Falk Offers PTSD Discussion Series

To educate the local community about issues related to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Falk College is offering a discussion series during the month of June, which is designated as National PTSD Awareness Month to raise public awareness of PTSD and its effective treatments. PTSD is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents or physical or sexual assault, either in adult or childhood.

These programs, which are free and open to the public, take place in conjunction with the Trauma Research Education for Undergraduates (REU) program, a joint effort by Syracuse University, SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY Oswego to improve access to research experiences for groups typically underrepresented in research. The speakers featured during this series include:

• Thom deLara, professor of practice, Department of Marriage and Family Therapy at Falk College,  will present “A contextual framework for understanding trauma” June 8 at 1:30 p.m. in 201 Hall of Languages.
• Kyle Posemmato, clinical research psychologist and acting associate director for research at the Syracuse VA Center for Integrated Healthcare(CIH) will speak on “Clinical Research with Military Veterans with PTSD and Substance Abuse” June 15 at 1:30 p.m. in 201 Hall of Languages.
• Douglas Scaturo, private practice clinical psychologist who recently retired from the Syracuse VA Medical Center, with academic appointments with SUNY Upstate Medical Center, Syracuse University and SUNY Oswego, will speak on “Combat Stress ”  on June 23 at 1:30 p.m. in 201 Hall of Languages.

Supported by the grant “National Science Foundation Research Education for Undergraduates NSF REU Site: Training diverse teams of Veterans and non-Veterans to study trauma in Veterans,” the REU program spans one year. Students attend an intensive four-week summer program during June that includes coursework, mentored student-faculty interaction and the development of a research project. Students conduct their research under the continued mentorship of REU faculty during the following fall semester. Students, with their mentors, present research findings in the following spring at a national or international conference.

For undergraduates interested in pursuing a graduate education, it is sometimes difficult to find meaningful research experiences and mentoring. This program provides research training to increase skills in conducting trauma research while increasing a student’s ability to gain admission to competitive graduate programs. For more information about the speakers or REU program, contact Ivan Castro (iecastro@syr.edu).