Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

The University of California, Irvine (UCI), in partnership with Grant Cooper, announces a national search for the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.

The University of California, Irvine (UC Irvine) has a vibrant scientific community with outstanding collaborative opportunities, including, but not limited to, basic and clinical neuroscience, imaging, translational biomedical science, stem cell research, biomedical informatics, pharmaceutical sciences, and genomic medicine. UCI Medical Center is the principal facility for UCI Health and the UCI School of Medicine’s clinical and teaching programs and is located on our medical center campus in Orange, CA, approximately 11 miles north of the Irvine campus. The 418-bed acute care hospital, listed among America’s Best Hospitals by U.S. News & World Report for the 20th consecutive year, is home to specialty services including an NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center, a certified stroke and cerebrovascular center, a regional burn center, and the only Level I trauma center in Orange County. A second 144-bed hospital is being constructed on the northern edge of the University of California, Irvine academic campus for planned occupancy in 2025.

The inpatient facilities of the Department are housed in the 100,000 square foot Neuropsychiatric Center in Orange and the outpatient programs are organized across 3 additional sites. Currently, there are 42 beds consisting of an acute adult unit, a medical/psychiatric unit, and an adolescent unit. The department also staffs a partial hospital program and a structured outpatient program for adolescents. The Department’s 22,000 sf primary outpatient site was built out and occupied in 2021. Approximately, 45,000 patient visits are delivered annually. The Department has 27 faculty members and has strong affiliations with the Long Beach Veteran's Administration Healthcare System, Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Orange County and a variety of community agencies.

UC Irvine is internationally renowned in fundamental neuroscience and is home to two of the top twenty neuroscience departments in the United States. The Department of Psychiatry’s primary research facilities are housed on the Irvine campus. The Department has maintained a tradition of excellence in research with successful extramural funding in basic and translational neuroscience, neuro-imaging, and immunology, among others. Aligning with the Department’s goal to catapult its research mission, UC-Irvine recently announced a transformative $55 Million gift to establish the Noel Drury, M.D., Depression Research Center for research and treatment of depressive illnesses. Moreover, the department is home to researchers who are global leaders in research in numerous disorders including Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease.   

The Department has a 36 resident training program in general psychiatry and a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry with 8 fellows.  Both programs are highly competitive.  The interactive environment encourages individuals to excel and achieve their professional and personal goals in education, clinical care, and research.

Psychiatry’s medical student training is strong. Its clerkships and rotations are highly rated, and graduates consistently and disproportionally choose to enter Psychiatry residency programs when they graduate. The Department also provides a major teaching role to medical students with a required clerkship, behavioral science and ethics course, and numerous electives.

Community psychiatry is undergoing a renaissance in Orange County, and the Department is closely collaborating with the novel public/private mental health group BeWell OC.

This position is being recruited in the following faculty titles, designation into the following title series will be dependent upon qualifications: Tenured Professor of Line series, Professor of Clinical X series and Health Sciences Clinical Professor series. Academic appointment will be determined based on the final candidate’s area of discipline. 

Eligibility:

An MD, MD/PhD degree (or equivalent). Board certification in psychiatry by the ABPN. Be eligible for, or currently hold, a medical license in the state of California. Meet requirements for appointment at the rank of full professor Strong record of scholarly activity, evidenced by high quality peer reviewed publications and a stellar record of research and research support. Leadership skills and vision for enhancing the clinical and academic components of a multi-disciplinary department. Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion with track record of promoting an inclusive culture.  

Desired Attributes:

An excellent record of clinical expertise. Solid experience in administering psychiatric inpatient and outpatient clinical services would be a significant advantage. Strong record of teaching. Finally, the candidate must have good interpersonal skills, and be able to work cooperatively and congenially within a diverse academic and clinical environment. Interested applicants are invited to complete an online application profile and upload their curriculum vitae electronically to the following web site: https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF07433.

Complete applications include a CV, cover letter, research statement, teaching statement, and a separate diversity statement that describes past activities that promote diversity and inclusion and plans for future contributions.

Applications or nominations of appropriate candidates may be sent to:  Corey Lohnes, Managing Director, Grant Cooper, lohnes@grantcooper.com

Application review will begin immediately and continue until the position has been filled.

The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy. A recipient of an NSF ADVANCE award for gender equity, UCI is responsive to the needs of dual career couples, supports work-life balance through an array of family-friendly policies, and is dedicated to broadening participation in higher education.