Alumni in Print
Dr. Curran’s book, intended for prescribers, counselors, teachers, and parents, details his journey to medical school and his unexpected 50-year career in psychiatry. He writes of insights he has gained by working with people hospitalized with psychosis, chronic pain sufferers, addicts, and troubled adolescents. Among the insights: All anxiety is rooted in the fear of separation from others, the loss of attachment; trauma results in the loss of trust and difficulties in forming healthy attachments, a phenomenon Dr. Curran calls attachment disability; labeling such inevitable suffering as disease risks creating a double disability, “a disability about the disability”; and normalizing such suffering rather than pathologizing it reduces any associated attachment disability.
Dr. Olson’s book discusses care of our bodies and minds and the importance of spirit to well-being. The book shows how it is possible to overcome the metabolic dissonance that causes obesity, diabetes, heart disease, isolation, depression, and burnout. This information prepares us to make lifesaving choices that keep us from becoming sick and can reverse diseases we already have. Dr. Olson shares personal anecdotes and insightful reflections about her own journey of self-discovery and how it has influenced her medical practice. The book blends her knowledge as an endocrinologist with mind-body medicine and spirituality to provide readers with a holistic approach to wellness. The book explores how nutrition, lifestyle, habits, stress, and relationships affect physical wellness and disease.
Dr. Fethke’s book is part memoir, part call to action from a doctor who wants to fix what’s gone wrong in American health care. “Both patients and medical doctors in America are realizing there are deep-rooted and seemingly insurmountable problems throughout our health care system,” says Dr. Fethke. His two decades of experience as a physician in diverse settings has helped him weave his personal story into a narrative about the past and future of American health care, all with an intention to start a conversation about how to get American health care to live up to its full potential. “I am determined to provide lay people with the knowledge and motivation they need to be proactive voices in determining the future of American health care.”
The textbook co-edited by Dr. Purohit is a comprehensive guide to new techniques in transgender surgery to help surgeons master the complex operative procedures that this field demands. The number of transgender and gender non-binary individuals is growing, and the number of patients seeking gender confirmation surgery is increasing. This book is an illustrated guide to the different types of gender affirmation surgery. The book illustrates top and bottom surgeries, including facial feminization, mastectomy, techniques in phalloplasty, metoidioplasty, and different approaches to vaginoplasty. Management of complications of gender affirming surgery is included. The book describes recent surgical updates, including the comparative advantages and disadvantages of each surgery.
Dr. Manseau and Columbia psychiatry professor Dr. Compton have put together a case study of seven federal laws that demonstrate how public policies, even when not explicitly mental health-related, can shape social determinants and improve mental health. For each of the seven laws, the book describes the crisis in society that spurred the law’s inception, key individuals and groups that influenced passage, how the law has evolved over time, and how the law can continue to affect mental health. The co-editors also contributed chapters. Other VP&S alumni who contributed by co-authoring chapters: Elizabeth Haase, MD, who completed residency training at Columbia, received a certificate from Columbia’s Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research in 2004, and is a former faculty member; Andrew T. Turk’08, Danny Neghassi’11, and Taiwo Alonge’21. Flavio Casoy, MD, a faculty member in psychiatry, also contributed to the book. Brie Garner, another chapter co-author, received her MPH from Mailman School of Public Health in 2020.