Allan Tasman, M.D., One Hundred Twenty-Eighth President, 1999–2000

Since 1991 Dr. Allan Tasman has been Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Dr. Tasman received his M.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1973. Following the completion of his psychiatric residency at the University of Cincinnati in 1976, he joined the faculty at the University of Connecticut Medical School, where he worked for 15 years. At the University of Connecticut he served as Director of the University Hospital Psychiatry Inpatient Service, Director of Medical Student Education, Director of Residency Training in Psychiatry, and Associate Chairman for Education. During this period, Dr. Tasman gained a national reputation as a leader in psychiatric education.

In addition to his strong interest in education, Dr. Tasman has had a longstanding commitment to clinical care and research. He is a graduate of the Western New England Psychoanalytic Institute in New Haven, Conn. His research, supported by a number of grants over the last 20 years, has emphasized the role of brain mapping techniques in the study of the neurophysiology of cognitive processes, especially related to the risk for development of alcoholism.

Dr. Tasman also has played a leadership role in a number of national psychiatric organizations. He is a past President of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatric Residency Training and the Association for Academic Psychiatry. In 1998 he completed an unprecedented second term as President of the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry. He is the only individual to have served as President of each of these three major academic psychiatric organizations.

From 1988 to 1992 he chaired APA’s Scientific Program Committee, where he was responsible for determining the scientific content of the Association’s Annual Meetings. In 1996 he began a 2-year term as APA Vice President. He served as APA President-Elect from 1998 to 1999. His term as APA President ran from May 1999 to May 2000.

Dr. Tasman is the Deputy Editor of The Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research and has been the editor or co-editor of 22 psychiatric textbooks and monographs. He has authored 110 publications and abstracts and given more than 190 major national and international presentations on a variety of topics. He is the senior editor of a major psychiatry textbook titled Psychiatry, published in 1997. The New England Journal of Medicine called it, “the best current textbook of psychiatry.” He is also the senior author of a new book, The Doctor-Patient Relationship in Pharmacotherapy, published in May 2000.

Dr. Tasman is also active in the community, having served on the Boards of Directors of the Area Wide Alcohol/Drugs Rehabilitation Education Coalition and the Actors Theatre of Louisville. He also chaired the planning committee for the 1998 Mayor’s Drug Abuse Treatment Summit.

Address reprint requests to Dr. Tasman, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Louisville, 500 Preston St., Bldg. A, Room 210, Louisville, KY 40292; [email protected] (e-mail).