NMCP Psychiatrist Named by APA as Distinguished Fellow

Retired Capt. Doug Knittel, a psychiatrist in Naval Medical Center Portsmouth's (NMCP) Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic, has been named an American Psychiatric Association (APA) Distinguished Fellow -- an honor bestowed on select members each year.

Knittel was one of two nominated by the Psychiatric Society of Virginia (PSV) this year, recognized for his involvement in a multitude of areas within psychiatry.

Distinguished Fellowship is awarded to outstanding psychiatrists who have made significant contributions to the psychiatric profession in at least five of the following areas: administration, teaching, scientific and scholarly publications, volunteering in mental health and medical activities of social significance, community involvement, as well as for clinical excellence. Distinguished Fellow is the highest membership honor the APA bestows upon members.

"I appreciate the recognition," Knittel said, "which comes from something meaningful to me, which was helping to reform the laws in Virginia. About three years ago, I was asked to be on the governor's task force for mental health reform. Out of 30 people, I was one of five doctors. The task force had a lot of interaction with the state government, and we helped rewrite many of the laws to help improve access to mental health care across the state."

Knittel was then asked to be a member of PSV's Board of Directors. With his work with the task force and board of directors, combined with his service to country, PSV determined he was the perfect candidate for nomination as a Distinguished Fellow. Each state and large cities have psychiatric societies and nominate candidates for the honor each year.

"I was nominated because of my involvement in public health and government affairs, my involvement in the state society as a whole, and also my involvement in academia," Knittel said. "I'm a clinical assistant professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School (EVMS) and the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences. I also teach within the NMCP residency program."

Knittel retired after a 29-year career which began with completing medical school at the Uniformed Services University for the Health Sciences and an internship at National Naval Medical Center Bethesda. After completing a tour as a flight surgeon, Knittel became a forensic pathologist and an armed forces medical examiner. As a medical examiner, he worked in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the victims of the Space Shuttle Colombia disaster, and the 9/11 victims at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

"I switched over to psychiatry because I was interested in neuroscience," Knittel said. "We were seeing a lot of traumatic brain injuries at the autopsy table, and I began reading about it. I learned that a lot of the cutting-edge work was being done by psychiatrists. Although I was mid-career, the opportunity for additional training was something that I could not pass up."

Knittel entered the Psychiatric Residency Program at NMCP in 2004 and completed it in 2007. He was a staff psychiatrist before retiring in 2010 -- when he became a civilian staff member at NMCP. For the past seven years, he was the head of Psychiatry Emergency Services in the emergency room, until recently when he returned to the outpatient clinic to treat patients there.

"When I was in the emergency room, part of my job was to make sure the patient was not having a medical presentation of a mental illness," Knittel said. "I'm board-certified in anatomic and clinical pathology. Clinical pathology includes chemistry, hematology, micropathology, and immunology, so that background allows me to expand the differential and think more about what the diagnosis can be."

Knittel applies his love for pathology and the brain to research, recently taking part in a project involving traumatic brain injury and if certain medications can help. He also applies this passion to teaching and supervising residents at NMCP, as well as teaching students from EVMS and USUHS.

"I love to teach about the brain, the range of human behavior, and problems with human behavior," Knittel said. "But the neuroscience class is my favorite -- teaching them about the brain."

Regardless of his role within the medical center, Knittel said he feels a sense of obligation to the patient population and to NMCP.

"I love what I do," Knittel said. "I'll be here as long as they will have me."

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