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Amber Carey, Director of the Robinson Honors Program; presenter Dr. Russell Copelan, Physician Scientist at the Florida State University College of Medicine – FSU Joiner Laboratory for the Study of Suicide-Related Conditions; and Rick Dunn, Assistant Professor of WAITING ON TITLE FROM DUNN.
The Robinson Honors Program hosted this semester’s “hot topic” discussion on suicidal ideation on Oct. 9 at the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts. Once attendees grabbed coffee and refreshments, Amber Carey, Director of the Robinson Honors Program, welcomed everyone, briefly discussing the inception of the program, introduced Honors students (both current and alumni) and faculty, and briefly shared information about the Honors program: vast and varied academic curriculum, fieldtrips in support of curricular topics, community service opportunities, and international travel. Carey encouraged those in the sizeable audience who may be interested in joining the Robinson Honors Program to please inquire at www.pensacolastate.edu/honors-program or at honorsprogram@pensacolastate.edu.
Once introduced, presenter Russell Copelan, MD, Physician Scientist FSU College of Medicine – FSU Joiner Laboratory for the Study of Suicide-Related Conditions; Formerly, ED Psychiatrist, University of Colorado Affiliated Hospitals rolled a semester’s worth of information about this important and concerning topic into approximately one hour. Telling the audience he would do his best, given the short amount of time, he shared facts about mental illness, suicidal ideation, risk factors and criteria, phenotypes, components of suicide and the suicidality equation. The doctor then took questions from the audience to end the session, meeting with individuals afterwards for further discussion.
Dr. Copelan was born and raised in southern California, the first son of a medical doctor; his father built the first small emergency hospital in south-central Los Angeles, the area that is now known as Watts, where riots occurred in 1968 and 1973. He said that his father was a kind man who thought that competent medical care should be available to those who could least afford it and generally had less access to it. Copelan said he had “no intention of becoming a physician: I wanted to be a professor at a small eastern college teaching the classics.” However, he pursued anatomy in graduate school where, at the encouragement of a professor, he applied to UCLA medical school; subsequently, he entered a neurosurgical residency program. His extreme latex allergy became so intolerable that his entrance was blocked to the operating room, leading him to turn in his resignation and, ultimately, attempt suicide outside of the hospital shortly thereafter.
Dr. Russell Copelan answers some questions from Riley Perantoni, Vice-President of the Robinson Honors Club after the presentation.
After taking some time off to recover, Copelan applied to the Emergency Psychiatry training program at the University of California Orange County, then completed adolescent emergency department psychiatry at the University of Colorado, the first physician ever to complete such a program in the country; he was assigned to casework for children ages 5 to 18 in all 64 counties in Colorado for the following ten years. This extraordinary doctor has traveled the world, using his extensive knowledge and expertise to help groups in need. He said, “We are, once again, at an 80-year historical high of suicide deaths in our country, so something clearly needs to be changed in terms of the science and the application of that science.”