Alicia Barnes, DO, MPH, has been named the inaugural Urban Child Institute (UCI) Endowed Chair of Excellence for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.

As the first recipient of the endowed chair, Barnes will serve as the director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UT Health Science Center. The division, which is affiliated with Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the Memphis Shelby County Schools system, supports education and training for medical students, residents, and fellows, and provides consultation-liaison and outpatient psychiatric care at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital.

Barnes will develop and lead initiatives in clinical care and research focused on early childhood mental illness and its associated risk factors. These include adverse childhood events, specific traumas, poverty, neighborhood and domestic violence, neglect, and direct and indirect consequences of mental illness.

She formerly served as the associate director of the Center for Youth Advocacy and Well-Being (CYAW) at UT Health Science Center.

This role allows the division to build on a decade of community engagement at the Center for Youth Advocacy and Well-Being. Barnes’ goal is to innovate and create a collaborative ecosystem that can provide sustainable mental health solutions that support Memphis youth and their families.

Barnes is also the president of the Tennessee Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and has served on the executive council of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.