Residency Training Program
Training Director
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Auralyd Padilla Assistant Professor of Psychiatry |
Our Training Director, Auralyd Padilla Candelario, M.D., is a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. She completed her residency and fellowship at the UMass Chan Medical School. Dr. Padilla is the department’s Director for Diversity and Inclusion. She has served in multiple national committees and task force groups to enhance diversity and inclusion within organizations and seek culturally sensitive psychiatric care and medical education. She presents on these topics at local and national meetings as part of the American Psychiatric Association, American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Training, and the Association for Academic Psychiatry. Dr. Padilla is a founding board member of CrearConSalud, Inc., a nonprofit organization that aims to provide psychoeducation to communities in Puerto Rico. Her interests include education, cultural psychiatry, integrated care and mentorship. |
Vice Chair for Education
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Brian Skehan, MD, PhD |
Brian Skehan, M.D., Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Medical Director of Pediatric Consult Liaison Psychiatry & Emergency Mental Health Services at UMass Memorial Health, and Vice Chair of Education in Psychiatry at UMass Chan Medical School. He is a proud alumnus of UMass Chan Medical School where he matriculated for his M.D., Ph.D. training in 2002 after conducting bench research in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology prior to his training. Following medical school, he entered the Integrated Adult/Child Psychiatry Residency Program at UMass Chan and became faculty in 2017, when he was named Associate Training Director of the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship. Dr. Skehan is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry where he is currently the co-chair of the Transitional Age Youth/College Student Mental Health Committee and has served as a mentor in the academy for aspiring students, residents, and early career psychiatrists. He has received numerous teaching awards as both a trainee and faculty member in the Departments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics. In addition to his clinical and teaching roles, he also serves as the Director of College Mental Health and works in the Student Development and Counseling Center at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He served as chair of the Higher Education Mental Health Alliance, a coalition of 10 national organizations invested in improving the mental health and well-being of college students in 2023, and has published and presented nationally on issues involving college mental health. He has also worked clinically in the Screening and Treatment of Early Psychosis clinic, the Adolescent Medicine Integrated Care Clinic, and the Massachusetts Child Psychiatry Access Program (MCPAP). Dr. Skehan continues to see patients in college settings and within the Children’s Medical Center at UMass Memorial and has provided consultation to the MA Department of Mental Health for management of complex eating disorders with comorbid serious mental illness. He is passionate about education and mentorship and believes in preparing trainees to work within interdisciplinary teams, provide high quality clinical care, psychotherapy, and psychoeducation to patients, families, and collaborators to improve mental health outcomes for all ages. |
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Associate Training Director for Psychiatry and Neurology/Psychiatry |
Sheldon Benjamin, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, Director of Neuropsychiatry and former Vice Chair for Education in Psychiatry at UMass Chan Medical School, where he served as Interim Chair of Psychiatry from 2017-2020 and Director of the Psychiatry Residency Program from 1995-2020. In addition, he serves as Director of the Neuropsychiatry Fellowship program and Associate Director of the General Psychiatry program and the Combined Neuropsychiatry Program, which he founded in 1997. He has been a member of the UMass Chan Medical School faculty since 1986. Having completed residency training in Psychiatry and Neurology, and fellowship training in Behavioral Neurology, Dr. Benjamin is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in both Psychiatry and Neurology, and by the United Council of Neurological Subspecialties in Behavioral Neurology & Neuropsychiatry. He was recognized by the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society as the 2001 Psychiatric Educator of the Year, was elected by the UMass Chan Medical School faculty to receive the Lamar Soutter Award for Lifetime Achievement in Education in 2008, and was awarded the Chancellor's Medal for Distinguished Teaching in 2012. As winner of the Chancellor's Medal, Dr. Benjamin was asked to give The Last Lecture in May 2013. He chose as his topic, On Mentorship and Memory. In 2018 he received the Gary J Tucker Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award in Neuropsychiatry, the highest honor given in Neuropsychiatry, from the American Neuropsychiatric Association. He has published and lectured widely on neuropsychiatric topics and is a leader in the area of Neuropsychiatric Education. Dr. Benjamin was President of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training from 2010-2011 and was President of the American Neuropsychiatric Association from 2013-2015. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the APA, a Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology and the American Neuropsychiatric Association, and one of the Psychiatry Directors of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He is also co-author of The Brain Card®. Dr. Benjamin's background is in both psychodynamic psychiatry and behavioral neurology. He feels strongly that UMass residents should be trained in psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, community psychiatry, and neuroscientifically-informed biological psychiatry, in addition to becoming effective advocates and teachers. |
Training Director, Neurology and Psychiatry
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Elizabeth DeGrush, D.O., who is both Associate Training Director in the General Psychiatry Program and Training Director of combined Neurology/Psychiatry Training Program, is a graduate of the University of Rochester, the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine, and the UMass Combined Neuropsychiatry Residency Program. She is board certified in both psychiatry and neurology and works both at UMass and at Community Neuroscience Services, our affiliated private neuropsychiatry practice. Her interests include dementia, mild traumatic brain injury, functional neurologic disorders, multiple sclerosis and related inflammatory brain conditions, and neuropsychiatric education. |
Training Director, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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Isha Jalnapurkar, M.D., completed her general psychiatry residency training from the University of Texas Health Sciences Center at Houston and her child and adolescent psychiatry training at UMass. She completed an additional state-funded fellowship in adult neurodevelopmental disabilities in order to gain expertise in providing care across the lifespan for people with autism and neurodevelopmental disorders.
She is board-certified in both, general psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. She is also the co-director for the Nervous System and Behavior course for the pre-clinical medical students.
She practices at the Center for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders (CANDO) at UMASS/UMMHC and is the Director of the Fragile X Behavioral Health Clinic. She also conducts clinical research and is involved in clinical trials in autism and Fragile X syndrome at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Center at UMass Chan Medical School.
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Associate Training Director for Psychotherapy Education
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Our Associate Director for Psychotherapy Education, Sureyya Iscan, PhD, earned her MA in Educational Psychology and her PhD in Developmental Psychology at the Ankara University School of Psychology in Turkey. |
Program Coordinator
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Our program coordinator, Linda Gallagher, joined our department in 2022 but has been in the institution since 2008. She is very excited to be part of the psychiatry training program and hit the ground running. Her personal interests include beaches, nature walks, yoga, cooking, and music. |