Welcome to the inaugural issue of The Carlat Geriatric Psychiatry Report—our fifth CME newsletter. You’ve been asking for a source of unbiased reporting on geriatric psychiatry, and we’ve finally created one. We hope you’ll find it useful. 

Three years ago, I took a job as chief of psychiatry at MelroseWakefield Healthcare, and an important part of our mission is a 34-bed geriatric psychiatry unit, including a busy ECT service. Since I never did a geripsych fellowship, I had to get up to speed quickly—and I thank some of our excellent staff, including John Giragos, Jim Lech, and Mary Wilber, for allowing me to shadow them and learn how they help some of the most vulnerable and wonderful patients I’ve ever encountered. 

The idea of starting a geripsych newsletter was a bit self-serving, since I felt a personal need to beef up my command of the topic. I reached out to Stephanie Collier, a colleague at McLean—only a few miles away from my own hospital. I was impressed by her infectious enthusiasm for education and her devotion to elderly patients. She dove into the task of recruiting authors and editing articles like a veteran, and I think you’ll be pleased with the result. 

Please drop either Dr. Collier or myself an email to let us know how you like the newsletter and what topics you’d like to see covered in future issues.