Nodes

Regina Baronia, MD, M.Ed is the Research Director of the Psychiatry Department at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Lubbock. She has a diplomate in psychiatry in the Philippines and has fellowship training in developmental disabilities from Queens University in Canada. She also has a Master’s degree in Special Education with a focus on Applied Behavioral Analysis.

She is the current Co-Editor of Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, a peer-reviewed, interprofessional journal for individual, group, family, and community treatment and recovery.

She has led and mentored psychiatry residents and medical students in research studies on burnout and experiential avoidance, suicidality, mood disorders, alcohol and substance use disorders. She has also published articles and book chapters on these as well as on topics of spirituality, internalized homophobia, sex trafficking, autism, and positive psychology.

Dr. Baronia believes that TX-YDSRN will immensely inform the aim of early diagnosis and intervention to address the needs of children and adolescents with depression and suicidal ideation, and guide the efforts of advocates for mental health among mental health professionals and in the community.

Sarah Mallard Wakefield, MD: Dr. Wakefield certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in psychiatry and has additional fellowship training and board certification in child and adolescent psychiatry and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Wakefield is the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and the Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Services at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Lubbock.

Under Dr. Wakefield’s leadership, TTUHSC Department of Psychiatry has seen immense growth and expansion to become the leading mental health care provider for children living in the entire West Texas region.

In addition to being a busy clinician and a Department Chair, Dr. Wakefield has actively committed herself to mentor the next generation of child and adolescent psychiatrists and has authored numerous journal articles and book chapters in child and adolescent psychiatry, particularly on ADHD, autism, youth depression and suicidal ideation.

She also plays a vital role in introducing and implementing measurement-based care in the primary healthcare settings in the entire West Texas region as the Chair of the Transforming Mental Health Care committee of the TTUHSC Clinical Affairs Council.

Dr. Wakefield’s leadership role in TX-YDSRN as the Clinical Co-Lead for the network, Chair of the Measurement-based Care Committee and TTUHSC Lubbock Node Co-Lead complements her life’s work aimed at prevention and early intervention of behavioral health symptoms and sequalae, especially of children and adolescents.