Truong, M.D. Their training director is Anu Matorin, M.D.