La Casa offering FREE Mental Health Speaker Series in Spanish

(November 18, 2021)

Mental health matters! That’s why La Casa is offering a FREE series on mental health (in Spanish only) on the 4th Wednesday of every month in partnership with The American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry. The series features medical experts from all over the world who will be speaking about various mental illnesses.

November’s webinar is scheduled for Wednesday, November 24th at 5PM and the topic is bipolar disorder. The discussion will be led by Dr. Mauricio Tohen. To register, e-mail youthandfamilies@lacasanwk.org or call 973-483-2703. Or, login directly via Zoom at http://tinyurl.com/ponenciassaludmental, or with ID: 915 4819 5211, password 395114.

Mauricio Tohen, MD, DrPH, MBA is University Distinguished Professor and the Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque NM, USA.

Dr. Tohen was born and raised in Mexico City. He earned his medical degree from the National University of Mexico and his Doctorate in Public Health (Epidemiology) from Harvard University (1988). His postdoctoral training included a residency in Psychiatry at the University of Toronto (1979-1982) where he also obtained a DPsych (Diploma) in Psychiatric Research, and a fellowship at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School in Psychopharmacology (1982-1985). Dr Tohen also obtained an MBA degree from the Indiana University Kelly School of Business.

Dr. Tohen was the Clinical Director of the Bipolar and Psychotic Disorders Program at McLean Hospital (1988-1997). In 1997 he joined Lilly Research Laboratories where he reached the senior most scientific rank of Distinguished Lilly Scholar. From 2009-2013 he was the Head of the Division of Mood & Anxiety Disorders and the Krus Endowed Tenured Professor in Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Centre at San Antonio.

Among numerous awards, Dr Tohen received a National Service Award in Psychiatric Epidemiology from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and Harvard University. He also received a FIRST award from NIMH, the Pope Award from McLean Hospital, a NARSAD Young Investigator Award and in 2011 the Simon Bolivar Award from the American Psychiatric Association for outstanding contribution to education, research and overall achievement in Psychiatry and leadership in Hispanic Psychiatry. From 2010 to 2012, Dr. Tohen was the President of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. He was the President of the American Society of Hispanic Psychiatry (2014-2016)

Dr. Tohen’s research, supported by grants from NIMH, private foundations and the pharmaceutical industry, has focused on the epidemiology, outcome, and treatment of Bipolar and Psychotic Disorders. He has authored over 350 peer reviewed publications and over 30,000 scientific citations.  He has edited or co-edited five books including Mood Disorders Across the Life Span (1996), Comorbidity in Affective Disorders (1999), Bipolar Disorder: The Upswing in Research and Treatment (2005), Bipolar Psychopharmacotherapy (first edition 2006, second edition 2011), Psychiatric Epidemiology (first edition 1995, second edition 2003, third edition 2011) and Clinical Trial Design Challenges in Mood Disorders (2015).

In 2014 Dr Tohen was  recognized in Thomson Reuter’s “The World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds, 2014”.  Honorees were the scientists who ranked in the top 1 percent by citations of their published work in 21 broad fields between 2002 and 2012.  Dr.  Tohen was one of 100 scientists worldwide recognized in the Psychiatry/psychology category.

In 2016, the International Society for Bipolar disorders awarded him the Mogens Schou award for Education and Teaching.