UB Psychiatry Residents Triumph in "Jeopardy"-Style "MindGames"

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Out-buzzing and out-smarting teams from the University at Pennsylvania and Wayne State University, a three-person team from the University at Buffalo's psychiatry residency program won the first "Jeopardy"-inspired "MindGames" at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Psychiatry Association held in San Diego in May.

This is not how medical residents usually spend their busy lives.

"It was very surreal," said Robin Warner, M.D., a third-year psychiatric resident and the team's neurology specialist. "The only other female in the competition, from Penn who I got to know, said 'Is this one of the strangest things you've ever done?' and I said 'Absolutely!'"

The team brought home a trophy nearly as big as the NHL's Stanley Cup.

"MindGames" is the brainchild of Nancy Delanoche, associate director of the Office of Graduate and Undergraduate Education for the American Psychiatric Association. She patterned it after similar competitions held at annual meetings of other medical associations, such as the American College of Physicians' "Medical Jeopardy" and the "Neurobowl" of the American Academy of Neurology.

To make it to San Diego, the UB team had to survive the qualifying round, a computerized test of 150 questions that had to be completed in 60 minutes. The three top-scoring teams would receive $5,000 to attend the meeting and participate in the final round.

Huddling around a computer in the chief resident's office, the team sweated through the questions. Shakeel Raza, M.D., a fifth-year resident from Pakistan doing a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry, had studied-up on topics in that specialty. Filling out the team was Vijay Amarendran, M.D., a fourth-year psychiatric resident responsible for questions on psychopharmacology.

The team finished the qualifying round as time ran out. "We felt we could have done a lot better," said Warner. "We didn't know what to expect," said Amarendran.

Raza got word that the team made the finals from David Kaye, M.D., his residency director and UB professor of child psychiatry. He was snoozing through grand rounds when the phone rang. "I overslept," said Raza. "When I saw Dr. Kaye's number on my cell, I thought he was calling to confront me about my absence."

The team then knuckled down in earnest. Kaye and Cynthia Pristach, M.D., program director in general psychiatry, served as tutors. The team held two practice "Jeopardy"-style sessions, competing against a team of senior residents, with Pristach peppering them with Jeopardy-style questions.

"The competition with their peers was a lot of fun, and very helpful," said Pristach. "What was also useful for them was learning how to use the buzzer effectively, as well as working as a team to answer the questions. They were allowed 10 seconds for discussion after buzz-in, and it took them some practice to not just blurt out the answer."

Fast-forward to San Diego. A promotional film of the upcoming competition played in the hotel lobby to build excitement. As MindGames got underway, a raucous cheering section of Buffalo partisans -- made up of UB physicians, residents, former residents and alumni -- gathered to cheer on the UB team, decked out in UB blue-and-white. Even Susan McLeer, M.D., the department's former chair, stopped by.

Glen O. Gabbard, M.D., Brown Foundation Professor of Psychoanalysis at Baylor College of Medicine, and director of Baylor's psychiatry clinic, stood in as emcee.

Things did not look good for UB as the competition progressed. Going into the final round, it had only 800 points compared to the University of Pennsylvania's 3,000.

"The third round was when things turned around," said Amarendran. Luckily, "History of Psychiatry" came up as a category. The residents recently had attended a lecture on that very topic.

When the final buzzer sounded, UB had triumphed.

"When we won, it took a few minutes to sink in," said Amarendran. "Then the celebration began. People were jumping up and down and cheering."

The faculty treated the team to dinner at an Italian Restaurant. The trophy now sits in the residents' library.

"Now it's back to regular life," sighed Amarendran.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. The School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is one of five schools that constitute UB's Academic Health Center. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.