Pre-Conference Workshops

A passionate clinician and patient advocate, Oguz Omay has been involved in perinatal psychiatry for over two decades. Taken aback by the fact that very few women found adequate psychiatric care during the perinatal period, he organized a grass roots multidisciplinary networking movement in his region to address perinatal mental health. With the contribution of many professionals as well as mothers with relevant lived experience, this movement led to the creation of the Perinatal Psychiatry Unit in La Teppe Medical Center, Tain l’Hermitage, France.
During the 20 years Oguz Omay worked there, La Teppe Medical Center in Tain l’Hermitage, hosted regular regional, national and international workshops under the auspices of the International Marcé Society and Postpartum Support International. The meetings were attended by participants from 40 different countries and widely acclaimed.
In his efforts to organize better care for mothers, Oguz Omay helped to introduce Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) for perinatal depression, both in France and Turkey, his country of origin. He has been an active IPT supervisor and trainer in both countries, giving trainings in French, English and Turkish.
Oguz Omay is qualified in both Child/Adolescent Psychiatry and Adult Psychiatry. After having lived and worked in France for more than 30 years, he recently moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where he joined Les Toises, Psychiatry and Psychotherapy Center. He is also affiliated to Üsküdar University in Istanbul, Turkey, to facilitate the dissemination of IPT in his country of origin.

Laura Mufson, Ph.D. is a Professor of Medical Psychology and Associate Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Co-Director of the Office of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, and Director of Clinical Psychology at New York State Psychiatric Institute. In addition, she is Director of Training for the Child Track of the APA Accredited Predoctoral Internship in Clinical Psychology. Dr. Mufson is the developer of the adolescent adaptation of Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depression (IPT-A) and has been a principal investigator, co-investigator and/or consultant with colleagues on numerous grants studying adaptations of IPT-A to be delivered in schools, primary care clinics, and community clinics, as well as models for prevention of depression, anxiety and peer victimization, and for the treatment of prepubertal depression. Her areas of expertise include the evaluation of empirically supported intervention outcomes in clinical trials conducted in research and community settings, implementation of treatments in the community, and models for training clinicians in empirically supported psychotherapies. She has published numerous articles and book chapters on the treatment of adolescent depression and interpersonal psychotherapy. Dr. Mufson has conducted training workshops on IPT-A throughout the United States, UK, Europe, and Scandinavia.

Anat Brunstein Klomek, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and the director of the graduate clinical program at the School of Psychology in the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, Israel. Dr. Klomek is also an Adjunct Associate Research Scientist in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University in New York. Dr. Klomek received her Ph.D. in child clinical psychology from Bar Ilan University in Israel and completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University. Dr. Klomek’s research focuses on psychopathology, bullying/cyberbullying, suicidality and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT-A) among adolescents. She was trained in Interpersonal psychotherapy for depressed adolescents (IPT-A) by Laura Mufson and is currently training and supervising in IPT-A in Israel and the U.S.

Dr Roslyn Law trained as a clinical psychologist at the University of Edinburgh and as an IPT practitioner and supervisor at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto.  She has worked in multiple clinical settings, including primary care and specialist psychotherapy services for people with eating disorders, post traumatic reactions, sexual health and for children and families. She is an executive member of IPTUK and ISIPT, with lead roles in workforce development and dissemination.  She is currently Deputy Director for CYP IAPT at UCL and Consultant Clinical Psychologist and IPT and IPT-A lead at The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families. She was author of the national curriculum for IPT and IPT-A practitioner training and IPT supervisor training in IAPT and CYP IAPT and had written two books on IPT and IPT-A.

Dr. Stuart is a psychiatrist and a Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology in the Departments of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Iowa (USA). He has been active in clinical work, education and research in the areas of Interpersonal Psychotherapy and perinatal psychiatry during the last two decades.  Dr. Stuart completed his medical training at the University of Kansas, followed by internship at the University of Pittsburgh. He has received several teaching awards, and has conducted training courses in IPT in over 30 countries.   He, along with Michael Robertson, is the founder of the ISIPT and served as the co-President of the organization for over a decade with Dr. Robertson.  He and Dr. Robertson are the co-authors of the textbook Interpersonal Psychotherapy: A Clinician’s Guide (2nd ed).

Jessica Schultz, Ph.D., is a counseling psychologist and holds the positions of Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Psychology at Augustana College (Rock Island, Illinois). Dr. Schultz has been engaged in clinical work and research in IPT for nearly a decade, including extensive work in training and supervising new IPT clinicians. In addition to her work in IPT, she has also published in the areas of posttraumatic growth and forgiveness.

Laura J. Dietz, Ph.D. is a clinical and developmental psychologist whose research focuses on the study of family risk factors for depression and the development of psychosocial interventions for mood disorders in youths.  Dr. Dietz completed her graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh, a predoctoral internship at Children’s Memorial Hospital, Feinberg School of Medicine, in Chicago, IL, and a postdoctoral fellowship at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.  For the past 10 years, Dr. Dietz has developed, manualized, and tested the efficacy and putative treatment mechanisms of Family Based Interpersonal Psychotherapy (FB-IPT) for Depressed Preadolescents.  She is an Associate Professor of Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling at the University of Pittsburgh, and trains clinicians in Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Depressed Adolescents (IPT-A) and FB-IPT.

Ellen Frank is Distinguished Professor Emeritus of psychiatry and psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. For more than two decades, she directed the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.
Professor Frank is internationally recognized for the development and testing of a series of treatments for major depression and bipolar disorder. Her adaptations of interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) including maintenance IPT, and interpersonal and social rhythm therapy (IPSRT) are now in use throughout the developed world.  She originally designed IPSRT as an individual, adjunctive treatment for bipolar disorder.  She and her colleagues have now adapted this uniquely biologically-based treatment for both group and individual treatment of both bipolar and unipolar disorders in adults and adolescents. In the course of her research and through workshops at national and international meetings, Professor Frank has trained hundreds of clinicians in IPT and its various adaptations.
Working with researchers at the University of Pisa, Italy, Professor Frank developed a series of unique assessment instruments for the systematic evaluation of subsyndromal mood and anxiety conditions. That work has now led to the development of highly efficient computerized adaptive tests (CATs) for mood and anxiety disorders through collaboration with Professor Robert Gibbons of the University of Chicago.  Most recently, with colleagues at Trinity College, Dublin and Cornell University, Dr. Frank has focused her attention on the development of mobile technology to support the management of mood and anxiety disorders.
An expert in mood disorders and their treatment, Professor Frank served as a member of the US National Advisory Mental Health Council and, more recently, on the Mood Disorders Workgroup of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on DSM-5.  Professor Frank is an Honorary Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. In 1999, she was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine).
Professor Frank has published over 450 peer-reviewed papers in psychiatric and psychological journals and has authored or co-authored more than 100 books and book chapters.

Dr. Danielle M. Novick is a clinical psychologist and supervisor at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System.  She received her undergraduate degree from Hampshire College and her doctoral degree from the University of Pittsburgh.  Dr. Novick completed her clinical psychology internship at the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Healthcare System.  She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan Depression Center.
Dr. Novick has more than 15 years of experience conducting research and providing clinical services, clinical training and supervision, and community psycho-education and outreach.  Through her work with Drs. Ellen Frank, Holly Swartz, and Heather Flynn, she developed clinical specialization in interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) and interpersonal and social rhythm psychotherapy (IPSRT) for mood disorder and perinatal populations.  She has been providing clinical training and supervision in IPT and IPSRT for almost ten years.  Dr. Novick is a member of ISIPT’s Dissemination Committee.
Dr. Novick has received grant support from the University of Michigan Depression Center.  She is the author or co-author of 20 peer reviewed and invited publications that have been cited over 800 times.

Dr. Holly A. Swartz is professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard University and her medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her psychiatric residency training at New York Hospital / Cornell University School of Medicine. She currently serves as the Treasurer of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD), Past-President of the International Society for Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IsIPT), Scientific Program Chair for the 2019 biennial meeting of IsIPT, and Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of Psychotherapy.
Dr. Swartz’s research focuses on understanding and optimizing psychosocial and pharmacologic interventions for mood disorders. She is well known for her work in evaluating Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) and Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy (IPSRT) as treatments for depression and bipolar disorder. Her research focuses IPT in the management of maternal depression, both in the perinatal period and in the context of high-risk families with psychiatrically ill offspring, and on the role of IPSRT and pharmacotherapy in the management of bipolar II depression. Currently, she is working on a project to develop a novel computational framework to model dyadic interpersonal behaviors in relation to psychotherapy (IPT and CBT) process and outcomes. She is testing an online version of IPSRT for treating bipolar disorder in primary care and examining neural mechanisms of a rhythm-specific intervention for transition age youth with bipolar disorder.
Dr. Swartz has received grant support from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Depression and Bipolar Alternative Treatment Foundation, the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD). She is the author or co-author of over 100 peer reviewed or invited publications and is co-editor of a forthcoming book on bipolar II disorder. She is the recipient of numerous awards including a New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) New Investigator Award from NIMH and the Gerald L. Klerman Young Investigator Award from the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance.  Her publication on brief psychotherapy for maternal depression was cited among the Top 10 NARSAD Advancements and Breakthroughs for 2016.

John Markowitz, M.D. is a Research Psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Professor of Psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. He received his medical degree from Columbia University in 1982 and completed psychiatric residency training at the New York Hospital-Payne Whitney Clinic in 1986. He trained in cognitive behavioral therapy at the Center for Cognitive Therapy in Philadelphia, where he is a Founding Fellow, and in interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT) with the late Gerald L. Klerman, M.D. at Cornell.
Since residency Dr. Markowitz has conducted clinical research involving psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy of mood, anxiety, and personality disorders. He collaborated on chronic depression and on HIV-related research at Cornell. Since moving to Columbia University/New York State Psychiatric Institute in 2001, he has focused on personality disorders and PTSD, receiving grants from the NIMH, NARSAD, and other foundations. He has lectured widely on IPT and other topics. Dr. Markowitz is author, co-author, or editor of 20 books (including Interpersonal Psychotherapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Oxford U. Press, 2016) and has published more than three hundred peer-reviewed articles and chapters. He has served on the Executive Council and is now Vice President of ISIPT.

Alexandra Klein Rafaeli is a clinical psychologist (licensed in NY State-USA and Israel) who received her doctorate from Yeshiva University, New York City (USA). She also holds a masters degree in Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City (USA). Dr. Rafaeli’s clinical training has mainly focused on evidence-based treatment approaches, and included a fellowship at Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Adolescent Psychoeducational Treatment Program, training and research in Interpersonal Therapy (IPT) at the NY State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University, and an advanced certificate and post-doctoral fellowship in Cognitive/Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapies (CBT abd REBT) from the Albert Ellis Institute. She has worked as a therapist in outpatient clinics, counseling centers, and research settings and as a supervisor of psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.
In 2009, Dr. Rafaeli moved to Israel with her family and began work at Tel Aviv University’s psychological services. She developed a liaison program for international students on campus seeking services from the university counseling center, developed a course on empirically supported therapies for the psychologists and social workers in training at the center, and devoted time to disseminating IPT around the country. Dr. Rafaeli is currently Training Coordinator of CBT and IPT interventions at Tel Aviv University’s psychological services division. She also serves as an adjunct instructor at Smith College (in the US) and The Interdisciplinary Center – Herzliya (in Israel), and she maintains a private practice in Israel.
Dr. Rafaeli is a member of the International Society for Interpersonal Therapy (ISIPT), where she serves on the journal and certification committees. Dr. Rafaeli is also co-founder of the local Israeli chapter of IPT. She has published case studies and theoretical chapters on IPT, and is involved in IPT research. Most recently, Dr. Rafaeli has developed an adaptation of a brief IPT intervention aimed at treating depression in college-age students.