Kales Steps Down As Psychiatry Chair;
Kettl Named Acting Chair

10-21-97
Hershey, Pa. -- Anthony Kales, M.D., professor and chair of psychiatry at Penn State's College of Medicine, has stepped down as chair of the department. Dr. Paul A. Kettl, M.D., has been named acting chair of the department.

Dr. Kales, who was named the founding chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the College of Medicine in 1971, has developed one of the premier departments of psychiatry in the country. A number of important milestones have been achieved in the Department of Psychiatry under his leadership and tutelage. These include development of three highly regarded residency training programs in general, child and geriatric psychiatry; the founding and establishment of the Central Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute (CPPI), which serves as the Commonwealth's statewide institute for training mental health professionals; the establishment of three outstanding psychiatric inpatient units (child, adult and geriatric), child and adult partial hospitalization programs and the University Recovery Center for alcohol and drug abuse; and development of an internationally recognized program in research on sleep and sleep disorders.

Kales is chairman of the Section on Psychiatry and Sleep Wakefulness Disorders of the World Psychiatric Association. He has authored or co-authored nearly 300 scientific articles and book chapters and six books relating to the effects of age, medical conditions, sleep disorders and various hypnotic drugs on the basic sleep cycle, as well as other psychiatric topics. Recently, he edited the book, "Pharmacology of Sleep", which was published in the prestigious series, Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology.

Dr. Kettl has worked in the Department of Psychiatry for the past 11 years and has been an associate professor since 1992. He was named director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Unit in 1991 and previously served as residency training director for the department.

He is board certified in both psychiatry and, with added qualifications, in geriatric psychiatry. During his time at Hershey, he has received teaching awards from five different medical school classes as well as the teaching award from psychiatry residents. Kettl serves on the national advisory boards of the Depression and Related Affective Disorders Association, the MINE Committee of Parents of Murdered Children and Pfizer Pharmaceuticals.

His research interests have focused on problems in geriatric psychiatry as well as on issues of violence. He chaired national meetings on TV violence, featuring academic psychiatrists as well as the vice presidents of the three major television networks and HBO. He also chaired meetings of academic psychiatrists and the Hemlock Society on the topic of physician-assisted suicide.

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Contact:
M. Steven Bortner: (o) 717-531-8607 steven.bortner@hmc.psu.edu
Emma A. Inman: (o) 717-531-7272 emma.inman@hmc.psu.edu