James Potash Named Henry Phipps Professor and Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences

To the Johns Hopkins Medicine Community

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that James Potash will rejoin Johns Hopkins Medicine on July 1, as the Henry Phipps Professor and Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. In this position, Dr. Potash will continue to advance the department's longstanding tradition of excellence in providing psychiatric services for the community, clinical and basic research, and programs to enhance our training of the next generation of students.

Dr. Potash comes to Johns Hopkins Medicine from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, where he currently serves as the Paul W. Penningroth Chair, Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry.

Dr. Potash spent the early part of his career at Johns Hopkins. He completed an internship in internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in 1994 before becoming an assistant resident and then chief resident in psychiatry at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. He joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 1998, and advanced to become the director of the Mood Disorders Center and psychiatric emergency services.

Dr. Potash is known for his research on the genetic basis of mood disorders, in particular the identification of genetic determinants of susceptibility to depression and bipolar disorder. He has authored more than 100 publications and collaborated on the revision of a leading textbook in the field, Manic-Depressive Illness.

The significance of his research was recognized with the Robins/Guze Award for research excellence from the American Psychopathological Association and the NARSAD Independent Investigator Award.

Dr. Potash earned his bachelor's degree from Yale College in 1984 and then served as a volunteer in the Peace Corps in Senegal, West Africa. It was during his time with the Peace Corps that he was inspired by the medical needs of the people in that country and decided to pursue a career in medicine. He went on to earn a post baccalaureate degree in premed from Goucher College in 1988, a master's degree in public health from the then-named Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in 1989, and a medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1993.

We want to offer our sincere appreciation to Kostas Lyketsos for graciously assuming the additional responsibilities of interim director of the department for the past two years. We also would like to thank Justin McArthur and David Hellmann for co-chairing the search committee for this position.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Potash back to the Johns Hopkins family.

Sincerely,

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.
Dean of the Medical Faculty
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

Ronald R. Peterson
President, Johns Hopkins Health System
EVP, Johns Hopkins Medicine