UF professor recognized for promoting geriatric psychiatry

Josepha Cheong, M.D., a University of Florida associate professor of psychiatry and neurology, is achieving national and international prominence for her leadership and educational efforts in the field of geriatric psychiatry.

Cheong recently became chairwoman of the American Psychiatric Association’s Council on Aging. Her responsibilities include reviewing geriatric-care practice guidelines, developing educational products, making recommendations on managing psychiatric disorders affecting geriatric patients and reviewing issues related to Medicare reimbursement for elderly care. She also is on the editorial board of the APA journal FOCUS.

Earlier this year, Cheong also was appointed chairwoman of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry’s Teaching and Training Committee, which coordinates and develops educational programs for medical students, residents, fellows, early-career psychiatrists and college faculty. Cheong also is chairwoman of Stepping Stones, the association’s resident mentorship program. The association is the premier professional society for mental health professionals working with geriatric patients.

Cheong is chief of the UF department of psychiatry’s divisions of geriatric psychiatry and medical student education, as well as a staff psychiatrist at UF’s Memory Disorder Clinic. Because of her many leadership positions and multiple awards for teaching, Cheong received the Association of Women Psychiatrists’ Marian Butterfield Early Career Psychiatrist of the Year Award in May.

“If someone asks me what I’m most proud of, it’s not the positions or the titles, but the students that I’ve taught,” she said. “My end goal is to recruit people into geriatrics, psychiatry in particular. It’s a fascinating field, and it’s incredible how much you can maintain or improve a patient’s quality of life.”