Breaking Down Mental Health

Syma Khan, MSW received her Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan School of Social Work with a focus on Interpersonal Practice in Children, Youth, and Families. Syma also holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Syma is the Lead Social Worker for Child Psychiatry Hospital Section and a Clinical Social Worker on the Pediatric Consultation and Liaison Psychiatry Service. Syma has extensive experience in hospital based psychiatric services including consult, inpatient, and emergency services. Syma’s area of clinical practice include working with children with complex medical, psychiatric, and neurodevelopmental concerns, mental health systems, and safety planning. She has been involved in developing hospital policy pertaining to patient and staff safety, educational trainings for non-psychiatric faculty and staff, as well as improving care for children and adolescents with developmental disabilities. Syma also serves as Co-Implementation Lead for the Department of Psychiatry Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. In this role, she works with Psychiatry Leadership and the Office for Health Equity and Inclusion to promote DEI efforts within Psychiatry and Michigan Medicine.

Dr. Christina Cwynar DNP, CPNP-PC, PMHNP-BC is a primary care pediatric nurse practitioner and a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She received her doctoral degree as a pediatric nurse practitioner from Rush University, and her post-graduate certificate from the University of Michigan – Flint as a psychiatric mental health nurse practitioner. She is currently a nurse practitioner on the Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Consult-Liaison Service at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. She has extensive experience caring for children, adolescents, and young adults with mental health concerns and medical complexities. She has a special interest in eating disorders, infant delirium, nurse practitioner mentorship/education, and bridging the mental health gap. She has been involved in the development of hospital policy, education development and implementation, and various work groups. She is involved on a national level within the National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners were she is currently the co-chair for the Immunization Special Interest Group. She additionally teaches at Rush University in the pediatric nurse practitioner doctoral program.

Dr. Heidi Burns is a double board-certified psychiatrist who received her Doctor of Medicine from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine. She completed her Adult Psychiatry Residency and Child/Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Michigan. Following her medical training, she continued her post-graduate education as an NIH Fogarty Global Health Fellow in Ghana, where she conducted global mental health research on suicide prevention. Dr. Burns holds a clinical faculty appointment in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Michigan Medicine and specializes in emergency psychiatry and global mental health. Dr. Burns leads clinical and education initiatives focused on improving access to child and adolescent mental health care locally and globally.