Residency Team brings home 2008 Mind Games trophy

Dr. Pedro Ruiz, interim chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, far left, and Dr. Anu Matorin, training director, far right, celebrate the first-place win of residency team Tanya Krolls, Magdalena Peixoto, and Peter Ly.

The University of Texas residency team consisting of Dr. Tanya Krolls, PGY-I, Dr. Peter Ly, PGY-II, and Dr. Magdalena Peixoto, PGY-III, all residents in the General Psychiatry Residency Program in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, was the winning team in the national 2008 “Mind Games” competition at the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. May 6.

“The questions, clinical, research, and educational, were rather difficult, but our residents were well prepared,” said Dr. Pedro Ruiz, interim chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. “Our team’s final score was quite ahead of the two other final teams.”

“What was most impressive and rewarding was the fact that all three residents were our own UT-Houston medical students as well,” said Dr. Anu Matorin, general psychiatry residency training director. “It made all of us involved in their education and training doubly proud of their academic accomplishments.”

The Medical School group competed against finalist teams from Carilion Health Center in Roanoke, Va., and New York Medical College in Richmond.

To make it as finalists, the group took an online test of 150 multiple-choice questions, which had to be completed in one hour.

“We took it as a team with all of us sitting at one computer,” Peixoto said. “Peter was the mouse operator. There are about 140 psychiatry programs in the country, and almost all of them chose to compete.”

Peixoto added that the team studied about three weeks for the online test and then for about the same amount of time for the oral exam.

“I attribute the win to having a very good foundation in psychiatry -- both from the courses we took in medical school and from our residency program -- all three of us are UT-Houston graduates,” Peixoto said. “We have an excellent psychiatry program here, and our attendings are great teachers. We also studied pretty hard, especially during the last few days before the competition.”

Ly said it was through the guidance of faculty and attendings that the team propelled to success.

“We were exceptionally pleased with our winning the 2008 American Psychiatric Association MindGames!” Ly said. “It is a great reflection of the training that we have received here at UT-Houston.”

“This is truly outstanding!” said Dean Giuseppe Colasurdo. “Congratulations to our champions!”

The APA is a medical specialty society with more than 38,000 U.S. and international member physicians working to ensure humane care and effective treatment for all persons with mental disorders, including mental retardation and substance-related disorders.

-D. Brown