School of Medicine

The Pulse

Rahn Bailey, MD Named New Psychiatry Department Head

Steve Nelson, Dean of the LSU School of Medicine, recently announced that Dr. Rahn K. Bailey has agreed to serve as the next Department Head for Psychiatry. Dr. Bailey will also devote a percentage of his effort to work with Dr. Robert Maupin as Assistant Dean for Community Engagement.

Dr. Bailey is currently a Professor of Psychiatry and Assistant Dean for Clinical Education at Charles Drew University School of Medicine in Los Angeles. He is also Chief Medical Officer for Kedren Community Health Systems in Los Angeles.

Dr. Bailey will follow Dr. Howard Osofsky as Department Head, who has held that position for more than 30 years. Dr. Osofsky built a large and successful department that serves the local community and the state. He will remain on the faculty to ensure a smooth transition in leadership, to continue writing, and to continue working on his grants and contracts.

Dr. Bailey is a graduate of University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He completed his psychiatry residency at UT Houston and his fellowship in forensic psychiatry at Yale. He has also completed a visiting fellowship in transcranial magnetic stimulation at Duke. After finishing his forensics fellowship in 1995, he joined the faculty at LSU as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry. He also served on the faculty at UT Houston and Baylor before becoming Department Head for Psychiatry at Meharry Medical College in 2008. He was recruited to serve as the Department Head for Psychiatry at Wake Forest before moving to Los Angeles for his current positions as Assistant Dean and CMO. Dr. Bailey is board certified in Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry, and he is a nationally recognized expert on gun violence, intimate partner violence, health disparities in minority populations, and forensic psychiatry. He has authored or co-authored over 50 peer reviewed publications and has written books about healthcare reform and firearms violence.

“We are delighted to recruit Dr. Bailey back to LSUHSC, where he began his faculty career,” said Dr. Nelson. “We are excited about the future of the Department of Psychiatry and look forward to welcoming Dr. Bailey to our campus this spring.