Steven Rasmussen '74 MD'77 P'13 will be the new chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Alpert Medical School beginning Jan. 1, the University announced Monday. Rasmussen, who has been the interim chair of the department for three years, is widely considered a pioneer in the research and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Rasmussen's appointment - along with the recent hiring of Rees Cosgrove, chair of the department of neurosurgery, and Karen Furie, chair of the department of neurology - is part of the Med School's plan to strengthen brain science research at Brown. The Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior already receives more research funding than any other department at Brown, said Ed Wing, dean of medicine and biological sciences.
Brain science "is an area where Brown can really compete nationally to be among the best," Rasmussen said.
As department chair, Rasmussen said he plans to increase collaboration between the Department of Psychiatry and the proposed school of public health. "There are going to be a lot of exciting opportunities to combine forces with faculty in the public health school, in areas like geriatric care and AIDS research," he said.
Rasmussen has already garnered international attention for Brown's psychiatry department, said Patricia Recupero, the president and CEO of Butler Hospital, who has worked with Rasmussen for almost 30 years. In 1989, Rasmussen and his colleagues designed the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, or Y-BOCS, now the standard scale for diagnosing OCD.
"The name Brown is known all around the world because of Rasmussen," Recupero said.
Rasmussen also pioneered the use of brain stimulation to treat OCD and affective disorders like depression.
Wing praised Rasmussen for his ability to "work across the system" through partnerships with local hospitals, including Rhode Island Hospital and Butler Hospital, where Rasmussen has worked for 29 years.
For 15 of those years, Rasmussen worked as a clinician at local hospitals. Recupero recalled Rasmussen's composure when dealing with "aggressive and even armed patients" in Patient Assessment Services, Butler's version of an emergency room.
"Steve is fearless," she said. "But he's such a calming and soothing person that he's been able to handle some incredibly acute situations with ease and skill."
