Spotlight Interview with Dr. Micaela Owusu
Location: Boston, MA
Bio: Meet Dr. Micaela Owusu, a child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist with a clinical interest in cultural psychiatry and identity development. She is an associate training director for the adult psychiatry residency program at BUSM/BMC and the US-based training director for Liberia’s first psychiatry training program where she leads curricular development. Dr. Owusu’s combined interests in medical education, global mental health equity, and cultural psychiatry have led to her focus on medical students and postgraduate physician education in psychiatry in West Africa. Dr. Owusu has led nationwide trainings on physician resilience and authored multiple book chapters and curricula on mind body medicine, resilience, and sociocultural psychiatry. In her current clinical role at Boston Medical Center, she works in general outpatient child psychiatry, pediatric integrated behavioral health, and as the identified psychiatrist for the Child and Adolescent Transgender Center (CATCH), a multidisciplinary center offering medical, psychiatric management and therapeutic supports to gender diverse youth.
What is your favorite part of your job?
One of her favorite parts of the job is connecting with residents at BUSM/BMC and internationally in Liberia. She explains, “It’s really wonderful to see folks who have an interest in psychiatry and then watch them grow over time, and be a part of that growth process.” Through administrative tasks and direct teaching, Dr. Owusu uses her role to help residents be successful in their training.
What has been a highlight of your career?
Dr. Owusu lists one of her career highlights as her return participation in the Africa Global Mental Health Institute (AGMHI) conference in 2019. Her first time at the conference had been as a resident, which inspired her to continue her global work and accept her attending position at BUSM/BMC. Helping with the development of the 2019 conference and then watching it be executed was a very meaningful experience for her, especially in seeing such strong international collaboration. “It’s what we’re all looking for: to see a bunch of different people from different places with different expertise coming together to really think about how we can strategize to help our communities.”
Why have you chosen to work with residents in a teaching and administrative role?
Dr. Owusu describes residents as “the future,” which is one main reason for her role as a professor. During her own education, there were some things she had to learn on her own, such as how different experiences of culture, ethnicity, race, and gender impact mental health. By teaching the residents, she can shape the curriculum to include these topics and guide the residents to thinking about these topics for their future careers and patient connections. The residents in her program have interests in these topics, and Dr. Owusu works with them to further enhance their understanding.
How did you begin your career in global mental health?
Dr. Owusu grew up moving around the world, and global thinking had always been a part of her education and upbringing. “I’m so used to experiencing different people and having to shift and transition because I grew up moving places that it’s always been a part of my conceptualization of the world.” With this global perspective, she began traveling to Ghana in college and thinking about mental health there in comparison to what she was seeing in Boston. During her time at medical school, she continued thinking about issues related to cultural and global work, leading her to make connections in the field of global mental health and eventually coming to work at BUSM/BMC.
What has been one of the best parts of working with the Global Programs at BUMC? Is there a specific project you’ve worked on that has stood out to you?
During the AGMHI Conference planning, organizers highlighted that funding opportunities in global mental health were important to highlight. On the conference day, grant opportunities were pulled together and discussed in working groups to increase international collaborations. “It was a lofty idea in action, and I think it facilitated the opportunity for people to have more collaborative exchanges and truly think about . . . executing ideas and getting money to do it.” Additionally, with the Global & Local Center in the Department of Psychiatry, many faculty have global partnerships and connections. This means that residents interested in the field of global mental health are more likely to come to the program.
What areas do you see that need improvement within your field? Are there any gaps present that you want to be addressed?
“The problem globally is that we don’t have enough people who can think about child and adolescent mental health . . . the skew of where there are providers means there are certain places in the world where there are very few.” One significant gap she mentioned that needs to be addressed is equitable distribution of providers and increasing training programs for residents to support improving mental health globally. Another area that needs improvement is mental health treatment across the lifespan. “A person that’s in their fifties and sixties probably had struggles in their thirties and forties, in their twenties, in their teens. In my perspective, it’s important to go upstream to the youth.” Without providers working with children and youth, there are more adults who have never received treatment.
What advice would you give to young professionals interested in psychiatry or mental health?
“Keep reading, keep attending conferences, keep meeting people. . . Once you’re actually a doctor, or whatever type of professional you want to be, and want to enter global health it becomes more hazy.” Dr. Owusu strongly believes that meeting people with shared interests is so important; while building connections, one may learn about opportunities that fit their interests and goals and lead to a career in the area of their choice.
Final Thoughts
The BUSM/BMC Psychiatry Residency’s Global Local Cultural Psychiatry Pathway is focused on providing residents with additional training in global and local cultural perspectives on mental health. “You don’t have to travel to be doing global and cultural work. We are a society of a bunch of different people that are coming together.” There are subcultures and communities in people’s own neighborhoods that have their own unique needs. “America is part of the world, and global work is all encompassing.”
By Alexandra Kane, March 2021