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Oldham sees exciting future for psychiatry by Dick Peterson Public Relations “The hard stuff’s done,” he said.   What newly appointed chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences John M. Oldham, M.D., has ahead of him is fine-tuning and developing his department to its full potential.   “MUSC is a wonderful school and this is a wonderful department. I’ve known people here for years and the Institute of Psychiatry has distinguished itself nationally,” Oldham said. Acknowledging the department’s “rough times” and “fiscal dilemma,” Oldham said he sees his job now is to bring things into focus.   “The essence of the department with its key players is still intact. We’ve stabilized and through it all have sustained a good foundation and a good track record.”    Oldham, who assumed his duties in July, comes to MUSC from his position as director of the New York State Psychiatric Institute, acting chair of psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and chief medical officer of the New York State Office of Mental Health. He describes MUSC and the Institute of Psychiatry as similar in many ways to Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute in quality of patient care, teaching and research.   “Smaller in scale, but similar, really,” Oldham said. “We’ve got a good residency program, internship programs and substantial research.” He listed what came to mind: CDAP (Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs), National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, the Family Services Research Center, the Brain Stimulation Laboratory and our Alzheimer’s research activities. In 2001, MUSC psychiatry brought in 30 research awards and was ranked 18th in the nation in level of NIH funding.   “I want to see this department re-energized, achieve fiscal stability, bring in new resources and strengthen our clinical and teaching areas,” Oldham said.   A man who clearly enjoys his profession, Oldham anticipates an exciting future as new discoveries in the human genome and proteomics bridge the gap between neuroscience and psychiatry. “More than 60 percent of the genes in the human genome are in the brain. These are some of the most exciting unmapped frontiers in medicine today.” He said that major advances in non-invasive brain imaging, transgenic animal models, and new discoveries in molecular neurobiology are among the new technologies that promise to help open these frontiers.   Oldham said that the pendulum swings between thinking that a person’s mental health is a product of environment on one extreme and a chemical imbalance in the brain on the other has begun to moderate. “We’re beginning to see a stress/vulnerability model. A kind of double-hit phenomenon that recognizes the importance of genetic susceptibility as well as environmental effects.”   He acknowledges that psychiatry has been a “stigmatized profession” that labels practitioners as “shrinks,” but predicts that research will show that brain illnesses are not fundamentally different from other illnesses and that drug therapies, and even perhaps psychotherapy, can actually stimulate new cell growth.   “This is an exciting time to be in the field of psychiatry,” Oldham said. Dr. John M. Oldham Originally from Oklahoma, John Oldham earned his undergraduate degree in engineering from Duke University, then attended Baylor College of Medicine for his masters degree in neuroendocrinology (1966) and his medical degree (1967). He moved to New York City for an internship in pediatrics at St. Luke's Hospital, and in 1971 he completed his psychiatry residency at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYPI) and Columbia University's Department of Psychiatry. He later completed psychoanalytic training at Columbia Psychoanalytic Center.   Oldham's professional academic career began in 1974 when he accepted an appointment as an instructor in clinical psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. He joined the faculty at Cornell University Medical College in 1977, returning to Columbia in 1984.   He became full professor in 1988 and in 1996 he was named the Elizabeth K. Dollard Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, Medicine and Law.   Oldham is married to internist Karen Oldham, M.D., and the couple have two grown children, Madeleine, the literary manager of Seattle Childrens' Theater, and Michael who is just beginning work on his doctorate in neuroscience.         Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.