We all know the old saw about how the more things change, the more they stay the same. In medical education, where change is constant, staying the same might seem old fashioned. But for Vanderbilt Department of Psychiatry faculty, it’s part of the job to pursue the newest science while still facing basic human truths.

“Teaching psychiatry will change and remain the same,” says Catherine Fuchs, M.D., vice chair for Education in the Department of Psychiatry. “As there’s more neuroscience and neuro-imaging, there will be more importance to understanding the science. But we’ll never lose the need to teach people how to deal with their reactions to patients with mental illness.”

Fuchs received her B.A. (‘78), M.D. (‘82), and residency training in child and adolescent psychiatry at Vanderbilt, making her the ideal person to assess how teaching psychiatry at Vanderbilt has changed – and stayed the same.

According to Fuchs, Vanderbilt psychiatry faculty focused on psychodynamic and analytic theory when she was a student. That has changed on her watch.  continued>>