24. Inside Leadership, Advocacy, and the Future of Psychiatry with Dr. Mark Rapaport

In this episode of Get Psyched, we’re joined by Dr. Mark Rapaport, 2025 President-Elect of the American Psychiatric Association and one of the most influential academic leaders in modern psychiatry.Dr. Rapaport has had a distinguished career spanning several of the nation’s leading institutions. He has served as CEO of the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah; Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine; Chief Psychiatric Officer for Emory Healthcare; founding Co-Director of the Emory Brain Health Center; Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center; and Vice Chair of Psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.In addition to his leadership roles, Dr. Rapaport is a highly accomplished researcher with more than 200 peer-reviewed publications. He also co-founded and served as Editor-in-Chief of FOCUS: The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry, guiding the journal to address emerging clinical topics — including being the first major psychiatric journal to devote an entire issue to LGBTQ+ and underrepresented minority health concerns.In our conversation, Dr. Rapaport reflects on his upbringing, his family’s multigenerational legacy in medicine, and the mentors and patients who shaped his path into psychiatry. We discuss his philosophy of leadership, his passion for academic medicine, and the sometimes winding journey of following one’s curiosities across research, teaching, and clinical care.Whether you’re a medical student, psychiatry trainee, or clinician thinking about leadership, advocacy, or academic medicine, this episode offers an inspiring and thoughtful look at a career devoted to service, mentorship, and advancing the field. Thank you for listening!We are recruiting for several open roles on the Get Psyched podcast team (Editor, Host, Writer, Producer). Here is the application link:https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfFL4UapBbRxGWiL-V8KNQZslkZF-Gnzf2zI16cNoreGcEmXA/viewform?usp=sharing&ouid=111781906299228250953Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/cruen/city-streetsLicense code: 2JJVCBQKEE2GJH5N