Strategic Plan: Executive Summary

We are proud of the accomplishments made by our faculty, staff, and trainees in Department of Psychiatry, and recognize that there is also more work to do. Below is an overview of our strategic plan, which will evolve as our engaged and inspired faculty implement this “roadmap,” and we meet (and exceed) our ambitious but achievable tactics. 

Research 

To strengthen our research work, the Department’s goals and tactics are to: 

  • Further develop interdependent, transdisciplinary, collaborative research 
  • Work extensively to increase cross-campus collaborations 
  • Develop a more robust speaker program that includes basic science presentations 
  • Increase awareness of clinical trial opportunities for patients 
  • Top-down support for clinic involvement in research 
  • Develop opportunities for clinicians to contribute to research projects 

Education  

While the Department’s focus on educating medical students and training Residents and Fellows is strong, we will work to advance interest and engagement of medical students in psychiatry by:  

  • Improving the pre-clinical psychiatry education block 
  • Invigorate the psychiatry interest group with junior faculty advisors 
  • Increase faculty engagement with the MIND CUP clinic 

Other tactics to improve our GME training programs include: 

  • Enrollment of more residents in area of concentration tracks (women’s mental health track, research track, integrative track)  
  • Expansion of ACGME fellowships.  
  • Serve as the regional leader in the clinical training of mental health specialists such as psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, social workers, and peer support specialists.  

Patient Care 

We have identified tactics to increase our services and innovate in psychiatric care by: 

  • Growing interventional psychiatry 
  • Launching an intensive outpatient programs to divert sub-acute patients from hospitalization,  
  • Increasing digital therapeutics across the Banner hospital and practice enterprises 
  • Growing specialty services, in particular: child and adolescent services, addiction services, and late-life mental health clinical services. 

Faculty& Staff 

To develop a diverse, scholarly, impactful, and sustainable academic faculty, the Department will: 

  • Create a departmental lead for Faculty Development 
  • Offer at least annual presentations on the value and process of promotion  
  • Enhance the faculty mentoring program 
  • Increase engagement with COM students via mentoring roles and identifying academically-inclined residents early in their training.  

To expand a diverse faculty, we will: 

  • Provide leadership with training to lead diverse teams  
  • Creating a Departmental mentoring and retention plan for all faculty, with attention paid to URM faculty 
  • Increase  Departmental presence at trainee and student recruitment sites such as the MIND CUP clinic  
  • Utilize aspects of various diversity hiring toolkits implemented at other medical schools 
  • Utilize AAMC resources to increase recruitment and retention of diverse faculty and trainees  
  • Develop collaborative relationships with Banner HR in support of improved recruitment strategies for faculty and staff/senior staff vacancies.  
  • Address the unique challenges affecting women working in healthcare to improve quality of life and reduce attrition from the profession and working in an academic medical center. 

Posted Aug 31, 2021