Appointment of Interim Chair of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

March 2, 2022

TO:All UMMC Faculty, Staff and Students

FROM:Dr. LouAnn Woodward
           Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs
           Dean, School of Medicine

SUBJECT: Appointment of Interim Chair of Psychiatry and Human Behavior

I am pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Sara Gleason, professor and executive vice chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, as interim chair of psychiatry and human behavior, effective April 1, 2022.

Dr. Gleason will succeed Dr. Scott Rodgers, who will assume the role of associate vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Dr. Gleason, who studied public policy as an undergraduate at Princeton University, earned a JD from the University of Michigan Law School. She also completed the executive MBA program at the Else School of Management at Millsaps College. At UMMC, she earned her medical degree from the School of Medicine in 2004 and completed her residency in adult psychiatry.

A former school teacher at Jackson Preparatory School and a practicing attorney in Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Gleason was subsequently drawn to a career in medicine. Prior to joining the UMMC faculty in 2016, she was on staff at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center, the Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System and Mississippi State Hospital.

Dr. Gleason is director of consultation-liaison psychiatry at UMMC. Her past leadership roles in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior include vice chair for faculty development, deputy vice chair of clinical affairs, and interim director of the psychiatric emergency service.

At UMMC, she is also a member of the core faculty for the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities; psychiatric consultant to the Asylum Hill Research Consortium; director of community engagement in the Center for Innovation and Discovery in Addictions; and clinical mentor to the School of Medicine’s Shirley House.

Among the honors Dr. Gleason has received at UMMC are the Nina Moffitt, MD Award for Outstanding Leadership and Clinical Excellence, 2008; the Trailblazer Teaching Award from the Office of Medical Education, 2017; Best Clinical Teacher of the Year, Psychiatry Residency Training Program, 2018; and the Collaboration Award, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, 2021.

She has been a mentor to psychiatry residents, medical students, psychiatric nurse practitioners and more. In 2021, she was inducted as a faculty member into the Mississippi Chapter of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.

Dr. Gleason has served on numerous committees and work groups for the Medical Center at large, as well as on those in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior.

Beyond the Medical Center, she serves on the Mississippi Hospital Association Committee on Behavioral Health and the Mississippi Professional Art Therapists Advisory Council. A fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Gleason has held leadership roles in the Mississippi Psychiatric Association.

She is a co-author of several articles that have appeared in professional publications and has a number of poster and oral presentations to her credit.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Gleason in her role as interim chair of psychiatry and human behavior.

I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. Rodgers for his work as chair of the department, producing for more than seven years a record of outstanding service.