Health & Society

Falk College, National Science Foundation REU Program Host Discussion Series for PTSD Awareness Month in June

Sunday, May 30, 2021, By News Staff

To educate the local community about issues related to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the David B. Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics is offering a discussion series during the month of June, which is designated as National PTSD Awareness Month. 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.

The discussion series to raise public awareness of PTSD and its effective treatments is free and open to the public. It takes place in conjunction with the Trauma Research Education for Undergraduates program, a joint effort by 鶹ƵUniversity, SUNY Upstate Medical University and SUNY Oswego to improve access to research experiences for groups typically underrepresented in research.

The project, “Training Diverse Undergraduate Teams of Veterans and Non-Veterans to Conduct Trauma Research with Veterans,” is directed by Brooks B. Gump, Falk Family Endowed Professor of Public Health, and co-directed by Professor Karen Wolford, who also coordinates the interdisciplinary graduate certificate program in trauma studies at SUNY Oswego.

The discussion series includes:

  • Wednesday, May 26, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Scott Aubin, U.S. Air Force veteran, PTSD awareness instructor, “Dealing with unrecognized PTSD”
  • Wednesday, June 2, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Kyle Possemato, clinical research psychologist, 鶹ƵVA Center for Integrated Healthcare, “Novel Interventions to Engage Veterans with Unmet Mental Health Needs in Care”
  • Monday, June 9, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Thom DeLara, professor of practice and chair of Falk College’s Department of Marriage and Family Therapy, “Systems Theory, Trauma and Research”
  • Wednesday, June 16, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Keith A. Alford Ph.D., 鶹ƵUniversity’s Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, “Racial, cultural and ethnic response differences to PTSD”
  • Wednesday June 23, at 2 p.m. ET, virtual, : Lt Col. Ian Stewart, M.D., FACP, FASN, U.S Air Force, Medical Corps, Bethesda, Maryland, “Long-term mental and physical health after combat trauma”
  • Wednesday June 23, at 3 p.m. ET, virtual, : Jeffrey T. Howard, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Public Health, College for Health, Community and Policy, University of Texas at San Antonio, “Military Exposures and Accelerated Aging:  Understanding Trauma as a Chronic Disease”

Supported by a National Science Foundation Research Education for Undergraduates grant and the (IVMF), this REU program spans one year, including an intensive six-week summer program in June. 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.

“Through a competitive national review process, we have selected a group of student veterans and traditional students to complete this research training this summer,” says Wolford. “The students will be paired on teams with mentors to research PTSD and will later present their research at national conferences.”

“As part of this research training, we invite guest speakers who have expertise in the area of PTSD to inform our research trainees on cutting edge developments on traumatic stress research. We open these expert talks to the community as part of the June Posttraumatic Stress awareness month, which is an ongoing national effort to educate about PTSD,” Wolford adds.

For more information about the speakers or REU program, contact Moise Laub at mplaub@syr.edu or visit .