The Dartmouth Medical School will welcome a new chair to its department of psychiatry in the coming Fall. Dr. Alan Green, currently an associate professor of psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, has been appointed to the position, and will officially assume his new role in the DMS community on November 15.
According to Green, Dartmouth is "a terrific environment for medicine, for research, for teaching and training new doctors and taking care of people -- it's a great place to be and I'm delighted to be here."
Green intends to improve on a system which he already holds in high esteem. "What I hope to achieve is to build up the base of terrific medical service, the teaching of medical students of all kinds, and the research that's already here and allow it to flourish and grow." Green said.
But Green is not the only one excited about his new leadership in the Dartmouth Medical school community.
"Dr. Green is a remarkable scholar and clinician," said Dean of Dartmouth Medical School John Baldwin, who had selected Green in the last round of candidate review. "He brings to the Dartmouth community a commitment to science and medicine that has been our emphasis for the past five years."
Professor of pathology and Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Dr. William Hickey had served as the head of the search committee that reviewed candidates for the position. "All these people were very competent," Hickey said, "and it came down to who appeared to be the best mesh."
When asked about the reaction of the DMS community towards Green's appointment, he replied "I believe he is going to be embraced very heartily by the psychiatry department."
Dr. Green's repertoire in the field of psychiatry includes his role as Director of the Harvard Medical School Commonwealth Research Center, a clinical research center studying patients with severe mental illnesses. In addition, he heads the Office of Research Administration and the Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center.
Green's work involves extensive study of patients with schizophrenia and related psychiatric disorders, and focuses on diminishing the long-term course of the illnesses. He will continue his research at Dartmouth, where he looks forward to collaborating with the richness of knowledge that can be gained at the college and the rest of the medical center.
He received his undergraduate degree from Columbia University and his medical degree at Johns Hopkins Medical School. Later, Green completed his post-graduate medical training at Harvard, where, after becoming a member of a clinical fellowship and subsequently a research fellowship in psychiatry, he joined the Harvard Medical School's psychiatry department faculty.
Green will succeed psychiatry professor Peter Silberfarb, who has served as the head of the DMS psychiatry department for over fifteen years.
Silberfarb commented positively on his experience as the head of the department, saying that he's enjoyed it tremendously and has witnessed the department flourish over the years. He also expressed enthusiasm towards the new leadership that is to come for the department.
"I'm very pleased to turn the leadership over to such a qualified person as Dr. Alan Green," Silberfarb said.
Silberfarb noted that the new head of the psychiatry department will "have to be a good administrator, because the department is very complex, and we have affiliates, contracts and extensions well beyond the Hanover and Lebanon area."
Although Green has served the Harvard medical school for over a decade, he anticipates the new opportunity that Dartmouth has offered him with enthusiasm.
He reflected that he will continue to have friends and colleagues at Harvard, but expects to build new parts of his career at Dartmouth and looks forward to working with the "very talented faculty."
"From what I've learned so far and what I know about it from the outside it's extremely well-respected as a teaching and training environment for young people -- that's really important for me."
On a final note, Green said that the college fits very nicely with who he is.
"I hope I can bring to Dartmouth something that will add to the wealth and greatness of its clinical expertise, teaching excellence and research excellence." he said. "I hope I can make a difference, and I'll try my best."
