Leadership - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship

Jill RachBeisel, M.D., Interim Chair: Department of Psychiatry, is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine, where she received her medical degree in 1985. She completed her four-year Psychiatric Residency Program, serving as Chief Resident in her 4th year from the University of Maryland Medical Center Psychiatric Residency Program in 1989. A faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry since 1989, Dr. RachBeisel is an Associate Professor who has provided clinical, teaching, research collaboration, and administrative leadership over the past 24 years. Dr. RachBeisel began her career in the field of acute psychiatric care, emergency psychiatric interventions, and quality management in the hospital setting. From July 1999 through June 2016, she then served as the Division Director for Community Psychiatry at the University of Maryland, overseeing 200 staff and physicians and providing community mental health services through four major programs: 1. Traditional clinic program, 2. Case Management Services, 3. Psychiatry Rehabilitation Services, and 4. Programs of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT). During her tenure in this position, she developed a skills-based teaching program for individuals with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) living in supervised transitional housing. Her curriculum is entitled, "Academy of Independent Living," and is designed to prepare persons with SMI to live independently. In addition to her Division responsibilities, Dr. RachBeisel was promoted to Chief of Clinical Services for the Department of Psychiatry on March 1, 2014, assuming the oversight -- including program development & Performance Improvement -- of all clinical services in the Department of Psychiatry. She is actively involved in understanding the impact of Population Health Management on persons with SMI, as well as mental health issues in complex medical and surgical conditions. She currently serves as the Interim Chair of the Department of Psychiatry.

David B. Pruitt, M.D., Professor: Dr. Pruitt, a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist, serves as the Chair of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He studied medicine at the University of Texas Medical School at Houston and pursued an internship in pediatrics at Hermann Hospital. Dr. Pruitt went on to do a residency in General Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania and a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic. He is a Professor and serves as Director for the Taghi Modaressi Center for Infant Study. Dr. Pruitt's clinical specialties include evaluation and treatment of children ages 0-5 years, organizing systems of care for children and adolescents, and family therapy. He is also Director of the new University of Maryland Child and Adolescent Mental Health Innovations Center (UM-MHIC) dedicated to developing and advancing evidenced based interventions for community mental health treatment, models for integration of behavioral health services and multi-disciplinary training to improve services for underserved young people.

Sarah M. Edwards, D.O., Assistant Professor: Dr. Edwards is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist and Program Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program. She has special interests in early childhood mental health, complex trauma, and treatment of underserved populations. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Northwestern University and her medical degree from Midwestern University (Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine). Dr. Edwards subsequently completed her residency in general psychiatry from the University of Maryland/Sheppard Pratt program. She completed a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at University of Maryland Medical Center, where she also served as chief resident. From 2010-2013, she was the Associate Director of Training and Education for the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship Program, with an appointment to Program Director in 2013. Her work in graduate medical education is focused on training physicians in an outcome-based system of assessment and on implementation of ACGME's Next Accreditation System. In her clinical work, Dr. Edwards serves as the Medical Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Hospital and Ambulatory Services, which includes the inpatient and child partial programs, the hospital consult-liaison program and the ambulatory clinics.