Allen named HCPC medical director
Melissa Allen, DO, has been named medical director of The University of Texas Harris County Psychiatric Center, the mental health hospital component of The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
“We are pleased that Dr. Allen will contribute her leadership and clinical skills to this role that is so vital to the success of UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center,” said Jair Soares, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and executive director of UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center. “She is highly respected by her colleagues and the clinical staff and brings innovation and enthusiasm that will help lead the hospital as we move into a new phase of growth.”
Since 2012, Allen has been a core teaching faculty member as an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and an attending physician in the Bipolar Specialty Unit at UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center. Every year since 2013, she has received the Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award, which honors the top teaching faculty for each department. She became chief of Adult Psychiatry Services in 2014 and has served as the hospital’s interim medical director since September 2016.
Allen earned her doctorate of osteopathic medicine at The University of North Texas Health Science Center and a bachelor’s degree in biomedical science at Texas A&M University. Her clinical and research interests include psychotic disorders, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychopharmacology, treatment refractory mental illness, post-traumatic stress disorder, women’s mental health, effects of human trafficking and community mental health.
UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center is the largest provider of inpatient psychiatric care in Houston, providing compassionate, patient-centered care to 9,000 patients yearly, including adults, adolescents and children. For more information, visit the website .
-LaVonne Carlson, HCPC