Rate My Professor Alex Thompson

Alex Thompson, MD, MBA, MPH, serves as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Vice Chair for Education in the Department of Psychiatry at the Carver College of Medicine, University of Iowa. He holds the position of Residency Program Director for the Rural Track Psychiatry Residency. Thompson completed his undergraduate degree in Finance at the University of Texas at Austin, followed by a joint MD/MBA program at Baylor College of Medicine and Rice University, and earned an MPH. His career at the University of Iowa has centered on enhancing psychiatric training, with a strong emphasis on preparing residents for practice in rural communities.

Under Thompson's leadership, the Department of Psychiatry expanded its residency program from seven to nine categorical residents annually, achieved through a grant from the Iowa Department of Public Health and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education approval. He has facilitated collaborations to provide high-quality rural community experiences for all residents, including telepsychiatry for outpatient services, primary care integrations in rural settings, and a public and rural psychiatry track with electives, mentorships, and targeted lectures. Thompson's scholarly work includes co-authoring 'Psychiatric Emergencies: Assessing and Managing Suicidal Ideation,' published in Medical Clinics of North America in 2017. His contributions also encompass consultation-liaison psychiatry and advancements in behavioral health services at University of Iowa Health Care, such as OpenNotes implementation. Thompson has highlighted the need for exemplary rural providers, aligning training with state legislative priorities to address mental health shortages in Iowa's underserved areas.