This was the sentiment of many of us on faculty at the University of Maryland when we heard the great news. Dean Wilson had finally made his decision and appointed Tony Lehman to be the next Chair. Dr. Lehman has been a member of the faculty since 1986. Over the last 15 years, he has received millions of dollars in research grants, published dozens of papers, won a long list of awards, and chaired a myriad of committees and task forces. But most important, he has won the deep respect and admiration of countless numbers of patients and colleagues. This respect and admiration comes from Dr. Lehman's ability to bring simple clarity to complex problems, to persuade forcefully without browbeating, and to do it all with a soft-spoken style and interpersonal warmth.

Dr. Lehman received his M.D. from the University of Rochester in 1975 and completed his psychiatry residency at UCLA. After residency, he continued as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and received his Masters of Science in Public Health from UCLA in 1981. Dr. Lehman returned to Rochester from 1981 to 1986, where he was Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. In 1986, he came to the University of Maryland as an Associate Professor, was granted tenure in 1987, and was promoted to Professor in 1993.

The overall focus of Dr. Lehman's clinical, research and teaching activity has been on the care of persons with severe and persistent mental illnesses. He has conducted seminal research on quality of life outcomes, on the assessment and treatment of people with mental illness and co-morbid substance use disorders, and successfully tested the use of assertive community treatment for homeless persons with severe mental illness. His most recent work as principal investigator of the Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) has focused on delineating and measuring use of evidence-based practices and assessment of quality of care.

I have had the opportunity to hear Dr. Lehman's plans for the Department over the last few months as he has spoken to residency applicants to the University of Maryland psychiatry training program. He graciously agreed to answer some questions for this article.

A: My top goals are to (1) further strengthen the research programs in the department by emphasizing the growth of clinical research in the areas of child/adolescent psychiatry, geropsychiatry, and mood disorders. This investment will also have direct impacts on strengthening clinical services and education in these areas; (2) deliver better clinical care based on scientific evidence so that we can address our patients’ needs in a variety of treatment settings throughout the course of their illnesses. (3) continue our commitment to educate psychiatrists to work with diverse groups of patients; and (4) maintain our core commitment to treat persons with severe mental illnesses.

A: I especially enjoy mentoring faculty to help them pursue their academic goals and residents and students to instill enthusiasm and standards of excellence for our work. I plan to continue to keep my hand in health services research.

A: While most everyone supports innovation, few people like change. This job necessitates asking people to change how they do things, and sometimes these changes are initially uncomfortable. That is not always fun from my perspective. Also, the economics of academic medicine today are especially challenging.

A: I believe that a Chair's job is to articulate a vision, building upon consensus of faculty and the needs of our constituents (the School of Medicine, University of Maryland Medical Center, VA, and the State, in particular), and provide the necessary leadership to accomplish that vision, advocating for resources and support from strategic partners to achieve our goals. I consider it essential that the Chair be nurturing of new ideas and the aspirations of faculty, trainees, and our partners in Maryland. My style is to roll up my sleeves and lead by example.

A: I would like to see more involvement of the Department faculty in MPS. Certainly we can partner with MPS on efforts to advocate dissemination and support for evidence-based practices for our patients in Maryland.

A: Absolutely. There are many parallels between playing the trombone and being a department chair. One needs a flexible but stiff upper lip. Deep breathing exercises help with maintaining endurance and relaxed control. Neither is a solo job. I never lose sight of the fact that I am part of an ensemble. One exception is that while I love playing the blues, I hope that this will continue to be restricted to the trombone.