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<p>Thomas W. McAllister, M.D., has been named chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Indiana University.</p>

McAllister named psychiatry chair

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INDIANAPOLIS — Thomas W. McAllister, M.D., has been named chair of the Department of Psychiatry and the Albert Eugene Sterne Professor of Clinical Psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine. He will begin his duties this summer, pending approval by the IU Board of Trustees.

A member of the Dartmouth Medical School faculty, Dr. McAllister is the Millennium Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology and vice chair for neuroscience in the Department of Psychiatry. There he developed the Section of Neuropsychiatry, which grew to include an inpatient neurobehavior unit at the state psychiatric hospital, an outpatient neuropsychiatric clinic at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, a behavioral neurology and neuropsychiatry fellowship and an active federally funded clinical research program.
His research on the mechanisms and effects of traumatic brain injury has been funded by the National Institutes of Health (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; and the Department of Defense.

A respected educator, Dr. McAllister has taught medical students, residents and postdoctoral fellows at the Universities of Kentucky and Pennsylvania and at Dartmouth Medical School.
Dr. McAllister received his undergraduate and medical degree from Dartmouth and completed his residency training at the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He served on the faculties of the Universities of Kentucky and Pennsylvania before returning to Dartmouth in 1990.

“Tom’s experience and background position us well for the future, a future where mental health will figure prominently in comprehensive, multidisciplinary care of patients,” said D. Craig Brater, M.D., dean of the IU School of Medicine. “Tom also brings a personal interest and expertise in traumatic brain injury that melds with expertise at the School of Medicine in neurology, neurosurgery, physical medicine and rehabilitation, and in neuroimaging.

“This confluence of interests and capabilities positions us to make many meaningful contributions to issues in TBI from athletes to young men and women in combat through research in TBI and translation of this research to patients,” Brater said.

Last fall, the IU School of Medicine broke ground for a $52 million, 138,000-square-foot neuroscience research building, strategically located next to the IU Health Neuroscience Center, a 270,000-square-foot ambulatory care and imaging center. The two buildings will be the hub of the expertise in neurosciences for researchers, doctors, patients and future physicians in training.

In April, the IU School of Medicine and IU Health announced the $150 million Strategic Research Initiative with neurosciences as a principal area of research.