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Elizabeth Dykens named director of Vanderbilt Kennedy Center

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Dear Colleagues,

It is with great pleasure that we inform you today that Elisabeth Dykens, Ph.D., will become the permanent director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, effective immediately.

Elisabeth is Professor of Psychology in Peabody College, and has strong working relationships throughout VUMC. She has served as interim director of VKC since Oct. 2008, and successfully guided the Center through its NIH renewal earlier this year. She previously served as the Center's co-director, and has also served as the director of the Center's Mood and Emotion Research Program

She is a national and international leader in research focusing on the mental health challenges and unique strengths of persons with genetic syndromes, such as Prader-Willi syndrome, Williams syndrome, and Down syndrome. She has played a major leadership role over decade in developing the Center's wide range of partnerships and community service activities, now widely viewed as the most comprehensive in the nation.

Elisabeth's leadership will support the Center's strong core of activities within Peabody College, while fostering strong and growing relationships throughout VUMC in the basic and clinical neurosciences, as well as our programs child and adolescent pediatrics, psychiatry, and a growing array of clinical programs for adults with disabilities.

Please join us in congratulating our new director -

Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D.
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs
Dean, School of Medicine

Jonathan Gitlin, M.D.
Assistant Vice Chancellor for Maternal and Child Health Affairs
Professor and Chair, Department of Pediatrics

Richard McCarty
Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Professor of Psychology