Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia

 

Rockland – East Fairmount Park, 3810 Mt. Pleasant Drive ♦ Philadelphia, PA 19121

Phone: 215.235.2345 ♦ Fax: 215.235.2388 ♦ Email: pcop@philanalysis.org

 

Recipients for the 2006-2007 Psychoanalytic Fellowship

 

FIRST YEAR:

 

            ACADEMIC FELLOWS:

 

Laura Dennis - She is a senior undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania majoring in Cognitive Science.  She enjoys learning about thought processes and the working of the human mind.  She would like to understand more about the clinical side of psychology which her program does not emphasize. She in interested in how she might translate the fellowship into exploring the possibility of an exciting and fulfilling career as a psychotherapist.  Her mentors are Drs. John Frank and Ruth Garfield

 

Sinten Gurac, M.A. - She is a teaching assistant at the English Department at Lehigh University.  She is an accomplished scholar and is also a recipient of the prestigious national fellowship awarded by the American Psychoanalytic Association. She is currently working on her Ph.D. dissertation – a study of the early poetry of T.S. Eliot through the lenses of Klein’s and Fairbairn’s object relations theories. She will use the fellowship to further explore and develop her use of psychoanalytic thinking applied to literature. Her mentors are Drs. Fred Fisher and Elaine Zickler.

 

Rev. Dwight M. Lundgren            - He is an ordained minister with American Baptist Churches.  He has served on the national staff of the Board of National Ministries since 1999.  His primary responsibility is to provide training to churches and individuals in areas of conflict mediation/transformation with a focus on community conflicts which arise out of cultural and ethnic differences. He will use the fellowship to further explore the psychodynamics at work in interpersonal and social conflict. He is also considering psychotherapy as a career and will use the fellowship to consider further education and training.  His mentors are Drs. Craig Lichtman and Steve Rolfe.

 

Andrew Novick - He is an undergraduate student at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia.  He has been conducting research on rats and stress while also exploring antidepressant mechanisms.  He plans to use the fellowship to consider antidepressant effects from biological and psychoanalytic perspectives.  He plans to attend medical school and is considering psychiatry and psychoanalysis as specialties.  His mentors are Drs. Gary Flaxenburg and Syd Pulver.

 

            CLINICAL FELLOWS:

 

Lielanie Mae Aguilar, M.D. - She is a second year psychiatry resident at Albert Einstein Medical Center.  She was trained as a pediatrician in the Philippines but she found herself captivated more in the psychosocial and behavioral aspects of her patients.  She decided to train abroad in psychiatry to have as extensive clinical perspective and as intensive exposure as possible.  She will use the fellowship to further understand childhood development as it relates to neurosis and traumatic events.  Her mentors are Drs. Dan Freeman and Fran Martin.

 

Laila Akhbarati, M.D. - She is a PGY-IV psychiatry resident at Drexel University.  She was born in Iran and moved to Sweden where she entered medical school followed by a family practice residency.  She realized that many of her patients had psychiatric and emotional problems which intrigued her.  Eventually, she decided to change specialties. She will use the fellowship to apply analytic concepts and principles in the clinical setting.  Her mentors are Drs. Hossein Etezady and Diana Rosenstein.

 

Jean Young Bai, M.D. - She is a child psychiatry fellow at Drexel University.  She gravitated to child psychiatry after completing over a year of a pediatric residency.  She felt child psychiatry offered greater involvement with her patients and their families.  She will use the fellowship to expand her psychodynamic knowledge of her patients.  She is also using the fellowship to explore psychoanalytic training.  Her mentors are Drs. June Greenspan-Margolis and Barbara Young.

 

Mary Evers, M.S.W. - She is a social worker at Cooper University Health System primarily working in the Women’s Care Center with pregnant and post-partum women. Many of these women face difficult social situations.  She will use the fellowship to better understand the problems of anxiety and depression, from a psychodynamic perspective, in her clinical work. Her mentors are Ms. Miriam Field and Dr. Helen Rosen.

 

Manisha S. Kamat, M.D. - She is a PGY-IV psychiatry resident at Drexel University.  Although she completed a psychiatry residency in India she was impressed by reading about psychodynamic psychotherapy practices in the U.S. and had a dream of learning about these practices. Her dream came true when she had an opportunity to be a resident at Drexel University.  She will use the fellowship to apply psychodynamic concepts in the clinical situation.  Her mentors are Drs. Sally Holtz and Marc Inver.

 

Lisa M. Mimmo, Psy.D. -  She is a post-doctoral psychology fellow at Pennsylvania Hospital.  She is interested in using the fellowship to explore the theme of life transitions from a psychoanalytic view.  She will look at transitions in life from the meanings attributed to them, the patient’s resiliency and adaptive abilities. Her mentors are Drs. Deena Adler and Bernie Comber.

 

Karishma K. Patel, Psy.D. -  She is a post-doctoral psychology fellow at Pennsylvania Hospital. She is interested in exploring the role of the therapeutic alliance in the process of analysis/psychotherapy.  She is also intrigued by the role of creativity and the use of metaphor in clinical work.  She would also like to gain a better understanding of cultural factors in the context of psychotherapy.  Her mentors are Drs. Salman Akhtar and Barbara Shapiro.

 

Anna Pecoraro, M.A. - She is a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology and graduate student in sexology at Widener University.  Anna was a former student in the Yale-New Haven Psychoanalytic Research Training Program and currently collaborates on research in psychoanalytic developmental neuroscience at the Mayes Laboratory, Yale School of Medicine.  She recently published her first book, The Survival Guide for the Teenage Brain: How NOT to Drive Yourself Crazy. She will use the fellowship to refine her qualitative research on the psychoanalytic significance of Jewish songs to Holocaust Survivor Families, as well as exploring the possibility of psychoanalytic training.  Her mentors are Drs. Ira Brenner and David Sachs.

 

Deborah Seagull, Ph.D. - She is a post-doctoral psychology fellow at Pennsylvania Hospital.  She is interested in using the fellowship to further understand individuals with character disorders, women’s health, and working with medically ill patients.  She is particularly interested in learning more about borderline and narcissistic dysfunction and using countertransference reactions to deepen the psychotherapeutic process.  She has an interest in psychoanalytic training.  Her mentors are Drs. Lana Fishkin and Anita Schmukler.

 

Brian Sharpless, Ph.D., M.A. - He is a post-doctoral psychology fellow at Pennsylvania Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Psychotherapy Research.  He will use the fellowship to better integrate his philosophical and theoretical interests with psychoanalytic thought. Specifically, he would like to explore the fundamental motivational principles of psychoanalysis, the history and progression of psychoanalysis, neuroses, and the potential empirical validation of psychoanalytic concepts. His mentors are Drs. Homer Curtis and Jack Solomon.

 

Donna Wolf-Palacio, L.C.S.W., M.F.A. - She is a clinical social worker with varied clinical and academic interests.  She trained psychoanalytically in New York. She is Training and Education Coordinator and Senior Staff Psychotherapist for Hall Mercer CMH/MRC of Pennsylvania Hospital/UPHS.  She plans to use the fellowship along with her involvement with The Washington Psychoanalytic Society’s New Directions writing program to get guidance in writing clinical articles.  Her mentors are Susan Adelman and Jeff Applegate.

 

 

SECOND YEAR:

 

            ACADEMIC FELLOWS:

Felipe DaSilva, B.S. - He is a non-traditional graduate student and a research coordinator at the Neuropsychiatry Department at the University of Pennsylvania.  He aspires to become a psychotherapist and researcher in the field of psychodynamic psychology.  He will use the fellowship to further develop his interest and knowledge of psychoanalytic theory.  He would like to study psychoanalytical prospects on psychosis and to develop ideas on how to experimentally explore psychodynamic treatments.  His mentors are Drs. Ted Hicks and Brad Sevin.

 

 

Ellen Lubin-Sherman, M.S.J. - She has practiced marketing communications for luxury products for over twenty years.  Three years ago, she embarked on a new career as a business coach, working with companies and individuals who find their success limited by their presentation and communication skills.  One of the areas of her expertise is young professionals who are underperforming professionally.  She will use the fellowship to understand the psychological barriers that impede them from living up to their potential.  Her mentor is Dr. Richard Cornfield

 

            CLINICAL FELLOWS:

 

Howard H. Covitz, Ph.D., A.B.P.P. - He is a psychoanalytically trained therapist who writes, teaches and serves on various professional boards.  He was the long-term Director of the Institute for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapies in Bryn Mawr. He is on the Board of Trustees of the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis (NAAP) where he fosters dialogue with other groups.  He will use the fellowship to revise his 1998 volume on the Oedipus; explore the limited interest in sadness in psychoanalytic literature; and move forward on efforts to act as a bridge-maker between competing psychoanalytic camps.  His mentor is Dr. Elio Frattaroli.

 

Annarita Gentile, L.S.W., A.C.S.W. - She is a graduate of the Adult Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Training Program and in private practice.  She has become increasingly interested in understanding patients with panic disorders including common resistances, defenses, and ego variablities.  She will use the fellowship to better understand these issues in helping patients move from supportive towards exploratory work.  Her mentor is Dr. Naomi Rosenberg.

 

Kelly Lynn Gilrain, Ph.D. - She is a post-doctoral fellow at Pennsylvania Hospital.  She has developed a professional niche working with medical populations.  She attempts to integrate emotional needs with physical illness as well as the impact on the individual and their family.  She will use the fellowship to deepen her understanding of psychodynamic conceptualization with varies medical populations.  Her mentor is Dr. Gerry Margolis.

 

Katherine M. Napalinga, M.D. - She is a PGY-IV psychiatry resident at Albert Einstein Medical Center.  She was born and raised in the Philippines and is interested in cultural diversity and psychoanalytic theory.  She is also interested in applying psychoanalytic thought to literature and film.  She will use the fellowship to understand basic psychoanalytic concepts in the clinical setting.  Her mentors are Drs. Alex Glijansky and Eva Loeb.