Dr. Audrey Tyrka has been appointed as chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, making her the first woman to chair the department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Care New England, effective Jan. 1, according to a news release.
The department spans across Brown, Care New England, Lifespan Corp. and the Veterans Affair Providence Health care systems. Along with this Tyrka will be appointed to the Mary E. Zucker Professorship in Psychiatry and Human Behavior.
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Tyrka’s work has focused on early adversity and trauma in children and adults, including discoveries of social behavioral and molecular mechanisms of health risk and resilience, according to the news release. Also, Tyrka has held several national leadership roles and served as the Care New England lead for BIRCH, the Brown Innovation and Research Collaborative for Health, that … among Brown, Lifespan and Care New England.
Tyrka answered five questions about her work and new position.
PBN: What do you hope to accomplish in your new role?
TYRKA: This is a large and thriving department of more than 450 psychiatrists and psychologists and several dozen residents and fellows who are providing outstanding clinical care amid a mental health crisis, studying the causes of mental health problems, developing novel and effective treatments, and training the next generation of clinicians, researchers, and educators. I will support these critical efforts and collaborate with leaders across Brown and the health systems to build multidisciplinary approaches to equitably improving the mental and behavioral health of our patients and community members.
PBN: How do you hope to expand upon your previous work through this new position?
TYRKA: I have had the opportunity to hold several administrative and academic leadership positions at Brown and the health systems over the last 10 years. I look forward to building upon this experience and learning from department members and others across our system to best support our missions in clinical care, research, and education, and promote health equity for our community members.
PBN: Your work has contributed to understanding the effects of early adversity in children and adults as well as treatment and prevention for possible health issues that arise as a result of this trauma. What have been some of your most notable findings?
TYRKA: My laboratory studies children and adults who have experienced early life stress and trauma to identify the biological and psychosocial mechanisms of risk for psychiatric disorders and related health outcomes following early adversity. We published early key findings on the biological effects of childhood stress and trauma that are now widely understood to contribute to the wide-ranging health effects of early adversity. These include changes in stress hormones, inflammatory proteins, telomere length, and even alterations of mitochondrial DNA.
PBN: Where do you hope to expand your research in this research area?
TYRKA: After decades of research, the notion that stress and trauma can alter biological processes that produce health risks and disease is now broadly accepted. It is now well known that reductions of stress and the promotion of emotional and behavioral health can reduce those risks. Yet there are many social and structural factors, such as poverty, racism, and other forms of discrimination that have only received limited attention, despite having a major impact on health and well-being. We need research that sheds light on these processes and programs that address social determinants of health and promote mental, emotional, and behavioral health for all of our patients and community members.
PBN: I understand you are a founding Co-Director of the Initiative on Stress, Trauma, and Resilience at Brown. What have you been able to accomplish through this initiative and what are your goals for it moving forward?
TYRKA: This initiative, which I co-lead with Dr. Laura Stroud includes a Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) and a postdoctoral research fellowship program. Working with other outstanding faculty leaders, talented administrative staff, and community partners, we are supporting and developing the next generation of researchers who are working to understand the mechanisms of health risk and resilience following various forms of stress and trauma and developing new and effective prevention and treatment approaches. We have a particular focus on addressing the social determinants of health, and we include novel technological approaches to understanding and intervening to improve health and well-being.
Katie Castellani is a PBN staff writer. You may contact her at Castellani@PBN.com.
