November 30, 2007

Alexander Huang, a resident in the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, has been selected as a fellow in a program of the American Psychiatric Association that supports training in areas of psychiatry where minority groups are underrepresented, and develops leadership to improve the quality of mental health care for minority groups.

Huang, a third-year resident in the psychiatry department, was selected as a 2007-08 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration fellow, one of three groups of Minority Fellowships Program fellows administered by the American Psychiatric Association. Because substance abuse "is one of the most devastating health and social issues confronting America," the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration has contributed funding to address substance abuse treatment. According to the administration, substance use disorders constitute a major health problem, costing more than $300 billion annually. Substance abuse has a greater cost to people in minority communities, according to the administration.

Fellows are selected on the basis of their commitment to serve underrepresented populations, their demonstrated leadership abilities, and their interest in the interrelationship between mental health and illness and transcultural factors.

Huang received bachelor's degrees in bioengineering and psychology from UC San Diego, and his medical degree from the Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health. As a medical student, Huang served as president of the Psychiatry Interest Group, as secretary of the OSU chapter of the American Medical Association, and treasurer of the Asian Pacific Medical Student Association. During his fourth year of medical school, Huang returned to his home country of Taiwan to participate in an international rotation at National Taiwan University, where he worked under the country's premier experts at the Child Mental Health Center.

Huang, who was recruited to the UC Davis psychiatry department's residency program in 2005, serves as a resident representative on the UC Davis Diversity Advisory Committee and resident member of the American Psychiatric Association on Psychotherapy by Psychiatrists. He is pursuing child and adolescent psychiatry training, with a focus on psychotherapy and serving a culturally diverse population as a bicultural and bilingual psychiatrist.

Huang is the sixth resident from the UC Davis psychiatry department to be selected as a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration fellow, and the eighth American Psychiatric Association Minority Fellow selected from the department since 2001.