July 8, 2009

Three new faculty members were recently appointed by the UC Davis Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences: Cynthia M. Schumann, Kristina M. Schwerin and Richard A. Cross.

Schumann joined the department as an assistant professor-in-residence July 1. The goal of her research is to characterize the neuroanatomical development of the brain in children with autism and to identify the underlying neuropathology that leads to severe behavioral and cognitive impairments. Most recently, Schumann was an assistant research scientist in the UC San Diego Department of Neurosciences. She received her bachelor’s degree in cognitive science from UC San Diego in 1998, and her Ph.D. in neuroscience from UC Davis in 2005.

Schwerin, who joined the department as an assistant clinical professor on July 1, has clinical interests in eating disorders, anxiety disorders, consult-liaison and medical psychiatry, family therapy and psychotherapy, including group psychotherapy. Most recently, she was a bilingual staff psychiatrist at the Instituto Familiar De La Raza, a mental health clinic serving the Latino community in the Mission District of San Francisco. Schumann received her bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Princeton University in 2000 and her medical degree from the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in 2004.

Cross came to the department as an assistant clinical professor on June 1 from Luke Air Force Base in Arizona, where he was a staff psychiatrist with the Mental Health Services Flight 56th Medical Group. His clinical duties there included medication management, supportive and insight-oriented psychodynamic psychotherapy, and case management for referred beneficiaries, including active-duty military, dependents and retirees. He also served as acting medical director for mental health, family advocacy and alcohol and drug-abuse prevention and treatment programs. Cross received his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991, and his medical degree from the University of Texas School of Medicine at San Antonio in 1997. He served as a major in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corps from 2001 through 2005.