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16W Media Group Presents The Branding Highway Podcast
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors.
16W Media Group Presents The Branding Highway Podcast
Dr. Jamie Fernandez: Uncovering the Frontiers of Psychiatric Clinical Trials and the Quest for Advancements in Mental Health Care
Experience the cutting-edge of mental health innovation as Dr. Fernandez of Interventional Psychiatry of Tampa Bay joins us to unravel the complex world of psychiatric clinical trials. From the meticulous design of double-blind, placebo-controlled studies to the transition from traditional patient care into groundbreaking research, Dr. Fernandez opens up about the pivotal role these trials play in developing new psychiatric medications. Embark on a journey with us as we dissect each phase of clinical trials, from early-stage research to the stringent FDA approval process, and learn how this scientific rigor coupled with a human touch can revolutionize patient care.
As we navigate the intricacies of brain disorders and the often misunderstood realm of psychiatric treatment, Dr. Fernandez sheds light on the potential and limitations of current medications for conditions like Alzheimer's. The conversation turns personal as I share the impact of witnessing my father's battle with this neurodegenerative disease, accentuating our collective pursuit for not just managing symptoms but achieving remission. We also tackle the common misconceptions surrounding psychiatric care and clinical trials, illuminating the truths behind these life-altering studies.
Rounding off our discussion, we explore the evolving landscape of mental health care in Tampa Bay, highlighting how clinical trials can provide accessible treatment and serve as a gateway to conventional care for many. Dr. Fernandez offers insight into the importance of seeking help for mental illness, the stigma that may hinder it, and the compassionate guidance available for those taking their first step towards healing. If you or someone you know could benefit from these advancements in care, this episode is an indispensable resource.
At Interventional Psychiatry of Tampa Bay/IPTB Clinical Research, we specialize in providing cutting-edge and compassionate care to each one of our patients. Our company was founded to improve community access to clinical research opportunities, promote diversity and representation among participants, and provide care options not offered elsewhere.
We offer trials to individuals with Major Depressive Disorder, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Alzheimer’s Disease, Tardive Dyskinesia, and others illnesses. No cost healthcare, compensation and transportation is provided for those who qualify as well as the opportunity to advance the future of medicine.
www.InterventionalPsychiatryTB.com
(813)251-1800
This is the Good Neighbor podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Mike Sedita.
Speaker 2:Hello out there. Welcome to episode 121 of the Good Neighbor podcast. I'm your host, Mike Sedita, and today we're joined by. I'm a little bit nervous about today's interview because we're joined by Dr Jamie Winterbaum Fernandez, who is the founder Dr Owner of Interventional Psychiatry of Tampa Bay. Do you go by, Dr Jamie? Dr Fernandez, what would you want me to call you during this podcast?
Speaker 3:Dr Fernandez works just fine.
Speaker 2:Perfect, Dr Fernandez. How are you doing today?
Speaker 3:I'm doing well. I'm doing well. How are?
Speaker 1:you Mike.
Speaker 2:I'm doing pretty good. I'm a little cold. It's a little cold outside where we're recording today in December, so it's a little chilly here in Florida, but I sound like a big baby. Since I'm from the Northeast, I should probably be used to this, but I am just not anymore. I'm not built for this temperature of 50 degrees or whatever it is. It sounds silly to even say I hear you Now.
Speaker 3:I'm a former New Yorker and I completely understand.
Speaker 2:The blood thin's out quick. I'm not a doctor, but I do know the blood thin's out pretty quick when you're down here for a little while. So just so you know what we do with the Good Neighbor podcast, how we got started and what it's all about is back during COVID in 2020, the Good Neighbor podcast was established in Southwest Florida as a way for businesses people in the community who had something going on to be able to communicate that to the community and other business owners when we all had to be socially distant. And over the past three plus almost four years since COVID, the Good Neighbor podcast has developed into a national brand. We have podcasts in Colorado, Atlanta, Virginia, all over the country. I'm fortunate enough to be the person here in Tampa that gets to talk to business owners and professionals like you and, with that being said, tell us a little bit about interventional psychiatry of Tampa Bay.
Speaker 3:So we started out as a practice where I saw patients and we also provided some interventional care for more complicated forms of, say, depression, and gradually we started doing clinical trials, which is you know what typically is thought of. As you know, you come in, you enroll if, say, you have depression that's not responding to standard medication and you might get a placebo. You might get a medication. I don't know what you're getting. The person coming in doesn't know what they're getting, so we can collect accurate data as far as whether or not that medication works, and this is how new medications come to market.
Speaker 3:And that's considered like a double blind Correct, Double blind placebo controlled, randomized prospective clinical trial Really the standard of care when we're trying to decide if a medication that's in development actually works?
Speaker 2:So let me ask you this In how long have, how long has it been since you went from like tradition I'm air quoting here traditionally seeing patients in like an office form to being more on the clinical side? When did that switch over? I?
Speaker 3:just to kind of give you a little bit of history about myself. I spent 15 years as a hospitalist, so most of my career has been spent seeing patients who have you pretty significant illness in the hospital setting. And I was also a researcher but, you know, started out doing a bit more kind of basic science research, so what you picture taking place in a lab. And as my career kind of grew, I started my own practice a couple years ago. We were seeing outpatients, we provide, like I said, interventional therapies and kind of things that you try when standard medications aren't working you know as well as they could be. And then we started integrating trials, so giving patients that option to enroll in clinical trials as well. And at this point that's the large, large majority of my practice.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:I would say probably 90, 95% of the practices having patients come in see if they qualify for a study and getting them enrolled, getting them started and following them for as long as the study provides we're able to follow them for.
Speaker 2:So a couple of questions off of that. I'll get back into a little bit more in your background in a second, but in the time you've been doing this, so is the timeline of how this works. You know a drug company I mean insert drug company X, y or Z, whoever you want to use develops a drug in their R&D department and then it reaches a certain level and now it's ready for you know trials, and then then does it come to you Like, do you have to do any kind of special like, do you have any special relationship with a drug company or is it from, like, the AMA or something, or the Americans?
Speaker 3:The relationship is with the company that's making the medication, testing the medications specifically. So there's a whole breadth of ones that you've heard of Doctors like Novartis, like Johnson Johnson you know folks along those lines and then smaller ones that you haven't heard of, that are doing more innovative things.
Speaker 3:Sometimes it's on site and then we do some decentralized trials, also, meaning that patients can stay in their home and it's all virtually done and they go to local labs. So you know, there's a largely because of COVID, but because of just how the field itself is moving. There's a big spectrum of the way we can deliver care and who we work with. The other thing is that there are some trials, like I said, which are going to larger. There's a lot of sites doing them. There's thousands of people being enrolled Once we kind of know that the medication is safe and at what dose.
Speaker 3:But we do earlier phase clinical trials too. That might be a little bit more innovative, different delivery methods, different ways of working. You know your phase one, your phase two trials as opposed to your phase three, and then we even have some that are considered even open observational studies. Phase four, open label trials, where you know patients know they're getting the medication. They're just simply coming into the study, coming into the clinic to get the medication and then being followed over time so that the company can continue to collect safety data even after the medication has been approved by the FDA.
Speaker 2:So you give me. There's a couple of questions off of that. You said a whole bunch in there. So for people listening to this, can you just go into phase one, phase two, phase three, phase four, like if you said to me double A, triple A and the majors I know what you're talking about in the progression Phase one through phase four, is phase four further along or in the beginning stages? How does that work?
Speaker 3:So phase four is further along. I mean, that's typically we're just collect, we know it's working. We're just collecting longer term safety data and typically there there's no placebo. Patients know that they're getting the medication and we're just making sure that over time because initially, when a medication comes to market, there's some good data behind it. But we like to. For example, there are medications that have been on the market now for years and the company's releasing four years of open label safety data.
Speaker 2:So, as a drug goes further and further out right Now you have a five year scope of data versus it the longer a drug's on the market, obviously, the longer you have research that shows the results of it. But the next question I had for you in that along that line, from a chronological standpoint all right, it's phase four. You guys have been testing it, you're monitoring somebody. How difficult is it to get it from phase four, or whatever's beyond that, to where the FDA actually approves it Like? It seems like a large risk process it's extremely difficult.
Speaker 3:So, to give you a sense, from those medications that start as an idea and a molecule in the R&D department, like you said, 90% will never come to market. So it is obviously a difficult and rigorous rightfully so process to get a medication to market. So, kind of, going back in the chronology, it starts early phase, phase one, and a lot of times that's just after something's been tested in, often cells, then animals, then they get tested in humans. The first people who it's tested in are typically healthy, because you're just trying to make sure that it's safe. And those are your real kind of early phase one trials. That involves usually a lot of data collection to see also how when you take a medication it distributes in the body, depending if it's a pill, if it's an injection, if it's a patch. Then phase two kind of smaller studies. Maybe they're looking to recruit, say, somewhere in the area of 50 to 100 patients worldwide and they're still looking mostly at safety, but they also start looking a little bit at effectiveness as well.
Speaker 3:And then, once those things have been shown and the data shows some sort of statistical significance, that's kind of how we judge things then it could go to a phase three and that's your larger trial, that you're looking to recruit thousands of patients then and you're still looking at safety. But really that's when you start looking at efficacy. Does the medication separate from placebo when you compare the results of patients side by side? And that's why it's so important they be double blind. So that you're not biasing either someone like myself, who's the principal investigator, or the patient.
Speaker 2:Right. So I guess, getting now into a little bit more of your background, specifically, when I think of psychiatry I think of and again I'm a novice, like I'm just a podcaster and marketing person, so this is way above my pay grade, but I think of like a person sitting in a chair, but it's not just a psychologist but a psychiatrist who can sit down and kind of delve into their thinking and their behaviors and some of that stuff at a psychiatry level, that way that can actually prescribe medication and that may be completely wrong, but from your background it seems like, from what I'm hearing, like you went into this but you were more like a lab rat type. You like to be in the lab, you like the chemistry, you like the math, you like doing the numbers and figuring out the science of it more than the practical side of it. Is that a fair assessment? A nerd Mike, you can say it. I didn't wanna say it, I mean cause. Then it looks like I'm picking on the nerdy science doctor lady and I don't wanna do that.
Speaker 2:But yeah so you are you're a science nerd, like you love that and that's how this all started.
Speaker 3:I did start out in molecular biology research and but throughout medical school became really aware that there is a tangible Cuban outcome to the science that's done at the bench side. And I got more interested in neuroscience and then, when I was doing my clinical rotations in med school, it was you know, you're looking at neurology or looking at psychiatry, but I really enjoy the interaction with people and no matter how much you, you know, try to distill a field like psychiatry down to the science which still, fundamentally, is what separates folks from who have mental illness, from folks who don't.
Speaker 2:Right, and in balance somewhere.
Speaker 3:You gotta enjoy dealing with. You know people and getting to know their story and getting to know you know their motivations and how. You know things are different when they're sick. So you know, I think it's a combination of all of those. But you were right in saying that I'm not kind of the the picture of you know the psychiatrist who you come and see in the office and you know you try to process your past and I prescribe medications. I really have a lot of devotion to trying to move the field ahead. In many ways we're, you know we still lag behind other fields in medicine because these are real treatable illnesses and I think sometimes the tragedy is that we don't, we don't acknowledge that you know they should have parity, that they should be kind of held side by side with with other medical illnesses we treat. So you know, that's kind of you know where the science part comes in.
Speaker 2:But the thing, well, and the other type of doctor, which clearly you're not, is a surgeon who have zero bedside manner. They just want to cut you and do it. I mean that's the other, the other type of doctor, and clearly that's not the case with you. The question you know. Again, I have a couple other questions. So, but as a little girl, were you like playing with like a chemistry set, like blowing stuff up? When is that your Christmas present? You are playing with dolls and trying to operate on them. You were like trying to blow things up in your parents' living room. I mean, is that what you were doing?
Speaker 3:I think I was a little bit of both.
Speaker 2:Little bit of both.
Speaker 3:You know. But no, I always wanted to be a doctor. I always wanted to be a doctor. It really is. It is great. I mean what I love so much about. You know the like old cliche of, well, I wanted to help people. I mean, you really get to do that in psychiatry and you also get to deal with a population of patients who often needs good representation. They're disenfranchised, no one's, you know. Look, it's great that we have these organizations that back patients with other illnesses, but often with mental health. The happily ever after story is having nobody ever know you were mentally ill. And so why folks don't walk around with pink ribbons on? You know?
Speaker 2:Hold on to the sign.
Speaker 3:I get that. But then you know you're left to believe that the only mental illness out there is untreatable, which it's not. You know, so many people struggle and so many people get treatment, and then there's still so much more we can do to get people adequate treatment. So you know, whether it's the clinic setting or the hospital setting, or you know trials, that will bring new drugs, both mechanistically and delivery method, to market and treat these illnesses. I mean, that's kind of what my career path has been.
Speaker 2:Well, it's so crazy how far things come so like a book I read, probably a year ago or a year and a half ago, called Empire of Pain. It's about the Sackler family. It's about a lot of the opioid crisis but Arthur Sackler, who was the patriarch of that family, he was doing lobotomies, like I mean, that was psychiatric treatment right In the, I guess, the 50s, 40s and 50s, whatever it was so for it to come from that to him creating Valium, which is like a lobotomy, you know, a pill form of a lobotomy to the way we treat mental illness. Now it isn't really that long of a timeframe 80 years to go from where we were to where we are now. I mean, as you're going through this in medical school and learning about some of the history through it, does it blow your mind that, yeah, you're on the cutting edge of what's going to be the next thing that could totally turn around this, maybe eradicate this illness at some point if we find the right combination for the right body chemistry.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, I mean the idea that, you know, probably my lifetime would be the beginning of what will be the actual advancements in neuroscience and the ability to treat neuropsychiatric illness was incredibly exciting. You know, the brain I would argue it is the most important organ and also the most complicated. And so we have, you know, lagged both in so far as what we've lacked in terms of technology to really kind of understand it, technology to diagnose brain disease, and that, you know, is psychiatric illness that can be things like Alzheimer's and then just the you know clinical skills that we need to, you know, be able to identify and guide patients through treatment whose mind is literally playing tricks on them. So, you know, it's a very complicated process to kind of build the trust and the you know and then have the expertise to treat all together.
Speaker 2:It always pun intended. It blows my mind that, like I guess the saying is, as humans, our brains. We only use a fraction of the capacity for what our brain is capable of actually doing. And then I see this thing again. You know I go back to some you know modern stuff, but Netflix did this series on these NFL players and one of the guys has this thing on his head that's stimulating his neurons for his rapid response treatment or whatever, like the things we do and I watch it and go. Are we sure that that's really something that is accurately working? Like how this guy's got? It looks like he's got a thing, a CPAP machine, on his skull that's just tweaking his brain and you're like, is that right or is he in another five years going to have CTE from that instead of from getting it in the head? It's crazy.
Speaker 3:Well, we know, brain stimulation works.
Speaker 2:Okay, good, perfect answer.
Speaker 3:Because we have things like transcranial magnetic stimulation, we have electroponvulsive therapy and those modalities. I mean TMS has been around for a while, electroponvulsive therapy has been around for a long time. Both of them work. There's also, you know, other brain stimulation techniques vagal nerve stimulation, deep brain stimulation and we also know from animal models you know a little bit about why they work that it releases growth factors, that it allows for a brain that's really been, you know, in some ways deadened by, say, chronic depression over time to change to. It promotes new neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, it allows neurons to kind of reconnect, whereas, you know, in the context of chronic neuro psychiatric illness they start to kind of dead in a way.
Speaker 2:So but stuff like that, like okay, so that's someone that has some like clinical depression that maybe that can almost kind of bring the elasticity of their brain back into it, Like get it fired up again. But someone like my dad passed away recently. He had Alzheimer's dementia, Excuse me, he. Once it gets to a certain point, right, there's no way to kind of come back, there's a point of no return, correct?
Speaker 3:Right, and I think part of the problem, you know, with Alzheimer's which will will remain a problem until it doesn't anymore, is that we're just simply, you know, not able to diagnose it early enough where we can really intervene. You know. That said, there are some exciting things on the horizon. We have an Alzheimer's trial here now with a brand new compound that you know has not been used for any length of time. There's new biologics available for Alzheimer's that may be able to change the trajectory, but sometimes, with neurodegenerative disease, you know, where we're falling short is diagnosis at the appropriate time where you can actually enact change in, you know, whatever the disease pathogenesis is.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you from like I mean, I wasn't in a clinical study, I just lived it taking care of him. In the beginning we just thought it was like selective memory, like the stuff he didn't want to remember to do, like taking out the garbage you know, like things like that. You just thought he was kind of playing around. But I will tell you there wasn't one drug and I'm probably butchering the name.
Speaker 2:It was called like Mammantine or Mammetine, I don't know what it was, but I administered all his medication for years and at one point I don't know how it happened that drug didn't. We didn't get it, the prescription refilled, so he went like a week and a half without it and I could tell you whether it was just a bad run or what it was. But his whole outlook had totally changed from being off that drug for a week. And once he got back on it, whatever the loading dose of period of time was, he was back to his normal forgetful self, but not like frantic and like all over. So there is clearly stuff out there.
Speaker 3:There is, that helps slow progression.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:You know which, I think, is you know what you're talking about. Mammantine Namenda Napozil Aracept there are things that can slow progression. But you know, really the Holy Grail is being able to find a real treatment. If not, you know, if not a cure.
Speaker 2:So you know we've talked a lot about, and I've kind of brought up some of them though, like misconceptions about what you do. I mean, I've already brought up a couple. Is there another one that kind of jumps out at you like something where you know a myth that someone thinks, when they're coming in to see you, to see you or they think you're going to have some cure or whatever, where you have to, almost kind of like, educate them.
Speaker 3:A lot of what you do is education, but where people are just off and they're thinking yeah, well, I mean, I think one of the misconceptions, you know, like I said earlier, is that these aren't treatable illnesses, and so often they are, and our goal now is remission, meaning no more symptoms, not just simply a response.
Speaker 3:I think, as far as clinical trials go, sometimes the misconception is that they're too good to be true, that you know we're able to offer free care, we're able to Compensate patients for the time they spend with us. They get medications provided and often we can provide your transportation too, so they can get back and forth to the site. You know there's been over time, sometimes Less than positive history with with clinical trials. Now it's highly regulated to make sure those things don't happen. But some of that mistrust also runs deep, particularly in certain communities. So you know, not only, like you said, is one of our goals education, but being able to provide this resource and really being able to diversify the folks who enroll in clinical trials because I was gonna ask you yeah, I'm my next question.
Speaker 3:It's great to get a lot of data, but if you're only getting data on a very specific Population of patients, then you're really only learning how the particular pharmaceutical works in that subset of people. So one of the goals in our clinic has been to expand it so that we're getting a very Diverse, inclusive mix of patients into trials, so we get some real world data and configure out how these medications are going to affect everyone if and when they come to market.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, I would think that's probably the biggest thing. And then getting enough of those people right, like you're having, like you know, one Indian person and then one mom who's 36 and white, it doesn't you need a Group of those people to be able to actually accumulate data because, like you said earlier, it's it's data points, it's collecting data and enough to get a, a scientific you know, I don't know where a trend, so that you could see that it this would work in that group or it won't work in that group.
Speaker 3:Right, you need a certain size, you need a certain number of patients enrolled so you can actually look at the statistical significance between patients who got the medication and patients who didn't. And that's that's certainly the goal when we're talking about phase three trials, because the more people you enroll, the more Significant the data you get right has the potential of being. And so, yeah, I mean you know that's that's probably, you know, one of the biggest Misconceptions. And so, really, you know what? What I hope is that you folks will just you come in, be educated by the trials or give us a call, because you know I used to you do Other procedures like electric and balsam therapy and psychiatry, that you know work, I mean, and often see people's lives and work when nothing else will right.
Speaker 3:But you know, the the longtime stigma and negative perception to those you know Sometimes has to be discussed. And what I would say with you know, anyone who's apprehensive about you know anywhere from seeing a psychiatrist for the first time because you're feeling depressed, to, you know, looking to enroll in a clinical trial because you know you have something that hasn't been treated and maybe hasn't been well diagnosed. You know, come through the door, you know, give us a call, you'll, you'll see that it really. You know it's not, it's not so scary, we'll take really good care of you and you know, hopefully kind of together be able to destigmatize which you know illnesses are very prevalent but you know, for a long time I've had people kind of just Living in the shadows with them and suffering more than they have to.
Speaker 2:So the question I have off of all that is so you talk about like people coming in and they have Transportation and all this stuff. I'm assuming and again this is might be my misconception I'm assuming the drug company has so much money invested in stage three, four, when it gets to that level, you know that they're investing this money, that's part of their R&D budget, to have a clinic like yours to be able to do this correct.
Speaker 3:Correct, we know we we serve basically a subcontractors for pharmaceutical companies who, you know, want to get enough data to bring these Medications to market. You know if they, if they show that they're safe and effective, and so you know we really do. We run, you know, a site that's gonna ensure that they have usable and you know, honest data answer to the FDA. But you know in every case, you know, one of the nice things is being able to kind of control the environment and make sure that you know we're getting good, accurate Data from a diverse group of patients.
Speaker 2:So then the big question I have is, when you go from like stage three to stage four, do you guys have like a party with a cake and balloons come out of the ceiling, or is there anything like that, or is it just kind of like alright, on a stage four?
Speaker 3:um no, I mean there's. There's absolutely reason to celebrate when new therapeutics become available, particularly mechanisms and new delivery methods. So I mean, I don't know if my party looks like your party might, but I do Listen.
Speaker 2:It's cake involved.
Speaker 3:if there's cake involved, I mean there are some really cool things, you know, coming out. I mean I can't speak too specifically, but in terms of stuff on the horizon. You know we just finished a phase two. I don't know who got what, so you know it's hard not to let your mind play tricks on you.
Speaker 2:Well, that was gonna be my next question. So if it's double blind, if I'm getting a placebo, because there is a true, the placebo effect Truly is a thing, there are people that think they're.
Speaker 3:Right, it's one of our biggest problems in psychiatry. And all of these are the medications that really were effective not coming to market.
Speaker 2:Because everybody's like, oh my god, I feel fantastic and all they got was like Flintstones tablets or Flintstones chewables or whatever. It was Sailing, yeah, yeah, immediate, all right, so enough with the nerdy stuff. What do you do when you're not in the clinic? What do you do for fun? Clearly, you don't ride a motorcycle without a helmet or go skydiving. You probably have some safer Like. Are you a knitter or do you do anything? What kind of nerdy stuff do you do for fun? Or do you do dangerous stuff for fun?
Speaker 3:I definitely don't do dangerous stuff for fun. And I'm also not a knitter. I think I'm somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. My main hobby, aside from my three lovely boys, is I chair the Board of Trustees at the Tampa Museum of Art.
Speaker 2:Gotcha.
Speaker 3:So I'm trying to really kind of make that resource accessible to the community. Yeah, and I love what we do there, both in terms of the art we show but also the amount of community outreach we do to kids everywhere I mean up in Pasco County and beyond that otherwise wouldn't be exposed to art because public funding is so.
Speaker 2:how old are your kids? How old are your boys?
Speaker 3:I have 16-year-old twins and I have a seven-year-old.
Speaker 2:OK, so you're telling me the thing you do for fun is serve as a board trustee at an art museum.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm just checking. I wanted to make sure I understood that completely. I mean, do the kids do any? I mean, are the kids involved in any kind of sports, so cheerleading or any, you know, like probably the chess club, I would think possibly right.
Speaker 3:I got two La Crosse goalies.
Speaker 2:All right, just checking. And an artist, so you're a La Crosse mom. So when you're out there watching La Crosse, I mean are you like Hooten and Holler and yelling at the officials and stuff, or are you just kind of like golf, clapping when something nice happens?
Speaker 3:First and foremost, I'm hoping nobody gets injured.
Speaker 2:Of course.
Speaker 3:And then I'm just always rooting for them to win.
Speaker 2:All right, and this is my other fun question. I need to ask this question have you ever been somewhere where something happens and someone yells is there a doctor here? And then you step out and go, I'm a doctor and help them? Has that ever happened?
Speaker 3:You know, I don't know that I have ever been, I've been less than satisfying answer. I don't know if I've ever been in that situation.
Speaker 2:Oh, doc, but all right, it was worth the shot. It was worth the shot, so all right. One of the questions I always like to ask people is you know a time in your life when you ran into like a challenge or a hardship where you didn't know, like whether it was like studying for your boards. I mean, you were probably really smart, you probably like read the book once and were like, all right, give me 100. But was there a time in your life when you ran into something where you're like I don't know if I'm gonna get through this and somehow turned it around to come out the other side, to be where you're at right now?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, I think you know there's a lot of kind of challenges as you go through your career, especially a career in medicine, and it's changed so many times for me. Like I said, I really started out as a bench researcher, not sure if I was gonna go to med school or get a PhD. And you know, I think as you kind of move along, as you get to expose to more things, you know you're somewhat flexible in your thinking and what interests you and where you wanna go next. So you know, middle of med school I decided to go to National Institute to Health, do some research, see if that was still where I wanted to be. During that time my view of the field changed completely and that was when I started to get interested in neuroscience psychiatry, came back, decided to be to go into psychiatry and then wanted a more biomedical training. So I moved out to the West Coast from New York for a while. Where in New York I grew up? In Rockland County. In Rockland County, right over the Hudson from Westchester.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah all right, yeah, so like up near NIAC, up that way Like a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, niac, very familiar, very, very familiar. So let me ask you this the one thing, if people are listening to this, I mean, clearly your background is diverse. You've kind of you've been involved in so many different things in the medical field and you've landed here, so it's your expertise. You were always a nerd. We've established that. But what is the one thing you want people to know? That is it. Look, you can get help and through our clinical trials, that you'd be able to get it and not have to pay for it. I mean, what's the big thing?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean that is a good takeaway. I mean, I think, across the board, what I really try to promote is understanding of mental illness, of those who struggle, the incredible prevalence of it and the fact that so many times these illnesses are treatable. And so get help, even if that doesn't, even if you don't feel comfortable starting with the psychiatrist. If you feel like there's something going on, talk to your primary care doctor. If you're seeing your GYN annually as a woman, talk to her or him. But make sure you get help, because so many of these illnesses are treatable and the big tragedy is when they go untreated, because the stigma still prevents people from getting care.
Speaker 3:As far as clinical trials go, yeah, I mean this is a resource. As you aptly pointed out, there's certainly our sponsors. The pharmaceutical companies know that there's great benefit for them in bringing medications to market. However, all of that said, in the meantime the clinical trials provides a safe setting where you can get compensated care. We can, like I said, provide transportation and you get a lot of really close follow-up while you're enrolled in the study. And the other nice thing from the practical standpoint that that buys you is I've been a psychiatrist in this area for 15 years and it's hard to get in to see a psychiatrist. You wanna use insurance. They might not take insurance, even if you wanna pay out of pocket.
Speaker 2:They're booked three months out.
Speaker 3:Exactly. The wait lists are extraordinary. So you call us, say, hey, I have depression, is there a trial I might qualify for? You could get enrolled in a trial that doesn't even have an investigational product, it's simply just to monitor over time or something that might be an earlier phase or anywhere in between. But we have five ongoing trials in depression right now. So call us and we could probably find one that's appropriate that you're also comfortable enrolling in, and in the meantime, not only does that get you all of the benefits that the trial can afford, but it buys you some time. So, hey, take that appointment for, I don't know, september 2025.
Speaker 2:It's like a bridge.
Speaker 3:But in the meantime you'll be in an air clinic and we'll be providing you care and you'll be seeing me and my wonderful team and at least buys you some time until you can get in to see someone at the close of the study.
Speaker 2:So, as we wrap this up, what is the best way for people to get a hold of you Phone number? Where are you guys located? Where is your clinic actually physically at?
Speaker 3:We are in South Tampa on the intersection of Del Mavery and Neptune, so kind of right in the hardest out of Tampa. So we're pretty easy to get to and you can go to our website interventionalsychiatrytvcom. And when you go there you can also just fill out your name, contact information on a form and we can reach out to you. Or a number or address is listed. We can be found at 813-251-1800. Or you know, and, like I said, just come to the website and enter your contact information and we can reach out to you.
Speaker 2:You don't have a TikTok page. Come on doc, it's 2023. I don't have a TikTok page.
Speaker 3:I believe that we have a Instagram and a LinkedIn. All right, I'm just gonna leave a page.
Speaker 2:So, folks, if you're listening to this and you're saying to yourself, you know what? Look, something is just off with me. I don't know what it is. I'm not sure what it is, but I don't know who to talk to. You can call 813-251-1800. Get ahold of the interventional psychiatry of Tampa Bay. We're gonna put all the information in the post when we load this up. But contact Dr Fernandez, her team. They will give you guided care through the process to get you started on your journey back to feeling better. Dr Fernandez, thank you so much for being a good neighbor and thank you so much for being on the Good Neighbor Podcast. You have an amazing holiday.
Speaker 3:My pleasure. Thank you for having me, and you have an amazing holiday as well.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast. Passcode to nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show Go to GNPPasscodecom. That's GNPPasscodecom, or call 813-922-3610. Thank you very much.