Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Health named Jonathan Posner, MD, system psychiatrist-in-chief and chair of its department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. He will assume the role Oct. 1.
Dr. Posner currently serves as executive vice president of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Durham, N.C.-based Duke Health. He also is the J.P. Gibbons Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and vice chair for research in the department, according to a July 7 news release from the system.
He will succeed Stephan Heckers, MD, who announced in December 2025 that he would step down after serving as department chair for more than two decades in the role. Dr. Heckers will continue to see patients, conduct research and lead the Vanderbilt Early Psychosis Program.
Dr. Posner joined Duke Health in 2021. His research has included using AI tools to predict when adolescents are at increased risk for serious mental health issues before symptoms become severe, as well as research on the underlying biology of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. He is also principal investigator on three longitudinal, family-based studies examining factors that influence the development of neural circuits involved in executive functions and emotion regulation.
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