History
Vanderbilt is a private, nonsectarian university, established in 1875, and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Vanderbilt Medical School, located on campus, opened in 1925. Dr. Frank H. Luton became the first psychiatrist to join the faculty and laid the foundation for the Department of Psychiatry.
Dr. William F. Orr, Jr., a native son, was the first chairman of the department from 1947 to 1969. He oversaw the founding of the training program and directed the faculty as it grew from five to fifty-seven members. Before stepping down as chairman, Dr. Orr created the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship.
Dr. Marc H. Hollender took over the chairmanship in 1970. As a former chairman (SUNY - Syracuse) and training director (University of Pennsylvania), Dr. Hollender knew the importance of education, research, and scholarship and oversaw a period of reorganization. In 1975, he recruited the psychoanalyst Dr. Pietro Castelnuova Tedesco to assume the newly established James G. Blakemore professorship. Dr.Tedesco made psychoanalytic training available to mental health professionals in Nashville. When Dr. Hollender relinquished the chair in 1983, the Department of Psychiatry was an expanded and energized unit.
Dr. Michael H. Ebert's tenure as chair from 1983 to 2002 was a period of growth for Vanderbilt Medical School. The Vanderbilt Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital opened in December 1985 and was managed in partnership with Columbia-HCA until May 1999, when Vanderbilt University Medical Center acquired sole proprietorship. Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital is an 88 bed hospital that now serves adult, child, and adolescent patients. Dr. Ebert expanded the research efforts of the department, including a partnership with the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development. In 1997, an Addiction Fellowship was established under the direction of Dr. Peter Martin.
In January 2006, Dr. Stephan Heckers was recruited from Harvard University to become the new chairman. He has brought renewed energy and excitement to the department, with his commitment to excellent patient care, a scholarly training program, and significant growth of the research enterprise.
D. Catherine Fuchs, M.D.
Vice Chair for Education
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
