“I have a pretty ambitious agenda,” said Pedro L. Delgado, M.D., who arrived from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine this spring to become professor and chair of the Health Science Center’s department of psychiatry. He also is the associate dean for faculty development and professionalism in the Medical School.
Dr. Delgado lists the enhancement of research programs, clinical services and educational programs in the department of psychiatry as his chief goals, along with establishing a model of institutional culture and structure that creates incentives for Medical School faculty to become leaders in translational and clinical research, develop nationally recognized programs for patient care, and continue the strong tradition of excellence in mentoring and training of students.
Already a department chair in Cleveland, he accepted the Health Science Center position because of what he perceives to be greater potential in San Antonio. “I came here because this institution has resources to stimulate research and new program development in several areas,” Dr. Delgado said. “For example, we have the Research Imaging Center and the Regional Academic Health Center, which provide many unique opportunities. Many other institutions only dream of having these types of resources.”
He also relishes the prospect of playing an institution-wide role in faculty development through improved mentoring and an enriched academic environment. “The quality and value of an academic medical center is judged by the character of the faculty, staff and students who work there. Therefore, for this institution to be strong we must produce good people, mentor good people and keep good people. In order to do this, we need a great environment and an unwavering commitment toward developing our faculty, staff and students,” Dr. Delgado said.
“I am quite pleased that Dr. Delgado has joined the Medical School, not only from the perspective as a fellow chairman but also from my perspective as interim dean,” said Thomas C. Mayes, M.D., M.B.A., interim dean of the Medical School and professor and chairman of pediatrics. “He brings a wealth of experience across all areas of our mission, but also will provide school-wide focus on an often-neglected educational process – the professional development of our own faculty. Professionalism is a core value of the Medical School, and Dr. Delgado will be quite effective in assuring that this core value is exhibited by our faculty, staff, students and residents.”
Dr. Delgado said a system of rewards for performance is in keeping with the recent shift toward a model of greater accountability and productivity in health care and academic medicine, and reinforces institutional values and priorities. “We must use resources wisely and ensure that our efforts are in keeping with the overall departmental and institutional goals,” he said. “This means avoidance of a laissez-faire and inwardly focused attitude.”
Dr. Delgado received his medical degree from The University of Texas Medical Branch in 1983 and was awarded a Master of Arts in pharmacology the following year. He completed his internship and residency in psychiatry at the Yale University School of Medicine and served on the faculty there until 1992, when he moved to the University of Arizona College of Medicine. In 2000, he left Tucson to become chairman of psychiatry at Case Western. He was appointed to the Douglas Danford Bond Professorship and served as president and CEO of the Foundation for Clinical Neuroscience while in Ohio.
Dr. Delgado is board certified in psychiatry and has been listed in Best Doctors in America every year since 1996. His curriculum vitae references more than a dozen areas of interest in research, including cross-cultural mental health, evaluation of treatments for major mental disorders, mentoring of medical students and residents, molecular genetics of mood and anxiety disorders, clinical decision-making in medically ill patients with mood disorders, neurobiological mechanisms of antidepressants and other medications, and the neurobiology of human emotion.
He inherited an excellent psychiatry department, he said, from previous Chairman Charles L. Bowden, M.D. “We have outstanding faculty with tremendous clinical and research strengths in chemical dependency, mood disorders, psychotic illnesses, childhood conditions, treatment of cognitive problems in the elderly, research of psychiatric genetics and so forth,” Dr. Delgado said. “We do want to build our clinical services and research programs and we want to be a regional and national referral service. We want to develop greater strength in ‘health psychology and behavioral medicine,’ including management of obesity, chronic pain and other psychiatric problems that accompany general medical illness. We plan to establish many new programs that specialize in training young researchers in areas such as brain imaging, genetics, and translational and clinical research.”
An ambitious agenda, indeed, but one that Dr. Delgado believes is fully within reach.
For more information about the goals of department of psychiatry under Dr. Delgado’s leadership, see the Chairman’s Welcome at
psychiatry.uthscsa.edu/Welcome/Welcome.html.
