Laura Roberts, M.D., Lisa Dixon, M.D., Appointed as Editors

Laura Weiss Roberts, M.D., M.A., has been appointed editor-in-chief of books for APA’s Publishing Division, and Lisa Dixon, M.D., M.P.H., has been appointed editor of the APA journal Psychiatric Services.

“We are delighted to have Drs. Dixon and Roberts, two very prominent and accomplished leaders in psychiatry, joining us in these leadership roles,” said APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A. “They will each bring a tremendous depth of knowledge, experience, and innovation to our publications.”

Roberts will assume her responsibilities on June 1, when Editor-in-Chief Robert E. Hales, M.D., M.B.A., steps down. Dixon will start her responsibilities as editor in January 2017, when the current editor, Howard Goldman, M.D., Ph.D., steps down.

Roberts is the chair and Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine and chief of the psychiatry service for Stanford Hospital and Clinics. Since 2007, Roberts has served as the deputy editor of the books division for American Psychiatric Association Publishing (formerly American Psychiatric Publishing Inc.). She has also served as the editor-in-chief of the journal Academic Psychiatry since 2002.

Roberts is a nationally recognized scholar and leader in ethics, psychiatry, medicine, and medical education. She is the author and editor of numerous books, including the Clinical Guide to Psychiatric Ethics. She received her medical degree at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine and completed her residency at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine.

Dixon is a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and the director of the Division of Behavioral Health Services and Policy Research in the Department of Psychiatry. She also directs the Center for Practice Innovations at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. In addition, she has served on the editorial board of Psychiatric Services and is currently the editor of a column in the journal dedicated to public-academic partnerships.

Her research has focused on improving the quality of care for individuals with serious mental disorders with a particular emphasis on addressing co-occurring addictions and medical problems and on services that include families. She has received numerous awards, including the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Scientific Research Award in 2014. Dixon received her medical degree from Cornell University Medical College and her M.P.H. from Johns Hopkins University and completed her psychiatry residency at New York–Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center. ■