As part of PRMS’ ongoing commitment to behavioral health, we invited Doctor Beatrice Huang, PGY-2 Psychiatry Resident at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) Residency Training Program, to be featured as a guest blogger this month. Dr. Huang reflects on her experience attending the 2023 Spring Meeting co-hosted by the Louisiana Psychiatric Medical Association (LPMA) and the Mississippi Psychiatric Association (MPA) in Gulfport, MS, February 3-5, 2023, which PRMS was honored to sponsor.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to attend the Mississippi Psychiatric Association (MPA) and Louisiana Psychiatric Medical Association (LPMA) joint annual meeting in beautiful Gulfport, MS. The conference was held at the Centennial Plaza, which felt like a fitting location given its historical significance as the old VA Medical Center. It was exciting to meet with and learn from the many people involved in our growing field, from clinicians to researchers to fellow trainees. 

Throughout the weekend, we had multiple opportunities to network and connect with colleagues from both states. It was wonderful to get to know residents from different residency programs and compare our training experiences. I also enjoyed learning from the variety of keynote speakers at the conference and appreciated the focus on trends in adolescent mental health. As someone who hopes to continue working with adolescents and young adults, I felt the presentations on the adolescent perspective of climate crisis and the effects of social media exposure were both timely and useful.

One of the highlights of the conference was the resident poster session at the Mississippi Aquarium, where I had the opportunity to present a case study with a fellow resident. Our poster was about a challenging case of catatonia in pregnancy. It was rewarding to share our clinical findings, and we received valuable feedback from other clinicians in attendance. The poster session also gave me the opportunity to learn from trainees at other academic programs.

Pictured is our group of residents from UMMC who presented at the resident poster session.

Attending the MPA/LPMA annual conference was meaningful to me in many ways. It not only provided an opportunity to learn from and network with colleagues from all over the region but also helped to foster closer relationships with my fellow co-residents. I came away from the experience remembering why I chose to work in psychiatry and was reinvigorated to continue learning and contributing to our field. I am especially thankful to PRMS for its generosity in being a sponsor of the conference and providing me with a travel grant to attend the meeting!

David Cash, JD, Dr. Beatrice Huang, and Julia Bajereanu at the resident poster session.

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