Message from the Chair

In this University, and particularly in this Department, we are in a period of academic renewal. We are in the process of enhancing all of our clinical, educational, and research programs and have recently reorganized the department along “mission lines” for clinical, educational, and research affairs to highlight our commitment to each of these critical areas. There is a very positive spirit in the Department now and there is optimism and opportunity in each of the many areas in which we are active.

I am particularly pleased with the successful recruitment of several new members of the department in the past few years. In the past year, alone, at least six new psychiatrists, three new clinical psychologists, and two new basic scientists have joined the department. These new departmental members are focusing in a variety of areas including, but not limited to, Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (Drs. Hirsch, Woodard-Faust, Smyth), Consultation Psychiatry (Dr. Tobin), Forensic Psychiatry (Dr. Yohanna), Anxiety Disorders (Dr. Phan), Aggressive Disorders (Dr. Noblett), Eating Disorders (Dr. Chen), Behavioral Genetics (Dr. Jacobson), and Molecular Neuropsychopharmacology (Dr. Dulawa). In the upcoming year we plan to recruit even more new faculty in targeted areas including mood and other disorders. All in all, there is good reason to be optimistic about our academic activities, and we are looking forward to the future.

Organization of the Department

The Department has recently been reorganized along “Mission Lines” and, accordingly, there is now a Director for each of our basic Missions (Clinical, Education, and Research). Acting in concert with the Mission Directors are two clinical sections (General Psychiatry and Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) and two research sections (Translational & Molecular Neuroscience and Genetics & Molecular Psychiatry).

Mission Directors:

Director of the Clinical Mission: Daniel Yohanna, M.D. Dr. Yohanna is a recent recruit from Northwestern University where he was Medical Director of the Stone Institute of Psychiatry. Dr. Yohanna is board certified in both General Psychiatry and in Forensic Psychiatry. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. Currently, Dr. Yohanna is the President-Elect of the Illinois Psychiatric Society.

Director of the Education Mission: Deborah Spitz, M.D. Dr. Spitz has had a distinguished career in medical education, including Director of Residency Training at Tufts University and Director of Medical Student Training here at the University of Chicago. In addition, Dr. Spitz has received many honors for her work in the field education including Outstanding Teacher of the Year by both Medical Students and Psychiatric Residents at Tufts University and by Psychiatric Residents here at the University of Chicago. Dr. Spitz is board certified in General Psychiatry and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. Dr. Spitz is also on the Editorial Board of the leading peer-reviewed journal for psychiatric education, Academic Psychiatry.

Director of the Research Mission: Emil Coccaro, M.D. (Interim). Dr. Coccaro is the Ellen C. Manning Professor and Chair of the Department. Dr. Coccaro is the recipient of numerous NIMH and Foundation Grant Awards and is currently PI on multiple grants from the National Institute of Mental Health in the area of the biology, genetics, and treatment of impulsive aggression. Dr. Coccaro is board certified in General Psychiatry and is both a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He is currently in the process of recruiting a permanent Director of the Research Mission.

Section Chiefs and Clinical Directors:

    General Psychiatry: Daniel Yohanna (Interim). The department is in the processing of recruiting a new Section Chief and Clinical Director of General Psychiatry and Dr. Yohanna is serving in this capacity in the context of this process.

    Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: Sharon Hirsch, M.D. Dr. Hirsch is the Clinical Director and Section Chief (Interim) of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Hirsch is a recent recruit from Children’s Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Dr. Hirsch is board certified in both General Psychiatry and in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr. Hirsch specializes in mood, anxiety, and attention deficit disorders and has been the principal investigator on a number of clinical psychopharmacological trials in these areas. Dr. Hirsch is the recipient of a number of awards including Outstanding Young Women in America and, most recently, Teacher of the Year for the Child Psychiatry Residency at the Northwestern University School of Medicine.

    Translational & Molecular Neuroscience: Emil Coccaro, M.D. The department is in the processing of recruiting a new Section Chief for this research section and Dr. Coccaro is serving in this capacity in the context of this process.

    Genetics & Molecular Psychiatry: Elliot Gershon, M.D. Dr. Gershon is the Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and an acclaimed psychiatric geneticist. Dr. Gershon has been declared a “Highly Cited Author” by the Center for Scientific Information. Dr. Gershon is the recipient of numerous NIMH and Foundation Grant Awards and is currently PI on multiple grants from the National Institute of Mental Health in the area of the genetics of bipolar and other mood disorders. Dr. Gershon is board certified in General Psychiatry and is a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Most recently Dr. Gershon received the Anna-Monika Prize (Berlin, Germany) for his ground-breaking research on the role of genetics in bipolar disorder.

Clinical Programs:

General Psychiatry. The section of General Psychiatry includes both Hospital-Related Services and Outpatient Services. Hospital-Related services include a 16-Bed Inpatient Unit currently focusing on Neuropsychiatry and General Psychiatry, a Consult Psychiatry Service that interacts with both medical/surgical services and with the Emergency Department, and an ECT Service that performs ECT on both inpatients and outpatients. The outpatient service is staffed by psychaitrists, clinical psychologists, clinical neuropsychologists,.and licensed clinical social workers. The outpatient service provides mental health assessment and treatment services that include state-of-the-art psychopharmacology and a variety of psychotherapies, including cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. The program includes a variety of clinics in mood, anxiety and personality disorders, schizophrenia, geropsychiatry, neuropsychiatry, and others.

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. The section on Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, currently, focuses on outpatient and consultative services for children and adolescents. The section is staffed by C&A psychiatrists, clinical psychologists, clinical neuropsychologists, and licensed clinical social workers. The clinical service provides mental health assessment and treatment services that include state-of-the-art psychopharmacology and a variety of psychotherapies. The program includes a variety of clinics in mood and anxiety disorders, disruptive behavior disorders, attention deficit disorders, eating disorders, and developmental disorders. Clinical research in the section includes active NIH funded programs in eating disorders and in disruptive behavior disorders.

Research Programs:

    Translational & Molecular Neuroscience. This research section conducts NIH funded research both in basic and clinical science. Within the section are seven laboratory groups including four clinically-oriented research groups and three basic science research groups. The clinically-oriented groups focus on impulsive aggression, unipolar mood disorder, anxiety disorder, personality disorder, and addictive disorder. The basic science groups focus on human and animal behavioral psychopharmacology and on the molecular mechanisms of action for mood altering agents.

    Genetics & Molecular Psychiatry. This research section also conducts NIH funded research both in basic and clinical science. Within the section are four laboratory groups including one clinically-oriented research group in the area of the behavioral genetics of mood disorders, particularly bipolar mood disorder, and three basic science research groups working in a variety of molecular genetics areas of relavance to mood, psychotic and cognitive disorders.

    Opportunities for Residents in Research. Opportunities exist for residents to work with investigators in any of these groups, particularly in the latter years of the residency. In the last few years, no less than ten residents have worked with faculty in these two research sections on a variety of research projects. Just this year we have established a program that allows residents the opportunity to spend the equivalent of an entire year in research by funding a fifth year of training.

Commitment to Teaching

We are investing considerable resources in the revitalization of our training programs. Education has been elevated up to Mission Status and has its own Mission Director, Deborah Spitz, M.D. As such Dr. Spitz oversees all education activities in the department with specific education directors (e.g., Medical Student Education) under her. Other training programs in the Department include an Internship in Clinical Psychology and practicum experience for second-year social work students.

Clinical Excellence

We believe that clinical excellence follows from broad experience, good teaching, and scientific savvy. The scientific basis of clinical excellence will be central to our teaching program. This is essential for graduates, because they must, over the four or five decades they practice, be familiar with and critically evaluate developments and therapies. Beyond that, our faculty is committed to providing an example of the highest moral and “the secret of the care of the patient is found in caring for the patient.”

Academic Excellence

Clinical excellence and academic excellence go hand-in-hand as one informs the other. However, beyond training excellent clinicians or goal is to train researchers who are able to make academic contributions to our field. Trainees are afforded intellectual and scientific stimulation to develop their critical skills and the depth and breadth of their academic knowledge. While we have provided research opportunities for all residents, the department now can support at least one full year of research as past of a research-track.

The Coming Years

The Department is on track on its own academic renewal. In addition to strengthening current areas of excellence, we will be recruiting new faculty to the department so as to broaden our overall expertise. In addition, new initiatives have been created to increase the strength of the junior faculty through the creation of mentorship committees that work to guide the development of this most important group within our faculty. In addition, to our diverse Grand Rounds Program which include outside speakers and clinical case presentations, the department has begun semi-annual “Psychiatry Days” assembled to keep the full department, including trainees, up to date on the clinical programs and the research currently taking place in the department.

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