Department of Psychiatry
This is an extraordinary time in the history of Psychiatry. Exciting advances in neuroscience are being translated into clinical practice at a rapid rate. New medications, new diagnostic neuroimaging techniques, and the genetics of mental illness are among the several directions in which our field has progressed. Several psychotherapies, including cognitive, behavioral, and interpersonal therapies, have also become more effective because of new research underpinning them.
The Department of Psychiatry at University Tennessee Health Science Center is at the forefront in teaching and training for practice based on both modern neuroscience and psychotherapy. Our faculty is working on research projects in neuropsychiatry, the genetics of schizophrenia, sexual abuse, family relationships in personality disorders, and clinical trials of new medications. Opportunities for our residents and students to participate in these areas are strongly supported.
The basis of our field is clinical work. Our affiliation with Methodist University Hospital, the Lakeside Hospital, St. Francis Hospital, the VA Medical Center, Memphis Mental Health Institute and The Regional Medical Center allows our faculty, residents, and students to work with a wide array of patients in many different clinical settings using a variety of practice models. Our primary duty is to serve those patients, while adding to the knowledge base supporting improved care. The close personal attention given to residents by our faculty helps to create the highly trained graduate of our program.
Psychiatry Student Interest Group NetworkAltha Stewart, MD, Named President-Elect of American Psychiatric Association and joins the Governor's Task Force on School Safety
Altha Stewart, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for
Health in Justice Involved Youth at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center
(UTHSC), today was named president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
She is the first African-American to lead the more than 37,000-member organization,
which sets policy, establishes practice guidelines, and represents the field of psychiatry
nationally and internationally.
The results of the election by the organization’s membership were made public today, and will be official when ratified by the APA board of directors in March. Dr. Stewart, who is also chief of Social and Community Psychiatry at UTHSC, will serve as president-elect beginning in May, and will assume the role of president in May 2018. She is the fourth woman in a row to head the association. Read More
Dr. Stewart has also been named by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam to serve on a new state task force on school safety. The 16-member School Safety Working Group had its first meeting in Nashville Thursday. Read More