Dr. Tana Grady, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, will become one of the Medical School's four advisory deans on July 1.
Grady, who has served on the Medical School faculty since 1992, will replace Dr. Lois Pounds, associate dean of medical education, who is retiring this summer.
The main role of an advisory dean is to serve as a resource and mentor for medical students while they are enrolled at the University. Each dean advises about 100 students.
"I have known Dr. Grady since she was a medical student here," said Dr. Dan Blazer, dean of medical education, who appointed Grady. "She is very personable and well-liked by our medical students and residents. With her strong commitment to medical education and her rapport with students, she will make an outstanding advisory dean."
Grady currently directs the residency education program of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. She will continue to hold this position and see patients.
In her new position, Grady said she hopes to improve the advisory program to better prepare students to enter the rapidly changing health care landscape.
"The climate in health care has changed a great deal since I graduated from medical school 10 years ago," Grady said. "Students must be more aware earlier of what will be in their best interest for the future, especially with the current trend toward the primary care specialities."
The task is not easy, Blazer said. "It's not as if we're moving from point A to point B-it's more like shooting at a moving target," he said.
Grady is committed to helping students understand these changes and relieving any anxiety they may have about their careers, Blazer said.
Among those who will be affected by the changes in health care are students who wish to enter specialty fields and students who are pursuing a career in medical research, Grady said. The changes are largely due to the move towards managed care and shifts in medical research funding, she said.
It is often difficult for advisors to keep students up-to-date on the status of the health care industry, because students are 3-10 years away from beginning practice, Pounds said. Although advisors do discuss this issue, they focus more on the doctor-patient relationship, she said.
Grady said she would like to introduce more group programs into the Medical School's advisory system, which she said currently focuses on individual students. These could include seminars or presentations that expose students to their available opportunities, she said.
These programs could be useful in addressing several areas, Blazer said, including how to become licensed physicians, how to manage debts incurred while in school and how to manage the stress caused by residencies.
Although these larger programs would help raise awareness, the small group programs currently in place do a good job of distributing information, said Dr. Deborah Kredich, associate dean and associate clinical professor of pediatric rheumatology. "The small group system allows students to know what we know almost as soon as we know it," she said.
Her four-year stint as residency education director has given Grady experience with many of the issues she will face in her new position, she said.
After graduating from the Medical School in 1986, Grady completed her residency in psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass. Afterwards, she worked at the National Institute of Mental Health as a fellow in the neuropharmacology and obsessive-compulsive disorders program.
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