Amidst the Cherry Blossoms: An Invitation to #ADAA2023 from the Conference Co-Chairs

Jonathan Alpert, MD, PhD

Jonathan E. Alpert MD PhD is the Dorothy and Marty Silverman University Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience and Pediatrics. His academic interests include innovative treatments for difficult to treat mood disorders, childhood onset depression, depression comorbid with other medical illnesses, multi-cultural mental health, health disparities, drug-drug interactions, behavioral health integration, ethical issues in the conduct of human studies, and medical education. Dr. Alpert graduated from Yale College summa cum laude with majors in Psychology and Philosophy. He received his MD from Yale and his PhD in Behavioral Pharmacology from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Cambridge where he was a Marshall Scholar. He completed residency training in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and in Psychiatry at McLean Hospital. He joined Einstein/Montefiore after 24 years at the Massachusetts General Hospital where he was Director of the Depression Clinical and Research Program and Associate Chief of Psychiatry responsible for outpatient, inpatient and emergency services. He was the first incumbent of the Joyce R. Tedlow Chair in the Field of Depression Studies at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Alpert served on the Board of the National Network of Depression Centers and the PCORI MoodNetwork Executive Steering Committee and was founding chair of the Research and Scholarship Committee for the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education. He is chair of the American Psychiatric Association's Council on Research. Dr. Alpert is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a member of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology, Society of Biological Psychiatry, and American Association for Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry. The author of over 225 publications, Dr. Alpert has received numerous recognitions for teaching, mentorship and service from Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Partners HealthCare, American Psychiatric Association, Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance and Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies.

Dr. Alpert is the ADAA 2023 Conference co-chair

Simon Rego, PsyD, ABPP, A-CBT

Dr. Rego is Chief of Psychology and Director of Psychology Training at Montefiore Medical Center and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. He is Board Certified in Cognitive Behavioral Psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology, Certified in Cognitive Behaviour Therapy by the Canadian Association of Cognitive and Behavioural Therapies, and Certified as a Cognitive Therapy Trainer/Consultant by the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies. He is also a Fellow of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies and the Academy of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapies and a Founding Clinical Fellow of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

Dr. Rego has more than 50 publications (including a book for professionals on the treatment of OCD and a forthcoming book for professionals on the treatment of Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia) and nearly 200 professional presentations. He also co-authored 2 self-help books (The 10-Step Depression Relief Workbook: A Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Approach and The CBT Workbook for Mental Health) which have now been translated into German, Polish, Russian, Simplified Chinese, and Dutch. Dr. Rego has been working with media since 2004 and has specialized interests in the use of social media to educate the public about mental health and the identification, implementation, and evaluation of emerging technologies to improve treatment outcomes.

Dr. Rego is a former member of the Board of Directors of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and the Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA). He was the recipient of the 2008 Award for Distinguished Early Career Psychologists by the New York State Psychological Association, the 2015 Peterson Prize from the Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology at Rutgers University, and the 2018 Jerilyn Ross Clinician Advocate Award from the Anxiety and Depression Association of America. In 2021, he was selected to join the Montefiore Physician Leadership Academy's Physician Leadership Program and in 2023 was selected to join the Montefiore Einstein Innovation Biodesign Training Program.

Learn more about Dr. Rego

January 4, 2023

Amidst the Cherry Blossoms: An Invitation to #ADAA2023 from the Conference Co-Chairs

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Awash in pink and white from the famous cherry blossom trees in April, Washington DC will be host to ADAA’s Annual Conference in 2023. Known for their bright colors and festive associations, the cherry blossoms are a perfect backdrop for this year’s conference as we anticipate a colorful and vibrant event.

If you haven’t yet registered, we encourage you to do so right away (the special early registration rate is available only until February 9, 2023). ADAA’s conference is the nation’s only multidisciplinary forum focused on depression and anxiety and related conditions such as PTSD and OCD.

We are excited to present leading speakers, interactive workshops, high-yield roundtables, Timely Topics and State of the Art Clinician sessions. In addition, the conference will feature far-ranging symposia, lively poster presentations, and special offerings for early career professionals and trainees.

We are particularly excited about this year’s theme: From Science and Technology to Evidence-Based Practice: Enhancing Access through Integration.

At a time when anxiety, depression and related conditions are recognized as major public health challenges within all communities, yet all too few individuals in most communities have access to treatment, we recognize the need to be relentless. We are steadfast in our pursuit of evidence-informed therapies that are effective, scalable, and reach all communities, including those traditionally marginalized and all clinical and non-traditional settings including schools and places of worship.

We recognize the enormous promise and huge unknowns on the frontiers of our field, ranging from digital and other technologies to innovative new psychotherapies to neurostimulation, psychedelics and other rapidly acting treatments. These are the kinds of urgent imperatives and breathtaking innovations the conference will highlight. At the same time, the conference will offer practical sessions oriented to our diverse attendees with a focus on work life balance, setting up a clinical practice, refining professional goals, collaboration, and leadership.

The scope of the ADAA 2023 conference is well exemplified by some of its invited speakers, including this year’s Ross Lecturer, David M. Clark, DPhil, Emeritus Professor of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, whose talk Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: Science, Practice, Economics and Politics aligns perfectly with this year’s theme.

The Presidential Invited Guest Lecturer, Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD, DH Chen Professor of Biochemistry and of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford, whose pioneering work launched the field of optogenetics as a powerful approach to probing neuronal networks underlying behavior, will describe advances in our understanding of the neural circuitry of depression.

Luci B. Johnson, businesswoman, philanthropist and the daughter of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, will deliver the keynote talk from her lived experience with an autoimmune disorder and as an advocate for mental health.

Please join these esteemed speakers as well as 1000+ clinical and research colleagues across disciplines as we learn and network together and continue to advance knowledge and care on behalf of those with anxiety, depression and related conditions.

Whether you are a psychologist, psychiatrist, social worker, nurse practitioner, neuroscientist, public health researcher, mental health policy advocate, mental health counselor or other professional whose research or clinical work relates to anxiety and depression and who is as energized as we are by opportunities for interdisciplinary dialogue, this year’s conference is definitely for you!

We anticipate a high-spirited, valuable and memorable ADAA 2023 Annual Conference in the nation’s capital and look forward to greeting you amidst the cherry blossoms in April!