Dr. W. Vaughn McCall, Case Distinguished University Chair and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University, has been named the medical school’s first executive vice dean.

In his new role McCall, who will also remain chair, will represent MCG when the dean is unavailable; partner with department chairs, division chiefs and other senior leaders across the medical school and Augusta University Health System to recruit and retain faculty and key leadership; lead MCG’s strategic planning process and work with stakeholders to establish measurable goals and performance metrics; work with department chairs, center leaders and other senior leaders to support new programmatic initiatives; and develop and support strategic partnerships for the medical school.

“Dr. McCall is an outstanding colleague, physician and investigator. He is respected as a leader here at MCG and in his field,” said MCG Dean Dr. David Hess. “I look forward to further partnering with him to grow our medical school and ensure MCG’s best days are ahead.”

McCall came to MCG in 2012 from Wake Forest University School of Medicine, where he served as professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine for nine years. His research interests include depression, electroconvulsive therapy, quality of life, insomnia and suicide. His research, including a current study aimed at reducing suicidal ideation through insomnia treatment, has been continuously funded by the National Institute of Mental Health since 1995. He is author of more than 400 publications, including more than 180 peer-reviewed journal articles. A paper on the risk of suicide associated with sleeping pills, written by his research group, was just selected by the editors of The American Journal of Psychiatry  as one of eight deemed “particularly interesting and important” for 2017.

McCall is the editor of The Journal of ECT and serves on the editorial boards for Sleep and The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. He is past president and serves on the board of the Association for Convulsive Therapy, and is a former director of the board of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. He is a fellow of the Association of American Medical College’s Council of Deans.

He has been recognized with the Thomas Ball Award, presented by the Chesapeake Bay Sleep Society for service in sleep medicine, the Eugene Hargrove Award from the North Carolina Psychiatric Association for achievement in psychiatric research and the Honored Speaker Award, given by the International Association of ECT and Neurostimulation. He has been consistently listed among the Best Doctors in America.

He earned his medical degree, and completed his psychiatry residency and an advanced electroconvulsive therapy fellowship at Duke University. He also completed a master’s degree in epidemiology at Wake Forest University.