Educational excellence is an essential mission of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. We are committed to nurturing the development of each of our learners through personalized education - an approach that fosters independent thinking and the pursuit of specialized and innovative scholarship. We are also dedicated to nurturing leaders - individuals whose work will have influence and impact on the hardest problems facing mental healthcare today.

We endeavor to increase the connectivity between disciplines and professions through education. We offer mentoring across a range of disciplines, including the clinical neurosciences, psychiatry, psychology, and other behavioral sciences. Additionally, educational collaborations between the Department and all of the Schools of Stanford University (e.g., Business, Earth Sciences, Education, Engineering, Humanities & Sciences, Law) are highly encouraged.  

We strive to be an inclusive, supportive, and open-minded learning community. Our department engages with 1,800 learners each year, including students in high school, undergraduate and graduate programs, medical school, residency and fellowships, clinical psychology programs, and behavioral and neuroscience research fellowships. With the addition of continuing medical/professional education of practicing faculty and community clinicians, the total number of learners is over 6,500 per year. Our commitment to this continuum of learners and to dispelling the stigma of mental illness through public education has a special place in our department.

In sum, ours is a personalized and inclusive community of learners. In keeping with the culture of Stanford University, we seek to foster individualism and innovation in supporting our learners to advance as leaders, engaged in critical thinking and creativity and bringing about transformative change in society.    

- Alan K. Louie, MD Professor, Associate Chair, and Director of Education