Dr. Fox Named New Psychiatry Chair
Geraldine “Geri” Fox, MD, MHPE, FAACAP, is the new chair and a clinical professor
Dr. Geri Fox
in the University of Illinois College of Medicine Rockford Department of Psychiatry effective September 1, 2018. Dr. Fox will also maintain a presence on the Chicago campus where she will continue to serve as associate dean for wellness and resilience for all the University of Illinois College of Medicine campuses with medical student curriculum as her primary focus. She will also continue to teach lifespan development to the medical students.
Previously, Dr. Fox was the director of child and adolescent psychiatry training at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago Institute for Juvenile Research from 1990 until 1999. Most recently, she served as assistant dean for graduate medical education from 1999 to 2017 at the Chicago campus. She was also the director of psychiatry undergraduate medical education at the Chicago campus from 2005 until her transition to her new role in Rockford.
After graduating from the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago in 1983, Dr. Fox went to Northwestern University for her psychiatry residency. She completed her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago’s Institute for Juvenile Research in 1988. During her fellowship, she joined the College of Medicine Chicago faculty, where she remained a dedicated clinician-educator for 30 years. She is board-certified in both psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Fox also received a master’s degree in health professions education from the University of Illinois College of Medicine Chicago in 2004.
Throughout her career, Dr. Fox has demonstrated a strong commitment to wellness in academic medicine. Her MHPE thesis, “Work-Family Balance and Academic Advancement in Medical Schools,” was published in Academic Psychiatry. In her GME role, she instituted audits of the resident work environment, and co-chaired the Resident Work Environment Committee. She was a 2014-15 Hedwig van Ameringen Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine® Fellow and developed a wellness initiative for the University of Illinois College of Medicine. In April 2017, she received the Maria Devens Memorial Award for Promoting Wellness from the University of Illinois Medical Student Council.
Dr. Fox’s areas of academic interest include development of innovative multimedia teaching methodology, particularly in psychiatry and life-span development, the use of narrative in teaching to promote empathic understanding, improving child and adolescent psychiatry training in undergraduate medical education, and organizational change to promote work-life balance and wellness throughout the life cycle.
Dr. Fox is recognized nationally for her outstanding leadership and lifelong contributions to psychiatric education. Her multiple major awards include the American Psychiatric Association’s NIH Vestermark Psychiatry Educator of the Year in 2015; the Association for Academic Psychiatry’s Psychiatric Educator of the Year in 2013; the Innovations Award from the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry in 2011; and the Roberts Award for Inspirational Mentorship in Academic Psychiatry in 2010. She has also received two teaching recognition program awards from UIC’s Council for Teaching and Learning, and multiple filmmaking awards for her lifespan development video curriculum.
Reach Dr. Fox at foxg@uic.edu or in Room S200E on the UIC Health Sciences Campus-Rockford, 1601 Parkview Ave.