Psychiatry professor honored as Outstanding Community Mental Health Leader

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Tina M Shelton, (808) 554-2586
Dir of Communications, Office of Dean of Medicine
Posted: May 17, 2017

Dr. Janelle Sugimoto-Matsuda at the awards ceremony
Dr. Janelle Sugimoto-Matsuda at the awards ceremony

A University of Hawai'i psychiatrist who helped form a statewide suicide prevention network was honored today as an Outstanding Community Mental Health Leader by Mental Health America of Hawaiʻi.

“She built thriving partnerships on each island that continue today”

Dr. Jeanelle Sugimoto-Matsuda, Assistant Professor of the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) Department of Psychiatry, "built thriving partnerships on each island that continue today as she leads the Prevent Suicide Hawaiʻi Task Force," said Mental Health America of Hawai'i. "She exemplifies skills as a community-based researcher by working carefully and persistently to establish and maintain trusting relationships with community members and leaders, facilitating the implementation of suicide prevention programs and working closely with each site to develop suicide prevention action plans.”

Dr. Sugimoto-Matsuda was honored during Mental Health America of Hawaiʻi's 75th Anniversary Mahalo Awards Luncheon. The ceremony recognizes leaders like Sugimoto-Matsuda, advocates, and companies that have dedicated themselves to promoting mental wellness and improving the care of people with mental health problems through positive and innovative programs and leadership.

About the JABSOM Department of Psychiatry
The Department of Psychiatry at JABSOM provides psychiatric teaching and training to medical students; residents in General Psychiatry; and fellows in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Addiction Psychiatry, and Geriatric Psychiatry. It also is the State’s largest organized group of practicing psychiatrists, providing inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services and consultation at: The Queen’s Medical Center, Kapiʻolani Medical Center for Women and Children, and community mental health centers on the islands of Hawai‘i, Molokaʻi, Maui, Kauaʻi, and Lānaʻi. UH psychiatrists represent nearly all of the psychiatric specialties: general psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, addiction psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, consultation/liaison psychiatry and pain management.

The department conducts research in various aspects of psychiatry: culture and mental health of different ethnic groups, mental health epidemiology of Native Hawaiian adolescents, substance abuse, severe mental illness, neuropsychiatry, and psychopharmacology.

Members of the department contribute service to the community on both the state and national levels. Organizations served include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the American College of Psychiatrists, the Hawai‘i Psychiatric Medical Association, and the Hawai‘i Council for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Members of the department also provide consultations to schools and speakers for Parent-Teacher Association groups and other healthcare and community organizations.

About Mental Health America of Hawaiʻi
Mental Health America of Hawaiʻi is the oldest mental health organization in the state and Hawaii’s leading voice for mental health advocacy, working to increase access to care and eliminate discrimination against people living with mental illness.

For more information, visit: http://jabsom.hawaii.edu/news-media/uh-med-now/