Foundation

Our Mission

The Foundation’s mission is multi-faceted, and includes providing funding and support:

To educate the public about psychiatry, psychiatric illnesses, and treatments.
To increase public awareness of the signs and symptoms of mental illness, the availability and methods of treatment, and the sources of assistance for persons with mental illness.
To enhance the quality of assistance to the psychiatric patient, particularly by improving access to care, improving conditions in hospitals, mental health centers and other facilities, and changing perceptions of mental illness to increase the understanding of treatment and cure.
To support research to improve psychiatric care.
To remove any stigma of mental illness which may inhibit or prevent proper care, through educational and public service activities.
To serve as a clearinghouse for information about all aspects of psychiatry, and as a bridge between psychiatric medicine and the community served by the Foundation.
To undertake other projects for public benefit as agreed from time to time by the Foundation’s Board of Directors.

Methods of Focus

Public Education

The Foundation encourages and sponsors educational programs to increase the public’s awareness and knowledge of mental illnesses and the effective forms of treatment available today. The foundation supports educational efforts aimed at employers, the media, and family members of people with mental illness to encourage a better understanding of the illnesses and treatment. The Foundation also supports efforts to remove barriers to access to psychiatric care, including discriminatory practices of health insurance policies toward mental illnesses.

Above all, the Foundation will promote educational programs that emphasize that psychiatric illnesses are medical illnesses, not personal weaknesses, which are treatable with a high rate of successful outcomes. These efforts will address the misunderstanding about psychiatric illnesses that has promulgated the stigma associated with the illnesses.

Professional Education

Quality medical care depends on good medical education, both in training and beyond. This is especially true in psychiatry, where education is needed to keep abreast of the tremendous progress that has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness and in the changing healthcare delivery system. For these reasons, the Foundation develops and funds projects designed to improve and enrich professional education.

Professional education will primarily by addressed to psychiatric physicians, non-psychiatric physicians, and mental health allied professionals.

Grants for Research

To further encourage improvements in the treatment of mental illness, the Foundation funds research grants in medical schools and universities. Or, the Foundation may choose to support broad research programs by funding scholarships, fellowships, or professorships. The Foundation does not engage in research activities of its own.

Make a Donation

These important projects can only be supported with your generosity. Make a direct contribution, memorial gift, or corporate gift -- every donation matters!

Contribute online!

To donate by check, please make check payable to Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association Foundation and remit to:

2700 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 150
Atlanta, GA 30339

The Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association Foundation is a 501(c)3 charitable foundation. The Foundation's Tax ID is 58-2198322.

Apply for Grant Funding

Organizations and individuals seeking support for projects and programs that are aligned with the Foundation's mission should contact us directly.

Joseph and Hope Skobba Memorial Award Resident Research

Joseph Skobba, MD, pictured left

Dr. Skobba dedicated himself, his intellect, his teaching skills and his assets to advocate for resident research and education. Upon his wife’s death in 1967 he established the Hope Skobba Memorial Resident Research Awards to honor an outstanding resident with a monetary reward for excellence in research. At the 2019 Winter CME Meeting, GPPA recognized 3 residents as we have done for over 50 years.

Upon Dr Skobba’s death the name of the award was changed to the Joseph and Hope Skobba Memorial Award Resident Research. The money was put into investments and for many years the interest has financed the awards (now a portion of the award.)

Served in the military and wrote extensively about military psychiatry and the challenges faced by soldiers and PTSD
Professor at Emory in Department of Psychiatry (came from New York)
GPPA President 1956-1957
GPPA Psychiatrist of the Year 1976-1977
The first Area V Trustee to the APA in 1969 when the APA adopted a new constitution establishing Areas
Member of APA Ethics Ctte in 1978 when The Principles of Medical Ethics With Annotations Especially Applicable to Psychiatry were approved.
Author of many articles about psychiatric illness and care in the military.
Prolific writer on that topic and served on many commissions etc.
Pioneer in treatment of psychiatric conditions in the military.

The Howard Maziar Fund for Innovation in Leadership

For more information and to donate to the Howard Maziar Fund for Innovation in Leadership, CLICK HERE.

Award for Distinguished Career of Clinical Service in Public Psychiatry

Nicholas Bona, MD and Joseph Bona, MD Memorial Fund

Nicholas Bona, MD
The Award for Distinguished Career of Clinical Service in Public Psychiatry was established in 2019 in memory of Nicholas Bona, MD by Laura and Joseph Bona, MD. He was a psychiatrist who dedicated his career to the service of individuals with chronic and persistent mental illness in the
public sector. He was a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and would have loved the idea of honoring a psychiatrist clinician who over many years quietly serves our neediest population. This recurring award will honor a GPPA senior member whose career in clinical
service to the uninsured deserves recognition.

Joseph Bona, MD
Dr. Joseph Bona served as the CEO and Chief Medical Officer of the DeKalb Community Service Board, a provider of mental health, substance abuse, and developmental disability services to citizens of DeKalb County. He was an advocate for mental health reform. In fact, shortly before his death, he was appointed by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to serve on the Georgia Behavioral Health Reform and Innovation Commission. Dr. Bona said of his appointment, “It is an honor to be appointed by Gov. Kemp to this Commission and I look forward to working closely with my colleagues to help shape a better future for behavioral healthcare in Georgia.” Dr. Bona was a great mentor to many and was highly revered in the medical community. He was a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, member of the American College of Psychiatrists, Past President of the Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association (GPPA), and recipient of the GPPA 2016 Psychiatrist of the Year Award. Dr. Bona maintained adjunct faculty appointments to the Departments of Psychiatry at Emory University School of Medicine and the Medical College of Georgia. Dr. Bona passed away in June 2020. Dr. Bona is survived by his wife, Laura, and daughter, Olivia. Mrs. Laura Bona expanded the memorial to recognize the contributions of both Drs. Bona.

The first recipient was Jose Delgado, MD. According to Joe Bona, MD, "it was my distinct pleasure to honor Dr. Delgado on behalf of the GPPA, and to be reminded of the immense good we can do as clinicians, one person at a time, day in and day out, over many years."