2025 Annual Meeting Guest Speakers
Educational Session 1: Zip Codes Matter: The Social Determinants of Resilience
Wendi Wills El-Amin MD
Professor of Family and Community Medicine, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
Wendi Wills El-Amin, M.D. is a Professor at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine where she provides care at the Center for Family Medicine in Springfield. Dr. El-Amin is dually appointed to the SIU’s Department of Medical Education where she serves as an academic strategist.
She has been a community health advocate and activist. She is presently a board member of the Community Foundation of the Land of Lincoln. Springfield YMCA, and Springfield Memorial Hospital and Foundation. She is the recipient of the 2023 SIUSOM Leonard Tow Humanism award, the J. Dorsey Teaching Award in 2022, and was named one of the 2022 Women of Influence from the Springfield Business Journal.
She has a passion for addressing health disparities and inequities in healthcare.
Educational Session 2: Physician Mental Health: Psychological PPE in 2025
Carol A Bernstein, MD
Professor and Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Wellbeing, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences;
Montefiore Medical Center/Albert Einstein College of Medicine
CAROL A. BERNSTEIN, M.D. is Professor and Vice Chair for Faculty Development and Wellbeing in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Montefiore Medical Center /Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She is also a Senior Scholar in the Department of Education and Organizational Development for the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). She was previously Vice Chair for Education and Director of Residency Training in Psychiatry at NYU. From 2001-2011, Dr. Bernstein also served as the Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education and the Designated Institutional Official for ACGME accredited training programs at NYU. Dr. Bernstein is a Past-President of the American Psychiatric Association and served the Association as Vice-President, Treasurer and Trustee-at-Large and as the chair of multiple committees. She has served as a spokesperson for the American Psychiatric Association on many occasions and received the 1997 exemplary psychiatrist award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI). She is the recipient of the APA/NIMH Vestermark Award in Psychiatric Education and the APA Alexandra Symonds Award for contributions to the advancement of women in leadership and in women’s health. In 2018, Dr. Bernstein received a special Presidential commendation from the APA for her work in educating the public about mental illness through her role on Sirius/XM Doctor Radio. In 2019, she received the John Gienapp Award for notable contributions to Graduate Medical Education from the ACGME and the Distinguished Service Award from the American College of Psychiatrists.
Dr. Bernstein completed medical school at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. Following an internship in internal medicine at St. Luke's/Roosevelt Medical Center in New York, she completed her psychiatric residency training at Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Bernstein is active in many national psychiatric associations in addition to the APA - these include the American College of Psychiatrists where she is currently the Treasurer of the Board of Regents, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry and the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, among others. In 2003, Dr. Bernstein was selected as a Fellow in ELAM (Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine) a national program, designed to promote leadership for women in medicine. In 2005, Dr. Bernstein completed the Physician Leadership Development Program at NYU as well as the Graduate Medical Education Leadership Program of the ACGME. From 2010-2016, Dr. Bernstein served on the Board of Directors of the ACGME where she co-chaired the ACGME Task Force on Physician Well Being. She is also a member of the Action Collaborative on Clinician Wellbeing and Resilience of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Bernstein has written numerous articles and chapters on psychiatric education and has served as a peer reviewer for both the American Journal of Psychiatry and Academic Psychiatry. She has served on the editorial boards of Academic Psychiatry, the Journal of Psychiatric Services and Focus, has presented at more than 80 conferences and meetings and has been the recipient of a number of visiting professorships. For more than ten years, Dr. Bernstein hosted a weekly call-in show for consumers on Sirius Radio’s Doctor Radio Channel sponsored by the NYU Langone Medical Center.
Educational Session 3: Climate Change and Mental Health—A Unique Role Psychiatrists Can Play
Lise Van Susteren, MD
Dr. Lise Van Susteren, a practicing general and forensic psychiatrist in Washington, DC, is an expert on the physical and mental health effects of climate change. In 2011 she co-authored "The Psychological Effects of Climate Warming on the U.S. - Why the US Mental Health System Is Not Prepared". Dr. Van Susteren has served as a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown University and has been a consultant to the Executive Branch of the US Government profiling world leaders. After receiving her medical degree from the University of Paris, she practiced medicine in West Africa, at community health centers and homeless shelters in metropolitan Washington DC. In addition to community organizing on climate issues, Dr. Van Susteren has served on the Advisory Board of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and is currently on the board of Physicians for Social Responsibility, Earth Day Network, and is co-founder of "Climate Psychiatry Alliance," a professional group dedicated to promoting awareness and action on climate from a mental health perspective. Dr. van Susteren is the expert witness on the psychological damages in the case Juliana v US – in which 21 youth plaintiffs and climate scientist dr. James Hansen are suing the federal govt for inaction on climate. She is a frequent contributor on television, radio and in the print media. In 2006 Dr. Van Susteren sought the Democratic nomination for the US Senate from Maryland.