Dr Vladimir Maletic’s Life and Legacy Honored at 38th Annual Psych Congress

The first day of the 38th annual Psych Congress featured a moving tribute session given in memory of Vladimir Maletic, MD, MS, a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine in Greenville and a member of the Psych Congress Steering Committee.

As Wednesday’s session highlighted, though, Dr Maletic left not only a scientific footprint on the field of psychiatry, but a deeply personal one as well.  

The session, “Science, Compassion, and Legacy: Carrying Forward the Lessons of Dr. Vladimir Maletic,” was presented by 7 leading mental health clinicians, each of whom knew Dr Maletic as teacher, colleague, and friend.  

“As we open this session, we’re going to share tears, but we’re also I think going to share laughs,” said Rakesh Jain, MD, MPH, Psych Congress Co-Chair, as he gave some introductory remarks.  “Vlad was funny, man.”  

Dr Jain candidly shared his experience of being with Dr Maletic on the day he died, the two together vacationing in Jamaica with their wives. Recalling how he waited on the beach for the authorities to address legal matters before arrangements could be made, Dr Jain recalled that “Even in his death, he was teaching me and Saundra [Jain] and Bernie [DeMuri] lessons about life.”  

Next to speak was Brittany Albright, MD, MPD, Psych Congress consultant, who shared that “like most of you in this room, I knew Vlad as my teacher.” Dr Albright recalled eagerly attending Dr Maletic’s lectures, always sitting in the front row to soak up all the knowledge and warmth that he had to offer.  

Following his death, Dr Albright helped to take over the management and care of Dr Maletic’s patients from his practice in South Carolina, where she also lives. In doing so, she got to know Dr Maletic even more through the eyes of his patients, some of whom he had been treating for decades: “His patients have shared story after story about his kindness, his persistence, his humility, and his willingness to try creative medication regimens to alleviate suffering.” 

The audience also got to hear from some of Dr Maletic’s patients first-hand through voiceovers that accompanied video footage of him from past Psych Congress meetings.  

Andrew Penn, MS, PMHNP-BC, Psych Congress Steering Committee Member, remembered Dr Maletic as “a teacher’s teacher. When confronted with unanswerable questions from his students, “Vlad became my lifeline” as Penn would reach out to him for knowledge and insight. As multiple speakers noted, Dr Maletic loved to read the latest in psychopharmacology articles, often sharing them with his colleagues and friends.  

Dr Maletic was a significant contributor to research in the field of psychiatry. Charles Raison, MD, Psych Congress Steering Committee Member, shared an impressive statistic regarding Dr Maletic’s work. The average research article from a mental health clinician gets 10 citations—Dr Maletic’s articles received hundreds of citations, with one article alone garnering 4,677 citations. The article, “Inflammation and its Discontents: The Role of Cytokines in the Pathophysiology of Major Depression, was co-authored with Dr Raison. “He wasn’t just a researcher, he was a translator of research,” Dr Raison said.  

Andrew J. Cutler, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the Neuroscience Education Institute, recalled Dr Maletic as one of his best friends, and then quipped “I think he had a lot of best friends.” Dr Cutler remembered him as a formidable researcher and lecturer but shared that he always approached these roles from a place of warmth and generosity. With Dr Maletic “There was no ego, no competition, it was ‘let’s all learn and share from each other.’” 

In a callback to his opening remarks, Dr Jain returned to talk more about Dr Maletic’s love for humor and laughter. “Even with humor, Vlad taught me to apply neurobiology,” he said while sharing slides with scans and charts of what happens in the brain when we laugh. “Having an attitude of gratitude and humor is the way to go,” Dr Jain said. 

Greg Mattingly, MD, Psych Congress Co-Chair, then took the stage to discuss the power of love and connection as it pertained to Dr Maletic—in particular, his relationship with his wife, Bernadette “Bernie” DeMuri, who was in attendance at the session. Dr Mattingly highlighted The Harvard Happiness Study, which found that when it comes to attaining happiness, close relationships are paramount. “In Vlad’s life it was his relationships with us, his relationship with Bernie,” he observed as he recalled his friendship with Dr Maletic. 

Finally, Saundra Jain, MA, PsyD, LPC, remembered Dr Maletic as a “holistic healer” who adhered to a mind-body approach to mental health. She recalled Dr Maletic’s presentation at the 2010 Psych Congress titled “Treating the Whole Patient: Exploring the Healing Potential of a Mind-Body Approach to Mental Health” as the starting point for her own development of the Wild 5 wellness program. “This is what Vlad taught me: we’re more than symptoms.”  

At the end of the session, the creation of The Dr Vladimir Maletic Memorial Scholarship was announced. The recipient of the scholarship will be invited to attend Psych Congress, where Dr Maletic’s legacy of a mind-body approach to mental health lives on. Psych Congress also made a donation to the National Alliance on Mental Health (NAMI) in Dr Maletic’s honor, as he cared deeply about their cause.  

In closing, Dr Jain emphasized that Dr Maletic lives on through his friends, students, wife, and son. “What about him has died?” he posed. “His body. But not his spirit.”  

Full details and applications for The Dr Vladimir Maletic Memorial Scholarship will be available in January 2026.