Annual TPA meeting at Fall Creek Falls Lodge – March 16, 2024

Annual TPA meeting at Fall Creek Falls Lodge – March 16, 2024

Panelist Drs Adam Chan, Greg Kyser, Anjanette Eash, Jim Schmidt and Amelia Mitchell discussed advocacy Federally and Locally

Here are the highlights of the TPA Spring event at Fall Creek Falls by VP & Program Director, Dr Michelle Cochran.  

Fall Creek Falls Lodge is beautiful and the food and Friday networking event was a wonderful way for attendees to get reacquainted after our meeting hiatus during the pandemic.
Five Members in Training submitted posters for the Poster competition organized by TPA’s treasurer and ETSU Residency Training Director Shambhavi Chandraiah MD.  Four of these Members-in-Training presented their posters on Saturday morning:  Dr Phillip Glass, Dr Kevin Muthu, Dr Julian Raffoul, and Dr Sean Swerden.  Several psychiatrist judges assisted with the scoring.  

The Program them, “Helping You Care for Your Patients and Yourself,” began at 9 am and was woven throughout all the lectures:  
– Our President Keith Caruso, MD introduced the day,
– Dr Elizabeth Shultz spoke on the Problems in Mental Health nation and statewide
– Dr Caruso and Dr George Mathew spoke on the Potential Solutions to these problems.  
– We enjoyed a delightful Lunch with enough time to visit with our Exhibitors.
– Dr Eveleigh Wagner spoke on evidence based treatments: ECT, VNS, TMS, Ketamine and Esketamine, and Medications for Suicidal ideations
– A Panel on Practice Management which included Chuck Cochran, Lauren Vedros and Attorney Anne Arney talked about common issues facing psychiatrists and their practices
– Dr. Micheal Baron spoke on Wellness solutions for Physicians
– Dr Baron’s talk was followed by a Break with a stroll around the Lake at the Lodge
– then a final Advocacy Panel where topics of Federal and Local Advocacy were presented and a Call to Action was made by Dr Adam Chan, Dr J Greg Kyser, Dr Michelle Cochran (filling in for Dr Valerie Arnold), Anjanette Eash of TN Medical Association, and TPA’s Lobbyists: Jim Schmidt & Amelia Mitchell.  

At the end of Saturday’s program TPA hosted another networking hour where we made awards and drawings.  We honored our outgoing president Keith Caruso, with a certificate of appreciation and a gift card; drew names with prizes for three attendees from those that completed visits at all of the exhibitor’s tables, and awarded the Member in Training Poster Winners:  Julian Raffoul MD, PhD ($500 prize) and Sean Swerden MD (honorable mention). We will put all the abstracts on the TPA website this next week for others to read.  

After the networking event, the PAC donors, and special guests dined together with our lobbyists.  

Sunday, many members (some with families along) took advantage of the beautiful weather and explored the park, hiking to waterfalls to see the beautiful natural features of Fall Creek Falls State Park. The TPA Board recapped the program, and we declared the event a success and brainstormed about how to improve the next TPA meeting. The Board will be developing a program committee to TPA meeting committee for the next meeting in 2025, please reach out to Jackie Cavnar, or Dr Michelle Cochran. 

TPA will be hosting a Joint meeting with the Southern Psychiatric Association Fall meeting to be held Sept 11-15th in Chattanooga.  During the joint event there will be a networking event at the TN Aquarium as well as regional, state, and national speakers.  You may register and get your hotel by visiting https://www.sopsych.org/ or emailing their executive director, Janet Bryan, jbryan@sheppardpratt.org.  

As the program director, I, along with the TPA Board would like to thank Jackie Cavnar, our executive director for her support and assistance in orchestrating this meeting.  

Zoom LINK:  https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85098756251