Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine
The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at Wake Forest School of Medicine is chaired by Rahn Kennedy Bailey, MDand is comprised of 24 faculty members:13MDs,6PhDs, and 5 Master’s-trained individuals. The faculty is actively involved in clinical service delivery, education, and research. They provide over 14,000 outpatient mental health visits per year, and care for 1,300 inpatient psychiatric admissions per year within Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. The Psychiatry Residents’ outpatient clinic provides an additional 5,000 visits per year. In addition to regular outpatient and inpatient psychiatric services, the department offers the following specialized clinical services:
The Geropsychiatry Service has a geropsychiatrist, two PhD-level geropsychologists, an MSW, and a nurse practitioner who provide a range of in- and out-patient psychiatric services to older adults and lead research studies on problems of late life. A generous gift established the Kate Mills Snider Geriatric PsychiatryOutreach (GO) Program, whichsupportsin-home geriatric psychiatry consultations to older individuals. GO Team members, under the directorship of Dr. Bailey, include a nurse practitioner, social worker,and other health care professionals specializing in geriatric mental health. In addition to clinical services, the GO Program assists patients and their families in accessing community resources available to our elderly population.
The Neurobehavioral Clinic, a weekly half-day clinic, serves referred patients from throughout our region with a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions including complications of traumatic brain injury, stroke, epilepsy, brain tumors, conversion disorders, and complex polypharmacy. In addition, the clinic provides assessments and follow-up for patients undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery for a variety of neurologic conditions.
The Forensic Psychiatry program receives requests from throughout the United States for case review, consultation, and expert witness services. Both civil and criminal issues are accepted for review based on faculty interest and availability. Faculty involved in the program provides education to residents in the form of seminars and open case participation.
The Substance Abuse Program provides individual services, buprenorphine,and Intensive Outpatient Service to persons with a variety of substance use disorders.
The Electroconvulsive (ECT) Service provides hospital-based ECT service 4 days a week, totaling approximately 1000 procedures per year. An outpatient ECT clinic which completes a continuum of care.
TheChild and Adolescent Sectionhas 4 full-time MDs, 2 PhDs, and 2 Master’s-level providers who provide in- and outpatient care to children and adolescents with a full range of disorders. Patients are seen through the Brenner Children’s Hospital, our pediatric hospital within Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.TheChild Guidance Clinic, a non-profit agency that receives United Way support, provides mental health services to indigent children ages 3 through 17and their families from surrounding counties. Services include comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluations, initial screening and referral to appropriate resources, individual and family therapy, group therapy/ social skills training, parent training, school consultation, and pharmacotherapy. We also provide specialty evaluations and treatment of sexually abused children. The Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship complements the clinical and educational missions of the department.
Current research inthe department focuses onECT, dementia and other age-associated cognitive disorders, cancer-associated cognitive impairment, adolescent suicidal behavior, homelessness, parenting skills, health services, pharmacologic agents to treat major mental disorders, and health-related quality of life. Our Geropsychiatry faculty (Drs. Rapp and Brenes) are actively involved in large, multi-site observational and clinical trials in older adults including CHS, GEMS, MESA, LookAHEAD, LIFE, and SPRINT, all supported by the NIH. In addition, they are PIs of grants examining novel treatment for late-life anxiety (Brenes, NIH) and innovative uses of technology to assess cognitive functioning (Rapp, Alzheimer’s Association). Dr. Rapp is also PI of the NIH-supported WHIMS longitudinal study and a long-time investigator in the WHI cohort of projects. Other research projects in the department aresupported by grants from private foundations and industry.