by Anthony Lehman, M.D.
[Spring/Summer 1998; Vol. 25 No. 1]
The Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland has announced the appointment of Lisa B. Dixon, M.D., M.P.H., as its new director of education and director of residency training effective June 1, 1998. She succeeds George Balis, M.D., who passed away in December 1997.
Dr. Dixon completed her undergraduate studies with a major in economics at Harvard in 1980. She received her medical degree in 1985 from Cornell University Medical College where she also completed her internship and psychiatric residency. From 1989 to 1990, Dr. Dixon was a research fellow at Maryland Psychiatric Research Center in Catonsville; in 1991 she joined the faculty in the department of psychiatry at Maryland where she is currently a tenured associate professor.
Dr. Dixon lives with her husband, Dr. Andrew Farb, a cardiologist, and their children Anna, age seven, and Emily, age five, and their five cats. She describes her hobbies as daydreaming about the days when she had time for hobbies and obsessing about all matters relating to raising children. Dr. Dixon speaks frequently of her family experience of having a sibling who suffers from schizophrenia, and she draws much inspiration from this personal experience.
An active researcher, her interests have focused on schizophrenia, dual diagnosis, homelessness, families of persons with mental illness, and mental health economics. As a nationally recognized expert in these research fields, especially in her research work with families, Dr. Dixon lectures throughout the country. She currently holds a prestigious NIMH Scientist Development Award for Clinicians and is principal investigator or co-investigator on numerous research grants and contracts. She has authored or co-authored over fifty scientific articles and book chapters.
Beyond her research activities, Dr. Dixon's enthusiasm and skills as a teacher have earned her the Clinical Teacher of the Year Award in the department of psychiatry (1993), and the Jose Arana Award as an outstanding role model for psychiatric residents (1994). Since joining the faculty, she has played a major role throughout the residency program and was a leader in organizing the Resident Research Track. Through her efforts, numerous residents have presented abstracts and papers at the annual meeting of the APA during the past few years.
In addition to teaching, she is an active clinician in the department's division of community psychiatry and gives tirelessly to her profession and community. She was formerly the medical director of the Assertive Community Treatment Program for Homeless Person with Severe Mental Illness. She has been an active member of the APA since 1985 and while in New York served on the district branch's Committee on Legislation and Task Force for the Homeless. She chairs the Psychopathology Committee for the Group for Advancement of Psychiatry and is a council member of the Association for Psychosocial Research. She is active in the Alliance for the Mentally Ill at the local, state, and national levels.
Dr. Dixon exemplifies the commitment to research, teaching, and service needed to lead a large psychiatric education program in these times of rapid change. Her leadership carries on the tradition of commitment to excellence and public service that has long distinguished the training program in psychiatry at the University of Maryland.
Her education and leadership in education make her a natural choice to succeed Dr. Balis.
Dr. Lehman, a professor of psychiatry on the faculty of the University of Maryland Psychiatric Institute, is director for the Center for Mental Health Services Resarch.