The Wasserman Education Fund of CALACAP (WEFC) was established in 2020 by the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in honor of the late Saul Wasserman, M.D. Dr Wasserman was a child and adolescent psychiatrist who was active in advocacy in child and adolescent psychiatry for decades.
This fund encourages trainees to pursue advocacy and policy in the arena of child and adolescent psychiatry.
The WEFC will allocate $500 annually to a child and adolescent psychiatric fellow from each of the four Regional Organizations (ROCAP) which comprise the CALACAP. We will solicit candidates for this award from the ROCAP’s.
Eligibility criteria includes:
- Participation in statewide or national advocacy activities in which they have taken part during their training.
- A one-page statement of an important current policy issue related to children’s mental health and rationale for their selection.
- Complete Wasserman Award Fund Checklist
- Brief one-paragraph biography of the candidate.
- Submission by October 17th of every year.
The suggested list of advocacy activities/topics may include: contact with legislator or legislative staff, participation in advocacy activities in Sacramento or Washington, D.C., submission of letters to legislator re: mental health policy or bill, use of social media to promote mental health policy issues, participation in statewide or national mental health advocacy activities sponsored by statewide organizations, and/or white paper on anti- racism and mental health.
Each ROCAP will develop its own process for the selection of its candidate for the award. The ROCAP will then provide the contact information (name, address, training institute) along with the statement from its candidate to the ROCAP’s delegate to CALACAP. Subsequently, a check will be mailed to them directly. If a ROCAP cannot identify a Member-In-Training, we welcome applications to our inaugural annual award program.
For more information, please contact your ROCAP chapter or email CALACAP at info@calacap.org.
2020 Award Recipients:
- CCROCAP - Ozra Nobari, MD
- NCROCAP - Chase ANderson, MD & Jack Turban, MD
- SCSCAP - Jiwon Helen Wyman, MD
- SDACAP - Michael Chu, MD
2021 Award Recipients:
- CCROCAP - Melinda Armstead, MD
- NCROCAP - Omar Sahak, MD
2022 Award Recipients:
- CCROCAP - Apurva Bhatt, MD
- NCROCAP - Jonathan Updike, MD
- SCSCAP - Darshana Sachin Pai, MD
- SDACAP - Yueling Li, MD
2023 Award Recipients:
- CCROCAP - Alexis Rosvall, MD
- NCROCAP - Thara Nagarajian, MD
- SCSCAP - Rubi Luna, MD
- SDACAP - James Collins, MD