Dr. Richard Belitsky,
Harold W. Jockers Associate Professor of Medical Education and Associate
Professor of Psychiatry, is noted for his work in medical education at both the
undergraduate (medical student) and graduate (resident) levels.
Named the School of Medicine’s deputy dean for education in 2006, Dr. Belitsky
is concerned with curriculum development, particularly with respect to the
methods and challenges involved in teaching medical students in the areas of
patient-centered medical interviewing, the biopsychosocial model, social
history and counseling patients for behavior change. He is also interested in
the development of professional identity in medical education. In addition, he
is interested in the delivery of mental health services in prisons and jails,
with particular attention to suicide in correctional facilities.
Belitsky holds a B.A. from the University of Florida, Gainesville, and an M.D.
from the University of Florida School of Medicine. He came to Yale in 1979 as a
resident in psychiatry and continued on as a fellow in forensic psychiatry and
chief resident/instructor in the Department of Psychiatry. He joined the
faculty as an assistant professor in 1983, when he also became unit chief of
the Inpatient Services Division of the Connecticut Mental Health Center. He
served as the director of the division 1988-1989. He was the medical director
of the Yale Psychiatric Institute 1991-1997.
At the School of Medicine, Belitsky has served as the residency program
director in the Department of Psychiatry 1996-2006. He became the deputy chair
for education in 2001, serving in that role until he was promoted to deputy
dean for education. He has earned numerous professional honors at Yale,
including the Stephen Fleck M.D. Faculty Award as Exemplary Physician and
Teacher, the Charles W. Bohmfalk Teaching Prize and the Francis Gilman Blake
Award (for the member of the faculty at the School of Medicine designated by
the senior class as the most outstanding teacher of the medical sciences) in
both 1998 and 2000.