This week marks the 30th OMI Psychiatry seminar! For 30 years, the OMI and Weill Cornell Medicine have collaborated tirelessly to promote and educate young healthcare professionals about the importance of mental health. Over the course of this enduring partnership, 935 doctors have been trained in the specialty and hundreds of patients have received life-saving mental health care.
“Weill Cornell Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry is one of the longest-standing and most prestigious academic psychiatry programs in the country. Throughout our rich history, we have been a national leader in clinical care, education, research and scholarship,” explains Dr. Francis S. Lee, Chair and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Weill Cornell Medicine.
The Medical University of Innsbruck’s Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, Psychosomatics and Medical Psychology “strives to meet the psychiatric and psychotherapeutic needs of a large number of people locally, nationally, and internationally. In addition to specialist departments for general psychiatry, the clinic also has departments for psychosomatic patients, children and adolescents with mental disorders, and alcohol and drug addicts.” The OMI is thrilled to have been working with top experts from these two renowned institutions for so many years!
The faculty cohort consisted of four specialists from Weill Cornell: Course director Dr. John W. Barnhill, Dr. Jimmy N. Avari, Dr. Katharine Phillips, and Dr. Dennis Popeo, alongside three experts from the Medical University of Innsbruck in Austria: Co-course director Dr. W. Wolfgang Fleischhacker, Dr. Anna Buchheim, and Dr. Katharina Huefner.
36 fellows from 24 countries gathered at Schloss Arenberg from March 16-22, 2025, to take a look inside the human mind with the seven faculty members as their guides. The course director summarized the event as follows: “Based on a three-year curriculum, the core areas of this year’s course focused on the general revision of developmental theory, child and adolescent psychiatry, psychiatry and old age, gender issues in pharmacology, and personality through the life cycle. The participants reflected the broad range of psychiatric practice as well as related specialties such as pediatrics, primary care, and neurology.”
The participants were thrilled with the fact that they had a total of ten fellows’ case presentation sessions. “Plenty of time this week was dedicated to fellows’ case presentations, enabling fellows to present cases from their own clinical experience and discuss their diagnoses with colleagues and faculty,” explained Dr. Barnhill. Some of the fellows’ reports were on resistant major depressive disorder, catatonic schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and drug use disorders. The fellows learned from each other and the faculty’s constructive feedback.
Dr. Fleischhacker is a true OMI advocate who has been part of our program since 2005! He described that even serving the OMI Psychiatry seminars for the 19th time, he still cherishes teaching as much as he did during his first participation. The psychiatrist emphasized, “My 19th time as the co-course director of the Psychiatry seminar was unbelievable!”. When asked what had changed over his many years with our program, Dr. Fleischhacker described the following: “Undoubtedly, the unbreakable dedication and hospitality of the team has remained the same. In addition, the fellows’ curiosity and eagerness to enhance their knowledge as well as the enthusiasm of the faculty have not wavered with time. The extension of the participants’ geographical distribution beyond Eastern Europe over the years has tremendously enhanced cross-cultural exchange and brought the world closer together. What has not changed is that I am still proud to be part of this terrific community, which shares the goal of improving the lives of patients suffering from mental disorders.”
A special event this week was the “Emotional Regulation during Psychotherapy” workshop led by Dr. Anna Buchheim. Emotional regulation “lies at the heart of a lot of psychological and psychosocial disorders,” states Dr. Buchheim. The ability to regulate emotions plays a central role in therapy for children, adolescents, and adults. During the hands-on training session, fellows were able to view video examples of emotional regulation. The exciting yet informative career seminar rounded out the week.
Doreen Kasongi, MD
OMI fellow from Tanzania
“The lecture on olfactory reference disorder by Dr. Phillips was the highlight of the week for me as the subject is one of my professional interests. It reminded me of a patient whom I am currently managing and provided powerful insights on diagnosis and management.”
Samuel Mandák, MD
OMI fellow from Slovakia
“Dr. Barnhill’s lecture on co-occurring substance use and mental disorders was fantastic. One staggering fact that I will never forget is that 20% of patients with mental illness also struggle with substance abuse. I especially loved Dr. Barnhill’s quote: ‘If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’ It really drives home how our perspective and the care we provide are only as good as the tools and knowledge we have.”
Ann Reim, MD
OMI fellow from Estonia
“Dr. Fleischhacker explained to us that the best medicine in the world will not work if it is left on the shelf. This statement was a useful reminder while assessing the adherence of patients with schizophrenia.”
