In October 1972, twelve students on the Berkeley campus of the University of California enrolled in a two-year graduate-level program in Medicine. This beginning marked the fruition of many years of discussion and planning between faculty members and Chancellor Albert Bowker. The innovative health sciences center at Berkeley aims to contribute the broadest possible health services to those segments of the population in greatest need. The curriculum of the new school emphasizes primary care and family practice. It uses the basic and behavioral science facilities on the Berkeley campus, and will shortly offer a complete clinical program as well, under the joint sponsorship of the U. of C.-San Francisco School of Medicine and the U. of C. Berkeley Campus.
The Medical option is directed by Professor Paola S. Timiras, and Dr. Joseph E. Lifschutz is Coordinator of Psychiatry in the Medical option. In October 1973, six students began a two-year program leading to a Master's degree in Genetics Advising. Six others began a five-year curriculum in a Mental Health option.
This plan to train a new kind of mental health professional with a core skill in psychotherapy implements the conception, now several decades old, of the late Dr. Lawrence Kubie. Both the preclinical years and residency-equivalent period will be geared to the special needs of this group of students. They will be taught basic biological science, psychological science, and social science in a two-year program conducted by a U.C. Berkeley faculty committee chaired by Professor Eli M. Bower. Training during the last three years will be at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco, whose Department of Psychiatry is headed by Dr. Robert S. Wallerstein, past president of the APsaA. Dr. Wallerstein, collaborating with officials of the Berkeley campus, has been the prime mover in the development and implementation of the Mental Health option.
At the present time efforts are under way to give a doctoral degree such as Doctor of Mental Health or Doctor of Medical Psychology to the Mental Health students upon completion of their five-year program. Consultations between the University of California, Mount Zion Hospital and appropriate governmental agencies of the State of California will be necessary in the development of such a degree. When in full operation, the Mental Health option plans to take twelve new students at the beginning of each academic year, so that no more than sixty will be in training at any one time.
Joseph E. Lifschutz, M.D.