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Children's Chief of Behavioral Medicine Honored with APF Award for Distinguished Career in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

Washington, DC – For her career dedicated to advancing child and adolescent psychiatry, Paramjit T. Joshi, MD, was recently awarded the American Psychiatric Foundation Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for a Distinguished Career in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in New York City.

The award was established in 2000 and is given annually to a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has made outstanding contributions to the advancement of child and adolescent psychiatry in activities including teaching, research, writing, clinical care, advocacy, and policy.

Dr. Joshi is the Division Chief of Behavioral Medicine and Director of the Psychiatry and Psychology programs at Children’s National Health System. She is also a Professor of Psychiatry, Behavioral Sciences and Pediatrics, at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Joshi is the current president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and serves as a Director on the Board of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She has held several other leadership positions in the field including President of the Society of Professors of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2006-2008).  She has taught and published extensively on depression, bipolar disorder, global mental health, and childhood trauma and consulted in various countries on responding to natural disasters and trauma.

One in five children in the United States suffers from mental health conditions and of those children, only 20 percent will ever seek treatment. The Center for Neurosciences and Behavioral Medicine at Children’s National is one of the largest in the country devoted to children and adolescents. Last year, Dr. Joshi and her team provided mental health care for approximately 2,000 emergency psychiatric patients, evaluated more than 1,800 new outpatients, and conducted more than 16,000 follow-up patient visits.

“I’m honored to receive this recognition and to join the ranks of the notable past recipients who’ve dedicated their careers to children’s mental health,” said Dr. Joshi. “Through continued hard work in research, clinical care, and advocacy I hope we can eventually reach and help every child with mental illness.”

Contact: Emily Hartman or Caitlyn Camacho at 202-476-4500.

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