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Dr. Bankole Johnson, new chairman
of psychiatric medicine
By
Abena Foreman-Trice
Dr.
Bankole Johnson, one of the United Kingdom’s leading
doctors and an expert on addictions, joined the Health
System on Sept. 1 as chairman of the Department
of Psychiatric Medicine and as a professor in the Department
of Neurology.
“It
is an honor to have such a prominent physician as Bankole
Johnson here at U.Va. Health
System,” said Dr. Arthur
Garson Jr., vice president and dean of the School
of Medicine. “This
appointment demonstrates our ability to attract top physicians
to aggressively lead the Health System in all areas of
medicine.”
A
practicing physician and psychiatrist widely known throughout
the United States and Europe, Johnson brings a wealth of
knowledge and expertise in the areas of alcohol and drug
addiction to the Health System and the East Coast. Johnson’s
research integrates the
study of brain functions — known as neuroscience — and
the behavioral aspects of addiction medicine. He is also working
to develop an understanding of the basic underpinnings of drug-seeking
behavior by determining whether certain types of alcoholics have
functional or structural abnormalities at the molecular level
in the brain.
“
I look forward to being able to develop new knowledge within
the walls of an institution that understands the link between
the basic sciences and the clinical aspects of health care,” said
Johnson. “Through these means, we can hopefully develop
one of the best psychiatric medicine departments in the country.”
During his tenure at U.Va., Johnson hopes to establish an
addictions center in Charlottesville and at least two
other communities
in Virginia.
Johnson graduated from Glasgow University in 1982 with a
degree in medicine, and trained in psychiatry at the Royal
London
and Maudsley and Bethlem Royal Hospitals. Johnson also trained
in
research at the Institute of Psychiatry (University of London)
and at Oxford Univer-
sity. Additionally, he received a doctoral degree for his
research in psychopharmacology from the University of Glasgow.
Prior to accepting the U.Va. appointment, Johnson served
as the Wurzbach Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry & Pharmacology;
the deputy chairman for research; chief of the Division of Alcohol & Drug
Addiction; and director for the START center at the University
of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
He
has been listed in Best Doctors in the United Kingdom since
1991 and was inducted into the Texas
Hall of Fame for Science, Mathematics and Technology
in 2003. Johnson
also received the Dan Anderson Research Award in 2001
for his “distinguished
contribution as a researcher who has advanced the scientific
knowledge of addiction recovery.”
He
has published more than 100 articles on psychopharmacology
and addiction and has served on numerous National Institutes
of Health committees and special panels. In 2003 he
was invited to serve on the National
Advisory Council on Drug Abuse by Tommy G.
Thompson, the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Johnson’s
wife, Dr. Lynda Wells, also joined the Health System as an
anesthesiologist.
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