Welcome to the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. We are located on the College of Medicine campus at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City. We appreciate your interest in our Department, whether you are a prospective student, resident, faculty, patient, or visitor.
We believe psychiatry is an integral part of medicine to be practiced in an evidence-based manner. Psychiatric/behavioral disorders are biological, medical, and brain-based conditions. It is indeed an exciting time for psychiatry and behavioral health sciences as we are learning more and more about the brain and are able to offer a variety of helpful multidisciplinary treatment options to our patients and their families.
Our Mission Is Leading Mental Health Care in Education, Patient Care, and Research
Our Goals:
- Represent an authority and resource in psychiatry and behavioral sciences for prevention, treatment, and research in Oklahoma and within America’s Heartland.
- Provide compassionate, safe, and effective clinical care and medical/psychiatric and behavioral treatments of exemplary and uncompromised quality to our patients and their families with the goal of touching more lives in our community by treating more patients.
- Provide stellar and innovative education to our trainees, other medical professionals, and the public.
- Pioneer and conduct research and activities for the advancement of psychiatry and behavioral sciences.
- Help decrease stigma related to mental health conditions.
The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences with its Health Sciences Center location, its Oklahoma City VA Medical Center service, and its other affiliates is the recognized, leading authority in the delivery of mental health care in Oklahoma and the Heartland. The Department, together with our OU Department of Psychiatry in Tulsa, is the center of excellence and the primary resource for Oklahomans who deal with mental illness and behavioral health problems: patients, family members, friends, and communities.
The Department works closely with community and state agencies across Oklahoma and collaborates with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and the Department of Public Health to provide education, training, research, and treatment for all Oklahomans. In addition, our Correctional Mental Health team provides services to the Oklahoma County Detention Center. Working with all our constituents, the Department endeavors to advance, advocate, and promote the mental health concerns and interest of all Oklahomans.
The Department actively supports local, national, and worldwide campaigns to reduce stigma related to mental health conditions and decrease health disparities among individuals suffering with psychiatric disorders/behavioral disorders.
Faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences are committed to providing effective, evidence-based treatments in a highly caring and compassionate setting to address the biopsychosocial needs of patients and families. In particular, the Department promotes the integration of psychiatric and behavioral health services in primary care and medical settings; treating the whole person in a primary care setting either directly or through consultation with primary care providers. Given the significant need for mental health care services in Oklahoma, we have the goal of treating more patients and touching more lives in our community. Additional special interests in the Department include psychiatry and the law (forensic psychiatry), correctional psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry, addiction psychiatry as well as telemedicine health care, which extends the Department’s outreach to many rural areas in Oklahoma and others unable to visit our facilities in person.
Primarily a clinical and educational department, we strive to provide stellar and innovative education and training to diverse students, residents, healthcare professionals, and the general public on issues and concerns related to psychiatry and behavioral health sciences. The Department also translates and disseminates basic behavioral science research to practicing clinicians throughout Oklahoma. We are also advancing the field of psychiatry and behavioral sciences by conducting innovative clinical research that will provide a better understanding of what constitutes effective treatments, how and under what conditions various psychiatric treatments are best administered, and identifying effective strategies to prevent and/or reduce the burden of illness associated with psychiatric and substance use disorders. Welcome and thank you for visiting our Department.