Participants in a roundtable discussion at APA’s Institute on Psychiatric Services in October examined the challenges facing ethnic minorities, barriers to diagnosis and effective treatment, and whether patients are receiving medications that enhance their quality of life.

Among the participants were psychiatry residents in the APA/AstraZeneca Minority Fellowship Program and the APA/CMHS Minority Fellowship Program.

The discussion took place at the Rainbow Center, a community-based rehabilitation center in New Orleans run by people with mental illness. Mental health patients visiting the center and mental health experts joined the minority fellows in a frank discussion of the special challenges and barriers facing ethnic minorities with mental illness.

Irma Bland, M.D., of Tulane University led the discussion along with other local experts, Chuck Chester, M.D., of the Jefferson Parish Mental Health System and Ken Sakauye, M.D., of the Louisiana State University Medical Center department of psychiatry.

"We want to ensure that minorities with mental illnesses receive the best possible care available," said moderator Susan Ishiyama, M.D., a fourth-year resident at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh.

"New medications are revolutionizing the treatment of many mental illnesses so that patients can lead full and rewarding lives. We hosted this roundtable to find out if minority patients feel they have equal access to these groundbreaking medications and what else can be done to improve their quality of life."

Other APA/AstraZeneca minority fellows who participated were Brett Murphy-Dawson, M.D., also of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic; Francisca Ifesinachukwu, M.D., of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Tex.; Jacquelyn McLemore, M.D., of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston; Victoria Barnes, M.D., of the New England Medical Center in Boston; and Khanh-Trang Nguyen, M.D., of St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C. The APA/CMHS minority fellow who participated was Varanise Booker, M.D., of the University of Louisville.

The APA Minority Fellowships Program provides educational enrichment to psychiatry residents and stimulates their interest in providing quality and effective services to minorities and the underserved. It is also designed to involve the fellows in the work of the Association and to give the Association the perspective of young psychiatrists.

This activity was sponsored by AstraZeneca.