Public Psychiatry

State human service agencies manage increasingly large and complex systems of care. This requires an increasingly sophisticated workforce and decision support infrastructure. Few states have the resources to develop these important elements. Forming strategic collaborations with academic institutions that have service, education and research as priorities is one way for a state human service agency to develop a comprehensive, statewide infrastructure for services augmentation, workforce education and training, and policy-relevant mental health services research. The Division of Public Psychiatry within the UVM Department of Psychiatry was created in 2004 as a public-academic liaison between the Vermont Agency of Human Services Department of Mental Health and the Department of Psychiatry, UVM/Fletcher Allen Health Care. The goal was and is to establish a partnership between the state and the University in order to improve access and availability of psychiatric services in Vermont and facilitate recruitment and retention of high caliber psychiatrists and other behavioral health professionals to provide service, training and research in the public sector.

Director:

Thomas Simpatico, M.D.
Courtyard at Given N308
Phone: (802)656-3246
email:  thomas.simpatico@uvm.edu