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4707 Hwy 61, #232
St. Paul, MN 55110

Phone: 651-407-1873
Fax: 651-407-1754

MPS President Elect
Jon A. Van Loon, MD

Clinical psychiatry is my second professional career. Raised in Red Wing and educated at Bethel College in St. Paul, an interest in chemistry led me to twelve rewarding years of bench research at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. Medical school followed, and within that milieu I discovered the richly complex and challenging issues of patients facing problems of living with mental health concerns. Residency and six years on the faculty at Mayo ultimately yielded to the community and clinical opportunities at Olmsted Medical Center, my current practice location. With a flexible schedule, local board service at Zumbro Valley Mental Health Center and national involvement on the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Disabilities Committee remain feasible. I was privileged to help MPS develop its web site while still a Member-in-Training and currently serve as newsletter co-editor. The MPS Ethics Committee and MPS Council have offered me invaluable exposure to our wide variety of opinions, issues and policies.

There is a persistent and frustrating disconnect between the dramatic advances in our understanding of the biology of mental illness and the less than dramatic advances in community mental health, taken as a whole. The value and progress of pharmaceutical and neurolobiological research is evident; yet the overemphasis of “chemical imbalance” in the public model is equally clear. The bio-psychosocial model remains a given in teaching psychiatric theory, but the model’s funding usually stops after the second syllable. Non-technological and nonpharmacological models have suffered from de-emphasis and underfunding, while a wide variety of psychosocial issues play an enormous (but stockholder- free!) role in the overall mental health of our state. Many pressing issues persist:

• Undereducation, with poor preparation for parenting

• Physical and sexual abuse, and emotional neglect

• Substance abuse and dependence, among all age groups

• Economic disadvantagement, lack of adequate housing and fair employment/benefits

• Persisting stigma of diagnosis–and treatment–of legitimate mental health concerns

• The social costs of substance abuse, untreated depression, and mismanagement of medications are immense.

Nearly half of Minnesota counties have no (zero) psychiatrists and nearly one third of our citizens live in counties with no inpatient facilities. As public/private economies and basic healthcare costs continue their collision course, psychiatrists have an obligation to advocate for 1) care that is comprehensive in scope, 2) affordable access, and 3) proven effective outcomes in mental health care.

The MPS is uniquely positioned over these next years to advocate for high quality, accessible and comprehensive mental health care. We will pursue this goal at the legislative, professional, clinical and personal levels. We will champion a properly complex model of good psychiatric practice and work along with our medical colleagues, in collaboration with non-medical mental health providers, to provide efficient, diagnosis-specific, and professionally sound comprehensive models of effective care.