2-15-2023 4:21am

FROM DULANEY HIGH

CRYSTAL WATKINS JOHANSSON, M.D., PH.D., DULANEY HIGH GRADUATE

A leading clinician and researcher in studies of resilience and coping capacity in the geriatric population

BEGINNING WITH FIRSTS

Dr. Crystal Watkins Johansson is a native of Baltimore. She never missed a day of class while attending public schools in Baltimore City and Baltimore County. Dr. Watkins was the first African-American student government president of Dulaney High School. She went on to become the first female Meyerhoff Scholar from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, to earn a medical degree and doctorate (M.D./Ph.D) and one of only a few African-American women to earn a doctorate in molecular and cellular neuroscience from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her thesis work with Dr. Solomon Snyder was featured on the cover of the Wall Street Journal and led to a patented discovery and proposed clinical trial for diabetic nerve disorders.

Dr. Watkins was the first African-American student government president of Dulaney High School and the first female Meyerhoff Scholar from UMBC to earn a medical degree and doctorate.

Dr. Watkins completed her psychiatry residency at the Henry Phipps Residency Program at Johns Hopkins and served as the chief resident in her final year. Dr. Watkins trained at Johns Hopkins as a Schweizer Fellow in Mood Disorders and Neuroimaging and as a Geriatric Psychiatry fellow in Neuropsychiatry. Dr. Watkins is board certified in both general psychiatry and geriatric psychiatry.

Dr. Crystal Watkins Johansson

RECOGNIZED NATIONALLY AS LEADING CLINICIAN AND RESEARCHER

Since 2011, Dr. Watkins has served as an assistant professor and neuroscientist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. In 2014, she was appointed as assistant director of Geriatric Outpatient Programs and the director of the Memory Clinic in Neuropsychiatry at Sheppard Pratt Health System. In June 2021, she was named the chief of psychiatry and operational chair of the Department of Behavioral Health Services at Medstar Harbor Hospital.

Dr. Watkins is recognized nationally as a leading clinician and researcher in studies of resilience and coping capacity in the geriatric population. She provides mental health services to seniors impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Her research focuses on coping mechanisms and psychiatric interventions for older adults, patients with dementia, and caregivers to help manage depression and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Her research focuses on coping mechanisms and psychiatric interventions for older adults, patients with dementia, and caregivers to help manage depression and isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic.

During her career, she has been honored as Physician of the Year and recognized as one of Maryland’s Top 100 Women by the Daily Record. She was named the Johns Hopkins University Young Alumna of the Year and the UMBC Alumna of the Year in Mathematics and Science. In March 2021, she was named a Distinguished Fellow by the American Psychiatric Association, one of the highest honors given by the organization. She was featured in Essence magazine and has appeared on local and national media outlets to talk about the mental health needs of geriatric patients.

AN ADVOCATE FOR BALTIMORE

Dr. Watkins has positioned herself as an advocate for the city in which she was born. She is especially interested in closing Baltimore’s socio-economic divide that contributes to health disparities. Dr. Watkins volunteers in the community and focuses on programs that empower the next generation to reach their educational goals. To that end, she helped co-found a literacy program for elementary students and volunteers as a teacher for a school-based adolescent depression awareness program. Internationally, she has participated in medical missions to Ghana, The Gambia, and Guatemala. She previously served on the boards of the Jewish Museum of Maryland and the Maryland Psychiatric Society. She is a member of the 2016 Class of The LEADERship sponsored by the Greater Baltimore Committee.

Dr. Watkins is a member of The Links, Incorporated, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, and Jack and Jill of America. She is married to Nicholas Johansson, and they have four children, ages 15, 10, and 4-year old twins.