VCU to Hold 49th Annual Child Psychiatry Spring Forum

By Sathya Achia Abraham

Virginia Commonwealth University will host the 49^th Annual Child Psychiatry Spring Forum, an opportunity for participants to network and discuss development, trauma and recovery in infancy and early childhood.

The event will take place on Thursday, April 21, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the medical campus in the VCU Larrick Student Center, 900 Turpin Street.

The forum is open to VCU faculty, staff, students, professionals, parents and community members with an interest in the emotional and behavioral well-being of young people.

This year’s keynote speaker will be Charles H. Zeanah, Jr., M.D., professor of psychiatry and clinical pediatrics, director of child and adolescent psychiatry and vice-chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Tulane University School of Medicine. He is also an executive director of the Tulane Institute of Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health.

Zeanah will present “The Science of Early Brain Development: Opportunities for Prevention/Early Intervention.”

Afternoon sessions will include seminars on understanding and responding to the adjustment needs of children who have experienced trauma.

The sessions will feature several faculty members from VCU, as well as other speakers from ChildSavers, WingSpan and the Virginia Department of Education.

The spring forum is sponsored by the Virginia Treatment Center for Children, the VCU Department of Psychiatry and the Commonwealth Institute for Child and Family Studies.

Registration and fee required. For more information, call Glendora Woodward at 804-828-4393, or grwoodard@vcu.edu.