Barely five months into his appointment as a member of the prestigious Climate Change and Mental Health Caucus of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Dr. Ferdnand Osuagwu has been elected to serve as the chair of the Caucus. The Climate Change and Mental Health Caucus is one of the principal organs of the American Psychiatric Association charged with issues relating to Climate Change and Mental Health.
Dr. Osuagwu, is a General Psychiatrist and a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist based in Michigan. He is board-certified in Adult Psychiatry. He is currently employed at MidMichigan Health, University of Michigan Health System. Dr Osuagwu is also an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Central Michigan University.
Dr Osuagwu, an old student of Loyola College Ibadan, completed his medical degree at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan where he held a tenured faculty position before taking up a research position at the David Geffen School of Medicine, University of Los Angeles California Medical Center. He did his residency training in General Psychiatry at the Central Michigan University before proceeding to the University of Michigan for fellowship training in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.
Dr. Osuagwu was a recipient of the McArthur Foundation Award in 2003. He was awarded the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Scholarship in 2005. In 2007, he was the recipient of the Jo’Ann D’Amato Award for excellence by the American College of Radiology Imaging Network. In 2017. Dr. Osuagwu is a recipient of the American Psychiatric Association Diversity Leadership Award and Central Michigan University Research Award.
Dr Osuagwu served on the APA’s Council for Children, Adolescents and their Families, the highest decision-making body on Child Psychiatry issues in the United States of America, from 2016-2018.
The incoming president of APA, Dr. Vivian Pender, has vowed to move APA toward addressing the issues of social determinants of mental health; Dr Osuagwu is hoping the Caucus on Climate Change and Mental Health will also explore the multifaceted interaction between climate change and the social determinants of mental health
Dr Osuagwu is well published, and some of his publications are cited in PubMed.
