The Psychiatric Research Institute’s leadership has seen four new additions in recent months.
Jason Williams, Psy.D., M.S.Ed., came aboard on Jan. 1 as the new Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). He also serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Mental and Behavioral Health Officer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital.
Williams joined the Psychiatric Research Institute (PRI) from Children’s Hospital Colorado where he served as Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, and as the Director of Operations in the Pediatric Mental Health Institute. He received his master’s degree in education from the University of Southern California, and his doctoral degree from the California School of Professional Psychology in Los Angeles, Calif. He completed an internship and postdoctoral training program at the Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles and worked at that institution for 12 years prior to his time in Colorado.
Bringing over 20 years of experience in the field of mental health, Williams is known for his leadership at the local, regional, and national level. He currently serves as the chair of the Commission on Accreditation for the American Psychological Association. He has previously served as president of the Colorado Psychological Association, Chair of the Association of Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Internship Centers (APPIC) and Chair of the Council of Chairs of Training Councils (CCTC).
Tracy Haselow, M.D., joined PRI as an associate professor in January. A graduate of Hendrix College, Haselow graduated from the UAMS College of Medicine in 2008 and completed a residency in Psychiatry at UAMS in 2012. She is a former staff physician with the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, where she served as director of the UAMS resident rotations in the mental health clinic. She was awarded the Emile Eckart Award for Excellence in Resident Education in 2015. She most recently served as an outpatient psychiatrist with Chenal Family Therapy of Little Rock. She replaced Puru Thapa, M.D., MPH, as medical director of the UAMS Student/Resident/Faculty Wellness Programs with Thapa’s retirement in June.
In April, Penny Ward, MScN, RN, CPN, was introduced as the new senior nursing director for PRI. Ward most recently served as the nursing director for ambulatory services in the UAMS Women and Infants Service Line. A native of Birmingham, England, Ward came to the United States to work at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, where she was the evening supervisor for the psychiatric child and adolescent inpatient units. Her 34-year career in nursing includes working for the non-profit organization Save The Children in Transylvania, Romania.
Matt Kern, M.D., joined the faculty of PRI in June as an assistant professor. He sees patients at PRI-Northwest in Fayetteville as well as at the University of Arkansas’ Pat Walker Student Health Clinic and providing consult liaison services for Washington Regional Medical Center. A native of Fort Smith, Kern graduated from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in 2011 and from UAMS’ College of Medicine in 2015. He completed a residency in Psychiatry at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 2019, serving as chief resident. He went on to complete a fellowship in geriatric psychiatry in 2020 and joined the faculty of Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist’s Department of Psychiatry as an assistant professor later that year.