As he prepares to become the leader of the medical school’s Department of Psychiatry, Rajiv Tandon, MD, says taking on the role is a chance to tackle new challenges and return to Michigan, a place he proudly calls home.
“I’m coming to Kalamazoo because I think it’s the right fit for me,” Dr. Tandon said. “The last year or so, I’ve done some serious thinking about what’s most important to me and what I want to do in this last phase of my career. I want to have a role in shaping and contributing to the next generation of psychiatrists.”
At WMed, Dr. Tandon said he plans to do just that. He will begin his role as chair of the Department of Psychiatry on Friday, March 1, 2019.
“This is an incredible opportunity,” he said. “We are going to build a top-notch department that will be recognized throughout the country.”
Dr. Tandon’s career as a physician has spanned almost 40 years and he comes to the medical school after 15 years in Florida, where he was Professor of Psychiatry and the Executive Vice-Chair at the University of Florida College of Medicine, and Chief of Psychiatry at the North Florida/South Georgia (NF/SG) Veterans’ Healthcare System in Gainesville, Florida.
Currently, Dr. Tandon serves on the editorial boards of seven professional journals, and is a reviewer for an additional eight journals. He has 250 peer-reviewed scientific publications, has co-authored four books and 31 book chapters. Additionally, Dr. Tandon has given over 1,200 national and international scientific presentations. His work has led to several awards for research and teaching in schizophrenia, including the 2010 and 2016 SIRS (International Schizophrenia Research Society) Senior Researcher of the Year awards for the most cited paper in schizophrenia between 2008-10 (2010) and the most downloaded paper in schizophrenia between 2014-2016 (2016), respectively.
He was the recipient of the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for Mental Illness in 2009, 2012, and 2015. He was a member of the DSM-5 workgroup on schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders and is a member of the World Psychiatry Association Pharmacopsychiatry Section. He is the immediate Past-President of the Florida chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness and the immediate Past-President of the Florida Psychiatric Society. His major areas of clinical and research interest are the neuropharmacology of schizophrenia, differences between typical and atypical antipsychotic agents, dimensions of schizophrenic psychopathology, neuroendocrine and polysomnographic abnormalities in schizophrenia, and the evidence-based treatment of schizophrenia and other major mental disorders.
Dr. Tandon earned his MD degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and completed residency training at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bangalore, India. After coming to the U.S., he completed a residency in psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School and earned a master’s degree in Clinical Research Design and Statistical Analysis at U-M. In addition, he earned a diploma in Management Development from Harvard Business School.
After completing his psychiatry residency, Dr. Tandon joined the U-M medical school’s Department of Psychiatry where he served for 17 years, becoming a tenured professor before heading to Florida to become the Chief of Psychiatry for the State of Florida.
Now, as he prepares to come to WMed, Dr. Tandon said he is excited for the opportunity to work closely with faculty, residents, students, and staff at the medical school. He is also looking forward to returning to Michigan, which he said is the state he came to first when he moved to the U.S. from India 35 years ago.
He said his three children were born in Michigan. His daughter calls Michigan home and currently works at General Motors. A physician son, Dr. Tandon said, is completing a residency in radiation oncology in Houston with plans to return to Michigan when he is done.
“Michigan is home,” Dr. Tandon said.
Dr. Tandon said his vision and mission for the Department of Psychiatry at WMed center on elevating the department’s national visibility in teaching, research, and clinical care while securing a reputation regionally as a high-quality provider of comprehensive behavioral health care and a repository of expertise and technical excellence in the field.
Along with that, Dr. Tandon said he will focus on faculty development and the recruitment of promising junior faculty and senior faculty with proven scholarly track records while also fostering an environment that facilitates mentorship and personal growth. He said he wants to ensure that WMed students receive top-notch didactics and clinical clerkships, and that residents are exposed to exceptional clinical training and involvement in research projects to prepare them for their careers after residency. He plans to coordinate a national center of clinical excellence within the next two years.
“At this stage, WMed is still a young medical school and we have an excellent dean who’s experienced in academic medical systems,” Dr. Tandon said. “He believes, as I do, that clinical care is the essence of being a physician and all good teaching should be organized around good clinical care, and that research is done primarily in the service of better clinical care, better understanding of disease and better understanding of health.
“The centrality of clinical care and organizing everything else around it is very important,” he added. “A strong community presence and engagement coupled with a close partnership and alignment with local hospitals is essential.”