Brandi Karnes, MD

Assistant Professor and Associate Program Director, General Psychiatry Residency Program
Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston

Email: [email protected]
Phone: 713-486-2500

EDUCATIONAL TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Empowerment is the core feature of my teaching philosophy. I want to empower learners to feel capable of accomplishing whatever challenges they may face in their careers in medicine. To achieve this requires several steps: setting clear expectations, establishing psychological safety, carefully pushing them into the learning zone utilizing active learning techniques, and being there as a support when they need it to prevent them from reaching the panic zone.

AREA OF EXPERTISE

    • Catatonia
      • 2022 MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Internal Medicine Grand Rounds: “Malignant: Comorbid Cancer and Catatonia”
      • 2024 MD Anderson Cancer Center Psychiatry Educational Lecture Series: “Catatonia: Advanced Management”
      • 2024 Faillace Department of Psychiatry Grand Rounds: “Catatonia: Underdiagnosed and Undertreated”
      • 2024 McGovern Medical School Internal Medicine Residency Noon Case Conference: “Catatonia: Underdiagnosed and Undertreated”
    • Schizophrenia, Cultural Psychiatry, Sexuality and Sexual Disorders, Imposter Syndrome, Implicit Bias, Recognizing and Responding to Harassment

CURRENT EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Medical Students:
“Ethical Issues in Psychiatry” – MMS MS3 Psychiatry Clerkship, eight sessions annually
“Sex and Sexual Disorders” – MMS MS2 Nervous System and Behavior Module

Residents:
“Cultural Psychiatry”, UTHealth Psychiatry PGY-1 Resident Didactic Series, delivered bi-annually
“Sexuality”, UTHealth Psychiatry PGY-1 Resident Didactic Series, delivered bi-annually
“Advanced Psychopharmacology: Catatonia”, UTHealth Psychiatry PGY-2 Resident Didactic Series
“Outpatient Treatment Strategies: Managing Sexual Side Effects”, UTHealth PGY-3 Resident Didactic Series
“Imposter Syndrome Workshop”, UTHealth Internal Medicine Upper-Level Residents, 4 workshops annually

HONORS AND AWARDS

2023 McGovern Medical School Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award
2023 McGovern Medical School Champion of the Clinical Learning Environment
2024 McGovern Medical School Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award
2024 McGovern Medical School Champion of the Clinical Learning Environment
2024 McGovern Medical School Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award
2024 McGovern Medical School Academy of Master Educators, Member
2025 McGovern Medical School Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award
2025 McGovern Medical School Champion of the Clinical Learning Environment

PUBLICATIONS

  1. Sanches, M., Karnes, B., Actor, A., Helminiak, A., & John, V. P., “Stigma Toward Bipolar Disorder Among Psychiatry Residents: A Pilot Study Utilizing Narrative Medicine and a Video Vignette”, Academic Psychiatry, December 2024.