Penn State College of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry is committed to enhancing quality of life through improved mental health services, training the next generation of providers and the discovery of knowledge and design of cutting-edge interventions. The department’s vision is to achieve excellence through the integration of education, research, patient care and service to the community.

The department has more than 60 faculty members including psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. The department also offers the services of psychiatry-trained advanced practice clinicians and master’s-level therapists. This team of clinicians offers a comprehensive array of psychiatric and psychological care at three locations: Penn State Health Medical Group Psychiatry Clinic and Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center in Hershey, and Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Harrisburg.

The department’s exceptional educational programs attract medical students, physician assistant students, psychiatry residents and psychology trainees. The department offers three fellowship programs: Public and Community Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Addiction Medicine.

The research interests of the department include basic science, clinical, translational, health services and epidemiology research. Current active research areas include addiction, attention and behavioral disorders, autism spectrum disorders, behavioral neuroscience, clinical assessments (suicide risk factors and diagnostic psychopathology), health service/behavioral health integration, molecular neuropharmacology, mood disorders, neuronal modeling, measurement-based care (Penn State Clinical Assessment and Rating Evaluation System - PCARES - registry), quality improvement, social determinants of health and sleep disorders.

The department values community engagement, fostering collaborations with institutions that serve individuals with autism spectrum disorder (The Vista School), uninsured and underinsured individuals with mental health issues through the Penn State College of Medicine's LionCare medical student-run clinic at Bethesda Mission, and engagement with several advocacy groups. The department has also initiated several community-serving endeavors, including a summer treatment program for children with ADHD and a community arts initiative to combat stigma and promote engagement in mental health care.