Jules M. Ranz, M.D.  Director, Public Psychiatry Fellowship   New York State Psychiatric Institute  Clinical Professor of Psychiatry  Department of Psychiatry Columbia University Medical Center

Dr. Ranz has been director of the Public Psychiatry Fellowship at NYS Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University Medical Center since 1992, after having served as associate director of the Fellowship from 1987-92.  Since joining the Fellowship he has generated a highly successful recruitment process marked by a greatly increased quality of applicants to the Fellowship. During this time of fiscal austerity he increased class size from 7 to 10 Fellows by expanding available funding through creative collaborations with field placement sites. At this time the Public Psychiatry Fellowship is generally acknoweledged to be the premier program of its kind in the country.

Dr. Ranz wrote an article describing the Fellowship and results of its alumni survey, which was published in May 1996 (Psychiatric Services 47:512-516, 1996; See abstract ). The survey revealed that nearly all respondents work full time in the public sector, where more than half hold management positions. More than three-fourths hold academic appointments at medical schools in the area in which they are working as public psychiatrists.

A third article, published in Psychiatric Services in September 1998, further examines the results of the second alumni survey. Despite respondents' belief that clinical collaboration activities most contribute to job satisfaction, it is in fact the performance of administrative tasks that are best correlated with overall job satisfaction. Most of the medical directors in the survey had program, rather than agency, level responsibilities. The article concludes that the role of program medical director can serve as a crucial next step for staff psychiatrists, offering the opportunity to perform administrative tasks.(Psychiatric Services 49:1203-7, 1998, see full text of article) .

An article published in July 2000 examined the variety of roles filled by psychiatrists functioning as medical directors in community settings, through a survey of all members of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists (AACP). A classification scheme of six types of medical director positions based on level of operation and breadth of supervisory responsibility was created. This classification helps clarify the medical director's role, providing guidance to psychiatrists and agencies negotiating job descriptions for this position (Psychiatric Services 51:930-2, 2000, see full text of article)

He has also published two other articles resulting from the above survey. The first (The role of the psychiatrist as medical director: a survey of psychiatric administrators. Administration and Policy in Mental Health 27: 299-312, 2000, see full text of article) describes comparisons between the American Association of Psychiatric Administrators and the AACP. The second (The role of the psychiatrist: job satisfaction of medical directors and staff psychiatrists. Community Mental Health Journal 37 [6]: 525-539, 2001; see full text of article) describes the results of the above survey regarding job satisfaction.

Dr. Ranz published two articles reporting on a second survey of members of the AACP, this one asking for their perceptions of the major changes they have experienced in their careers over the past five years: (Demographic analysis of members of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. Community Mental Health Journal 40 (5), 479-486, 2004, see full text of article; Public psychiatrists’ perception of changes over the past five years. Community Mental Health Journal 40 (5), 487-494, 2004, see full text of article).

He was lead author of an article published in Psychiatric Services in 2006, written by the Mental Health Services Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, which utilized APA data to demonstrate that early- and mid-career psychiatrists now spend more time in publicly-funded organizational settings than in solo office practice (See full text of article)

As the oldest, largest and best known program training post-graduate psychiatrists to be public sector leaders, the fellowship is frequently consulted by professionals around the country interested in establishing such programs. In response, Dr. Ranz, with the fellowship faculty,  has developed seven core elements which they view as essential for such a training program. An article describing these elements will be published in Psychiatric Services in mid 2008.

Dr. Ranz has published book chapters on residency training and family therapy. He was Principal Investigator on a research evaluation of a staff psychoeducation program in a supervised residence. This work, which was partially supported by NIMH funds, produced two peer-reviewed publications in which he was principal author.