News Archives

2008 Announcements

She was born on October 15, 1918 in Perry, KS, the daughter of J.W. and Vera Prater Trusdale. She attended Kansas State University, Northwestern University and Washburn University. She was a Fellow and National President of the American Medical Writers Association and a member of the Council of Biology Editors and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was a member of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity, the First Presbyterian Church, Kansas Press Women and the National Federation of Press Women. She also served on the Board of Directors of the Capital Area Chapter of American Red Cross. Virginia married George H. Eicholtz on May 28, 1937 in Alma, KS. He preceded her in death in October of 2002. She was also preceded in death by one son, James R. Eicholtz in July of 1993 and one granddaughter, Debora Lee Sparks in December of 1993. Survivors include two sons, Jon T. Eicholtz and wife, Barbara Eden of Beverly Hills, CA, William H. Eicholtz and wife, Nancy of Topeka, ten grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren, twelve great-great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. Memorial services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, March 15, 2008 at Penwell-Gabel Mid Town Chapel. Private inurnment will take place in Mount Hope Cemetery. Memorial contributions may be given to the Arab Shrine Travel Fund c/o Arab Shrine, 1305 S. Kansas Ave., Topeka, KS 66612. To leave a special message for the family online, visit www.PenwellGabel.com.  

Published in the Topeka Capital-Journal on March 4, 2008.

Menninger Trustee Louis Pozez dies
Longtime Menninger Trustee Louis Pozez died February 29, 2008, in Tucson, AZ, after a lengthy battle with brain cancer. Mr. Pozez was elected a Trustee in 1978. He served on the Boards of Directors of The Menninger Foundation, The Menninger Fund, and The Menninger Corporation. He served on the Audit Committee.

Pozez Hall, a residence for patients in the C.F. Menninger Memorial Hospital in Topeka, was named in recognition of the contributions of the Pozez family to the work of Menninger. In 1995, Menninger honored Mr. Pozez and his wife Ruthann with the William C. Menninger Medal for Achievement in Mental Health.

Mr. Pozez is a founder of Volume Shoe Corporation, now Payless ShoeSource, Inc. The company is one of the largest shoe and handbag distributors in the country.

Born September 19, 1921 in Brest Litovks, Poland, Mr. Pozez was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle and friend. He was a devoted husband to Ruthann for 61 years. Mr. Pozez left Poland in 1938 with his sister Irene and two Aunts. They traveled to Topeka, Kansas where the Pozez’ made their home for 45 plus years.

Mr. Pozez served in the US Army from 1942 to 1946 as a Master Sergeant. After the war he began his distinguished business career with his first cousin (brother) Shaol and his Uncle Abe Pozez. After several years in the surplus and general merchandise business Mr. Pozez co-founded Payless Shoes in 1956 with Shaol Pozez and his brother-in-law Larry Kornbleet. Mr. Pozez grew Payless into the nation’s leading footwear retailer and in 1979 Payless was merged into May Department Stores.

Over the many years of his successful business life, Mr. Pozez was involved in many other businesses as a professional board member. These organizations included, founding member of the board of Pizza Hut, Wichita, KS, Frederick Herrod Meat Packers, Detroit, MI, Discount Fabrics, Portland OR, The Menninger Foundation, Topeka, KS and The May Department Stores, St. Louis, MO.

In addition, Mr. Pozez was sought out by several banks to serve on their boards including Merchants Produce Bank of Kansas City, Fidelity Bank of Topeka and The National Bank of Tucson. Louis was also heavily involved in many Jewish activities during this time including Temple Beth Shalom of Topeka, KS, United Jewish Appeal, Bnai Brith, Israel Bonds and others.

Mr. Pozez retired to Tucson, AZ, in 1983 to devote his time to his family and philanthropic activities. He will be remembered as a gentle, compassionate, man who modeled integrity, generosity, and commitment. He was a fun, happy man who always had something nice to say and he inspired all who loved him with his selfless attitude. He is survived by his wife Ruthann, children Dr. Stephen Pozez of Tucson, Dr. Andrea Pozez of Richmond, VA, (also a Menninger Trustee) and Norman (Melinda) Pozez of Washington DC. Grandchildren Alex, Sam and Eli Pozez will miss their Saba greatly. Sisters Irene Youngentob, Boca Raton, FL, Evelyn Pozez, Tucson, Marcia (Stan) Kurtz, Ft Worth, TX, brothers Jerry Pozez (Deidre), Ft. Worth, TX, Alfred (Irene) Rosenfield, Dallas, TX and many nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews. Services were held Sunday March 2nd at Congregation Anshei Israel; graveside services followed at Evergreen Cemetery. Arrangements by Evergreen Mortuary & Cemetery, Tucson, AZ.

(By Menninger and the Topeka Capital-Journal, Topeka, Kansas)

New book explores key to healthy relationships and self-awareness
A new book written by mental health experts with The Menninger Clinic in Houston explores how the concept of mentalizing, the ability to “tune in” to one’s own thoughts and feelings and to put oneself in another’s shoes, forms the basis of healthy relationships and self-awareness.

Published in January 2008, Mentalizing in Clinic Practice offers mental health professionals a guide to understanding mentalizing and how to use it in their clinical practices, and distills current research findings about mentalizing. The book is written by Jon G. Allen, PhD, Menninger director of psychology; Peter Fonagy, PhD, director of the Menninger Child and Family Program; and Anthony W. Bateman, MD, clinical and research consultant at Menninger. Drs. Allen and Fonagy also are editors of The Handbook of Mentalization-Based Treatment, published in 2006.

The authors, and Menninger, have been involved in extensive research on how neurobiology and human development affect the human mind and are refining research-based patient care that promotes a person’s capacity to mentalize. The authors have also lectured internationally on mentalizing, responding to growing interest in the subject.

Failing to mentalize properly can contribute to serious problems in relationships. Psychiatric disorders such as depression, personality disorders and substance abuse also interfere with mentalizing.

“Our book shows how mentalizing unifies diverse therapeutic perspectives, ranging from cognitive-behavioral and interpersonal therapy to psychodynamic perspectives,” Dr. Allen says. “Our new knowledge about the development of mentalizing in attachment relationships enables us to provide needed developmental help to our patients—whatever their age. In development and in psychotherapy, mentalizing begets mentalizing.”

Peers reviewing the book recognize mentalizing’s potential for shaping mental healthcare:

• “We are probably witnessing a new paradigm for psychiatry,” says Sigmund Karterud, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry, University of Oslo, Norway.
• “The authors audaciously propose that mentalizing is the central corrective process of all effective psychotherapies and persuasively assert that this can be directly linked to failed early parent-child interactions. They could be right! And that makes this book essential reading for the next generation of psychotherapists,” says John G. Gunderson, MD, director, Borderline Treatment and Research Center, McLean Hospital, and professor, Harvard University.
• “Here is a strong authorial voice on a vital psychotherapeutic theme. This exceptional volume helps therapists, from analytic to cognitive and beyond, to open minds and hearts to mentalizing as a meta-concept, underpinning—and often spearheading—all worthwhile psychotherapeutic enterprise,” adds Jeremy Holmes, MD, professor of psychological therapies, University of Exeter, United Kingdom.

Mentalizing in Clinical Practice is now available from American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. To order, visit: appi.org.

Former Menninger nurse explores surrogacy through fiction
Psychiatric nurse Linda Sebastian, former director of the Women’s Program at The Menninger Clinic, has written Reluctant Miracle, a novel that explores the human aspect of infertility and surrogacy.

The novel, published in January 2008, tells the story of two Kansas women and their families and “how they negotiate one of life’s most important experiences.”

Ms. Sebastian’s manuscript won the fiction award in 2006 from the Florida Writer’s Association. More about the book can be found at www.LindaSebastian.com.

Ms. Sebastian previously wrote Overcoming Postpartum Depression and Anxiety, described as a guide for pregnant and postpartum women and their families.

Ms. Sebastian, who lives in Bonita Springs, Florida, is currently an adjunct faculty member at Florida Gulf Coast University in the School of Nursing. She was with The Menninger Clinic for 14 years.

Robert Ault, art therapist, dies
A Topekan who helped pioneer the field of art therapy and spent decades serving others has died. Robert Ault suffered respiratory failure following a long illness.
 
A gifted artist, he worked as an art therapist at Menninger for 32 years. He opened Ault's Academy of Art in Topeka in 1973, where he conducted classes as well as therapy sessions.
 
Bob was one of five founders of the Art Therapy Association of America. He also helped start a graduate program in art therapy at Emporia State University.
 
Bob Ault is survived by his wife, Marilyn, children, Dana and Carrie, and four grandchildren.
 
A memorial service is set for 3 pm, February 24, 2008, at Washburn's Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center.

2007 Announcements

The graduation of Roberto Salomón, MD
A remembrance by Andres Berger-Kiss, PhD
One by one, six colleagues of Roberto Salomón came to his home in Topeka, Kansas, on the peaceful afternoon of June 14 in 1963, to stay by his side when we realized that he had only a short time to live.

After an ordeal of eight months fighting the illness that slowly reduced him to a condition of near helplessness, he found himself transformed into a shadow of the handsome and energetic man we had befriended for several years. Emaciated, he was unrecognizable. The last four weeks we had taken turns night and day to provide the medical and psychological care needed by someone struggling with the last onslaughts of a terminal cancer of the stomach.

His blood pressure and pulse were reaching dangerous lows, breathing was increasingly difficult and periods of lucidity kept getting shorter. Infrequently, he was able to realize what was happening around him; once he informed us with a waning smile on his lips and a voice we could barely hear: “I am now walking on the very edge of life.”

Afraid that he would die any moment, we decided to call the director of the institute, Dr. Karl Menninger – known by his students and  associates as Dr. Karl – to inform him what was happening, since he had told us about his desire to bring to Roberto his diploma as a graduate of the Menninger School of Psychiatry. We waited in silence for Dr. Karl’s arrival, hoping that Roberto might still be able to realize he was receiving his diploma after the successful completion of his psychiatric residency.

Fifteen minutes later Dr. Karl arrived with an enormous basket filled with fruit and cheese for the family of the dying man.

After greeting Roberto’s wife and embracing his parents, who had arrived from Madrid to be with their son for the last time, he walked into the dying man’s room, followed by the rest of us.

Realizing how close to death Roberto was, Doctor Karl touched his arm and said softly, “ Roberto, Roberto: I promised I’d come to surprise you, and here  I am.”

Roberto opened his eyes and a faint smile spread over his face.

“Oh, you came, Doctor Karl. It’s you?” he managed to say, while trying to lift his arm in a vain attempt to offer a handshake. His effort to prop himself up on the pillow failed. “They said you’d come at seven, but what time is it now?”

He mumbled faintly, slurring some of his words.

“I forgot I had a dinner engagement at seven,” said the famous psychiatrist. “Since all these good friends of yours and your family want to see you graduate, there’s no reason to wait. Roberto Salomón, I am privileged to award you the diploma as a graduate of the Menninger School of Psychiatry. I congratulate you!”

And pulling the large diploma out of its envelope, he placed it in Roberto’s hand, congratulating him, Doctor Salomón seemed to be using up the last bits of energy left in him. He closed his eyes, apparently against his wishes for he kept struggling to open them again, resisting that final torpor that would finally separate him from the rest of us forever.

“Gracias, Gracias a todos,” he managed to say, the shadow of a smile on his face, slurring his words.

Those were the last words we heard him speak. He finally was able to half open his eyes and looked directly into Dr. Karl’s face like a drowning man pleading for something we could not discern. Dr. Karl understood his pleading and knelt by the bed, placing his head next to the newly graduated young man and touched his face, saying with the most tranquil and reassuring voice, “Now you can rest, Roberto. Everything's going to be fine. You can now go to sleep in peace, my boy and in only a little while I’ll be with you.”     

They looked at each other intensely. Dr. Karl kissed him on the forehead and Roberto held his teacher’s hand, smiled and closed his eyes.

All of us walked out of the room and surrounded Dr. Karl. One of his students, a young man from Cuba , placed his hand on Dr. Karl’s shoulder and said to him, “You are a noble and very loved person.”

Dr. Karl looked at all those present and said somewhat timidly, “It was Roberto’s bravery that inspired the noblest sentiments in all of us--in you who have helped him through these difficult weeks. I wish each of Roberto’s classmates will do as well as he has already done with his life.”

He then turned toward Roberto’s father and asked him, “Did you know, Mr. Salomón, the six young men are also your good sons?”

The father, fighting back the tears that welled in his eyes, answered, “Yes, these are also my good sons.”

Before the graduation of Roberto Salomón we–his six friends–had been quite silent, but now we began to talk with animation, knowing that even during one’s final moments of life, a certain kind of happiness can flourish.

The Salomón family returned to Madrid after the funeral. In his will, Roberto asked to be buried in Topeka ’s cemetery close to the school he loved so much. Not far from Roberto’s gravesite, on a plot of earth in the same cemetery, is the grave of Dr. Karl Menninger, who died in 1990.

(Andres Berger-Kiss, PhD, is a graduate of the Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry & Mental Health Sciences. He graduated with the class of 1963 after completing a post-doctoral fellowship in clinical psychology. Dr. Berger-Kiss taught psychology at the university level and was the chief psychologist and director of mental health education for the state of Oregon. Fifteen years ago he decided to devote himself full-time to his writing.)

Karl Menninger School of Psychiatry. He lives in Lake Oswego, OR, and is a prolific published author.)(Dr. Berger-Kiss, who wrote the following remembrance of Karl Menninger, MD, was known to his Menninger colleagues as Andrew Berger when he sought his post-doctoral fellowship in clinical psychology with the class of 1963 at the

In Memory for Mae Sokol, MD
Mae Sokol, MD, 56, academic child psychiatrist, died Saturday, November 17, in Omaha, NE, from complications of lymphoma. Dr. Sokol was associate professor at the Creighton University School of Medicine and director of the Eating Disorders Program at Children's Hospital in Omaha. She was a published author, an accomplished researcher and teacher, and nationally known for her treatment of pediatric eating disorders. She was the first to describe infection-triggered Anorexia Nervosa (PANDAS). Dr. Sokol trained in psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry at Bellevue Hospital, NY. She was an examiner at the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. She was an editorial board member of Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention, and Open Psychiatry Journal. She was a reviewer for Depression and Anxiety, and Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic. Her Brooklyn High School experience volunteering to help blind children inspired her to change her career choice from an initial interest in writing to the helping field of medicine. Her professional accomplishments were driven by a sincere desire to help those in need. Dr. Sokol was a loving wife and mother, and a caring professional. She is survived by her husband, Scott Burger, son, Levi Sokol, and stepson, Steven Burger. She will be missed by all who knew her. We have lost a very special and amazing professional and woman.

Online guest book for Dr. Mae Sokol

Source: New York Times

Mentalizing presentations move on to Seattle meeting
Senior Menninger psychologist Jon Allen, PhD (P ’76; MSP-M ’96), Peter Fonagy, PhD, FBA (MSP-A ’02), director of Menninger’s Child & Family Program, and Efrain Bleiberg, MD (MSP ’77; C ’79), senior psychiatrist in the Professionals in Crisis Program and head of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine, will present on the subject of mentalizing at the upcoming Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute Conference on Attachment, Mentalization and Psychoanalytic and Psychodynamic Therapies, held in Seattle, Washington, October 19-20, 2007.

The Seattle appearance emulates previous presentations the group has made in Budapest, London and New Zealand.

Mentalizing has become a focus of treatment and research at The Clinic and within the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine. Mentalizing is defined as attending to mental states such as thoughts and beliefs in self and others. Mentalizing is a core function at the heart of treatment and provides psychiatric patients the capacity to participate in a therapeutic alliance and engage in treatment. Clinical practitioners believe that the quality of attachment relationships regulates the capacity to mentalize. In turn, the act of mentalizing can help construct a healthy psychological foundation that enables patients to recover from illness and begin to build a healthy emotional future.

Also attending the presentation are colleagues who collaborate on Child & Family Program projects, including Anthony Bateman, MD, FRCPsych, consultant psychiatrist and psychotherapist, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey Mental Health Trust and visiting Professor, University College of London, Mary Target, PhD, who is Reader in Psychoanalysis at University College, professional director of the Anna Freud Centre, both in London, and an associate member of the British Psycho-Analytical Society, and Linda Mayes, MD, the Arnold Gesell  Professor of Child Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology in the Yale Child Study Center.

Along with Dr. Bateman and Dr. Fonagy, who also serves as Freud Memorial Professor of Psychoanalysis, Director of the Sub-Department of Clinical Health Psychology at University College London and Chief Executive at the Anna Freud Centre, London,  Dr. Allen has co-authored the book, Mentalizing in Clinical Practice. The book’s early reviews are quite impressive.

Sigmund Karterud, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry, University of Oslo , Norway , said that Menninger’s application of mentalizing convinced him that “we are probably witnessing a new paradigm for psychiatry.”

John G. Gunderson, MD, director, Borderline Treatment and Research Center, McLean Hospital and professor in psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, said,  “The authors audaciously propose that mentalizing is the central corrective process of all effective psychotherapies and persuasively assert that this can be directly linked to failed early parent-child interactions. They could be right! And that makes this book essential reading for the next generation of psychotherapists."

Stuart Yudofsky, MD, Chair of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine and Menninger Chief of Staff, John Oldham, MD, have written, respectively, the book’s Forward and Epilogue. The book is scheduled for publication in May 2008 to coincide with the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, whose press is publishing the book.

Dr. de la Torre presents in Mexico
Jorge de la Torre, MD (MSP ’61), presented “The Devalued, but Indispensable Supportive Psychotherapy: Reconsiderations & Reflections” at the 40th Anniversary of Psychiatric Education at the University of Nuevo Leon Medical School in Monterrey, Mexico on September 28, 2007.

Dr. Pokorny, research pioneer, dies
Alex D. Pokorny, MD, a prominent Houston psychiatrist who was professor emeritus at Baylor College of Medicine and a recipient of the Ima Hogg Award from the Houston Mental Health Association, died Monday, October 8. He was 88.

A former president of the Houston Psychiatric Society, Dr. Pokorny received many honors including the Louis Dublin Award of the American Institute of Suicidology and the AMERSA Award for Excellence in Medical Education.

"Alex did some of the earliest research in major areas of mental illness, including the psychopharmacology (drug treatment) of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia," said Dr. James Lomax, a professor who succeeded Dr. Pokorny as associate chairman of Baylor's Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. "Some of his most important research involved suicide and dangerous behavior, as well as substance abuse and alcoholism."

Bipolar disorder presentation scheduled
Norma Clarke, MD, former medical director for the Menninger Adolescent Treatment Program, made two presentations on bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. The Dallas presentations, "Successfully Navigating Child and Adolescent Bipolar Disorder: Designing a Roadmap for Clinicians," were September 26 and 27.

Dr. Clarke, a Menninger-trained child psychiatrist, class of 1988, manages the medication and medical needs of adolescent patients, ages 12 to 17, in the Adolescent Treatment Program who are experiencing moderate to severe behavior, psychiatric, chemical dependency and coexisting disorders.

She has made numerous educational presentations, most recently about distinguishing bipolar disorder from borderline personality disorder, severe anxiety disorder and substance abuse. Board certified in psychiatry and neurology, Dr. Clarke has extensive inpatient and outpatient clinical expertise working with adults and adolescents.

In 2004/2005, Britta Ostermeyer, MD, led a team that implemented the integration of psychiatrists and psychotherapists into primary care centers within HCHD and at several partner centers. Dr. Ostermeyer is an assistant professor of psychiatry with the Menninger Department and deputy chief of psychiatry at Ben Taub Hospital. 

The Harris County Hospital District is the public health care system for the nation’s third most populous county. It provides more than 1.1 million health care visits each year to uninsured, underinsured and medically needy residents of Harris County . The Hospital District operates Ben Taub General Hospital, Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, Quentin Mease Community Hospital, 12 community health centers, a dental center, seven school-based clinics, 13 homeless shelter clinics and four mobile health units.  

As a neurologist, psychiatrist, and researcher, Dr. Ostermeyer lectures extensively in the continental US, Canada, Europe, and Australia.  As a community psychiatrist, she does formal and informal presentations on psychiatric topics to audiences of primary care physicians and subspecialty internists.

Donald Tranin, Menninger friend, dies
Longtime Menninger board member Donald Tranin, Kansas City, MO, died August 11. He was 80.

One of Menninger’s most supportive friends, Mr. Tranin was elected a Menninger Trustee in 1989, but generously gave his time, his business expertise and his resources to Menninger since 1978. He served on a variety of boards, including the Board of Directors of The Menninger Fund and as chairman of the Board of Directors of The Menninger Corporation, overseeing Menninger investments and for-profit interests.

In addition to his own personal generosity, Mr. Tranin was the chief architect behind establishing the Friedberg Fellowship at Menninger, a prestigious award made possible in 1987 by the Frank Friedberg Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, of which Don was the first president. The award was presented to mental health professionals serving in the Israel Defense Force. The foundation supported Friedberg Fellows at Menninger for nearly 20 years and offered mental health professionals a chance to study with Menninger staff members and to better understand long-term treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Most of those training at Menninger were Israeli military officers, many of them quite high in rank. A Friedberg Fellow’s education included specialized clinical training in the care of disabled veterans and their families.  

Mr. Tranin became involved with Menninger when a friend introduced him to the organization.“I’ve always been concerned about mental health issues and about the fact that they have taken a backseat because they lack the public relations punch the more dramatic physical ailments have. Rarely has mental health treatment been funded adequately.”He once said, “Over the years I’ve gained a lot of satisfaction from being involved with Menninger. I’ve seen the stigma of mental health diseases modified somewhat–but I know there’s more work to be done there. We need to have more resources available. There would be a magnificent improvement in our country if mental health were treated with the same level of support as physical health.”

Donald W. Hammersley dies in Maryland
Donald W. Hammersley, MD (MSP ’49), who was deputy medical director of the American Psychiatric Association for many years, died of congestive heart failure and diabetes July 16. He was 82 and lived in Bethesda, MD. read more ...

Dr. Hammersley joined the board of trustees of the Menninger Foundation in 1972 and was a member of the Board of Visitors of the Menninger-Baylor College of Medicine-Methodist Hospital Foundation at the time of his death.

After graduating from training, Dr. Hammersley was director of professional service and professional education at Colmery-O’Neil VA Medical Center in Topeka before relocating to the Washington area in 1961 as the psychiatric association's director of professional services and professional education. He was deputy medical director from 1971 until his retirement in 1987.

In an obituary, The Washington Post noted: “He was a protege and confidante of the influential psychiatrist Karl Menninger.”

Dr. Hammersley helped develop accreditation standards for psychiatric facilities and participated in talks with government officials to have mental illness covered by Medicare. He also worked to improve the quality of patient care and to have psychiatric benefits included in federal health insurance programs.

In the 1980s, he worked with Social Security Administration officials to develop criteria for determining mental instability for recipients of disability insurance and supplemental income.

Dr. Hammersley’s publications include contributions to Under the Safety Net, a study of health care of the homeless in the United States, and an APA (American Psychiatric Association) Task Force Report on Electroconvulsive Therapy. Both were published in 1990. Mental Health in Remote Rural Developing Areas (GAP Report 139) was published in 1995. He was editor of Hospital and Community Psychiatry from 1971-81. 

Donald Wolter Hammersley was born in Madison, Wis., and graduated from the University of Nebraska. He was a 1949 graduate of the University of Wisconsin medical school.

He was a life fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists and a member of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. He was a member of the Cosmos Club.

A daughter, Kathrine Hammersley, died in 2001.

Survivors include his wife of 57 years, Edith Sasman Hammersley of Bethesda; three children, Kim Hammersley of Waterboro, Maine, Sue Hall of Columbia and Ron Hammersley of Gaithersburg; a sister; seven grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Menninger graduate writes new eating disorders book
I. Arthur Marshall Distinguished Alumnus Award winner Kathryn J. Zerbe, MD (MSP ’78), a prominent psychiatrist in the field of eating disorders, has published Integrated Treatment of Eating Disorders: Beyond the Body Betrayed, a follow up to her landmark book, The Body Betrayed, published in 1993.

According to the publisher, Norton Professional Books, Dr. Zerbe’s latest work presents “an integrated approach to the treatment of disordered eating…. A variety of strategies is presented, including pharmacological and psychodynamic treatments, patient education, and cognitive-behavioral therapies. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers will find this versatile method an invaluable resource for tackling the disordered eating of their clients.”

Dr. Zerbe is Professor and Vice Chair for Psychotherapy in the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health and Sciences University . She holds a joint appointment as Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and is Director of Behavioral Medicine in the Center for Women’s Health at OHSU. She is a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at the San Francisco and Oregon Psychoanalytic Institutes.

She was honored in 2005 with the 2005 Alexandra Symonds Award from the American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. de la Torre shaping future analysts
Jorge de la Torre, MD (MSP ’61), led a study group with seven advanced candidates on the past, present and future of psychoanalytic education. This elective class met at the Houston-Galveston Psychoanalytic Society on alternate weeks. Dr. de la Torre was very enthusiastic about the work since the candidates are the people who will be in charge of analytic training in years to come. He has also been conducting site visits for the International Psychoanalytic Association.  In February and March Dr, de la Torre participated in two visits to Mexico City. He traveled to Panama in March for an additional site visit. On April 12, Dr. de la Torre was honored at a special dinner for his 30 years of dedicated service to Baylor College of Medicine.  Dr. de la Torre is the former director or the Baylor Psychiatric Clinic and a professor with the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences. In Topeka, he was Director of the Outpatient Diagnostic Service and senior consultant for The Menninger Clinic. He was also on the faculty of the Topeka Institute of Psychoanalysis.

Dr. Walt visits McLean
Dr. W. Walter Menninger, MD (MSP ’58, MSP-M ’91),  presented on preventive psychiatry at McLean Hospital in a June event moderated by his daughter Eliza Menninger, MD, who is psychiatrist-in-charge at the Behavioral Health Partial Hospital Program for Adults at McLean, which is affiliated with Harvard University. Dr. Walt is a forensic psychiatrist who has worked with local, state and federal law enforcement as a consultant and an authority in the application of psychiatry in law enforcement and corrections. The retired president and CEO of The Menninger Foundation continues to serve as a clinical resource for The Menninger Clinic's staff,  he lectures and teaches nationally and serves as an adjunct professor on the faculty of the Menninger Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine.   Additionally, he is editor of the Bulletin of The Menninger Clinic, a quarterly peer-reviewed journal founded in 1936 by his uncle, Karl A. Menninger, MD, and father, William C. Menninger, MD.

• Cognitive therapist receives Menninger award
  In April, the American College of Physicians chose Aaron T. Beck, MD, Philadelphia, PA, as the 2007 recipient of the William C. Menninger Memorial Award. Dr. Beck is University Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is one of the pioneers of cognitive therapy for mental health problems, which transformed psychology and psychiatry around the world and is now considered the psychological treatment of choice for many disorders. For more than 50 years, Dr. Beck has been influential in changing the psychological understanding and treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders, developing sophisticated instruments for assessing the severity of specific syndromes. He has also made seminal additions to the understanding of suicide classification, assessment, prediction and prevention. He is president of the Beck Institute for Cognitive Therapy and the Institute of Medicine. He has administered over 20 research grants, published over 500 papers and 18 books and has been honored with more than 30 awards, including the Lasker Award for Medical Science. The late Dr. William Menninger, co-founder of The Clinic along with his brother Karl and their father C.F., was first vice-president of the college and chairman of their board. When he died, an award was established in his honor as a way of helping to facilitate the interaction between psychiatry and medicine. 
  
  
• Emotional investment pays dividend, Dr. Menninger tells graduates
  Longtime Menninger leader W. Walter Menninger, MD (MSP ’58, MSP-M ’91), was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, from Dominican University, a premier, Catholic university with an enrollment of 4,000 students.

  In remarks to the graduating class of 2007, Dr. Menninger praised altruism as the most important virtue to practice in one’s life. Altruism’s reward, he told graduates, is the personal enhancement one receives “from being allied or identified with a cause or activity that is greater than oneself.”

  He urged graduates to maintain a life balanced by giving.

  “In economics,” he said, “it is generally understood that careful investment and reinvestment of capital is a key stimulus to the growth of an economy and at the same time, the best way to make money. This principal of careful investment is no less true for one’s emotional investment in life.”

  Drawing upon his own experiences as a young man and as a career psychiatrist, Dr. Menninger said that while life can sometimes be unfair or painful, he urged the graduates to incorporate selflessness into their professional lives, a decision that would pay off in the future.

  “Identifying with a career or a cause that is larger than yourself will enhance you; and you will demonstrate a powerful truth, a truth conveyed in a simple yet eloquent Nigerian proverb which I learned at a completion of service conference of Peace Corps volunteers in Nigeria: “When the right hand washes the left hand, the right hand becomes clean also.”

  The degree from Dominican University, River Forest, Illinois, is Dr. Menninger’s fifth academic honor, having received honorary degrees previously from Middlebury College Middlebury, Vermont, Doctor of Letters; Washburn University, Topeka, Kansas, Doctor of Science; Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas, Doctor of Humane Letters; and Heidelberg College, Tiffin, Ohio, Doctor of Laws.