As part of Mass General Brigham’s (MGB) plans to unify services and departments across academic medical centers, the psychiatry departments at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital became one on October 1, 2024, and Maurizio Fava, MD, was appointed as the integrated department’s first chair of psychiatry for academic medical centers. In parallel, over the past several months, MGB also created and launched three disease area-focused institutes — in cancer, neuroscience and heart and vascular care — that unite clinical, research and training expertise in those specialties.
With nearly one out of every eight inpatients on a medical or surgical unit at Mass General receiving care from the psychiatry team — four times the average at hospitals nationally — MGB recognizes the need for embedded, innovative psychiatry programs that serve patients who are treated within several MGB departments, disease-area institutes and service areas. Fortunately, several existing psychiatry programs, including Mass General’s Division of Neuropsychology and its MGB Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology, are already making an impact on patient care — serving as models for how this expanded and integrated psychiatry program will work at MGB’s institutes and throughout the health system to reach patients.
“Psychiatric care is a universal, life-changing resource that is present in nearly all services lines, including heart and cancer, throughout our hospitals, and its presence improves the mental and behavioral health and medical outcomes of patients,” says Dr. Fava. “We look forward to collaborating with the MGB Institutes to integrate mental health services into patient care across specialties.”
Complex Connections
Brain function affects our cognitive or thinking functions (like memory, attention and language), emotions and behaviors, and understanding these impacts in patients is the goal of neuropsychology, an important subspeciality of psychology that explores these intricate connections between the brain and behavior. It also examines how neurologic disorders, psychiatric, medical conditions and treatments impact patients’ cognition and mental health.
“We are excited for the future of our field and are embracing the possibilities that lie ahead in working together to improve patient mental healthcare.”
Given the importance of neuropsychology to holistic mental and behavioral healthcare, the Psychiatry department has now formed Mass General’s Division of Neuropsychology, comprised of: the Learning and Emotional Assessment Program (LEAP), which provides neuropsychological evaluations to children and adolescents ages 2 to 22; the Psychology Assessment Center (PAC), which provides neuropsychological evaluations and remediation services to adults of all ages; and a recently added patient-centered assessment program that advances access for adult patients from many different cultural and linguistic backgrounds. The new Division meets the wide-ranging needs of patients with cognitive, emotional and behavioral challenges throughout the lifespan.
“Together, we are able to provide seamless access to care from childhood throughout adulthood and for people from all backgrounds,” says Molly Colvin, PhD, director of LEAP and co-chief of the Division of Neuropsychology. Janet Sherman, PhD, PAC clinical director and Division co-chief adds, “By working through a broad, lifespan lens, we can better evaluate patients across the MGB system from a neurodevelopmental perspective.”
The programs that encompass the Division of Neuropsychology have a long history, with PAC formed in 1997 by Dr. Sherman, along with others at Mass General, LEAP formed in 2008 by Ellen Braaten, PhD, and the assessment program for adults with different languages and cultures formed in 2020 by Yakeel Quiroz, PhD.
An Exceptional Place to Train
To effectively bridge programming and improve continuity of care, both hospitals are harnessing their longstanding training program, the MGB Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology — one of the first integrated training programs offered at both hospitals, and a shining example of the power and prestige of this partnership.
Dr. Sherman, together with Aaron Nelson, PhD, former director of neuropsychology at the Brigham, created the Fellowship. “The Fellowship attracts top candidates in the field, many of whom remain part of the faculty at the neuropsychology programs at both Mass General and the Brigham,” says Dr. Sherman.
“It’s an exceptional place to train, where fellows have access to faculty and experts from both hospitals within one program,” says Dr. Colvin, who is a former fellow. Now in its 26th year, the Fellowship is co-directed by Britt Carlson Emerton, PhD, staff psychologist at Mass General, and Deborah Green, PhD, a Brigham neuropsychologist.
“These programs create a depth and breadth of services, and the MGB Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology provides innovative training, and together, they contribute to research that is highly unique in academic medical centers,” says Sabine Wilhelm, PhD, chief of psychology and director of the Center for Digital Mental Health at Mass General. “These programs poise our team well for deeper collaboration across our two major hospitals and at the system level in the future.”
Working Together, Endless Possibilities
Drs. Colvin and Sherman agree that while the unification of psychiatry departments at MGB’s academic medical centers — and a combined approach to research, medical education and patient care — are still very new, partnering promises the development of additional programs like the Division of Neuropsychology and its MGB Fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology. They add that MGB’s patients and their families are already seeing the results of the integrated approach through an expansion of resources that previously did not exist.
“We all care deeply about our patients and want to provide the best care possible while also expanding our research initiatives and providing a rich training ground,” Dr. Sherman says.
Dr. Colvin adds, “We are excited for the future of our field and are embracing the possibilities that lie ahead in working together to improve patient mental healthcare.”
To learn more about how to support the groundbreaking and collaborative work in psychiatry at Mass General Brigham’s academic medical centers, contact us.
