Ole J. Thienhaus, M.D., MBA

     Ole J. Thienhaus, M.D., MBA, current chair of psychiatry, the medical school’s only statewide clinical department, will replace John A. McDonald, M.D., Ph.D., as dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine effective July 1, 2008.

      As medical school dean, Thienhaus will oversee the school’s academic, clinical and research missions and will report to McDonald, who will assume the sole role of vice president of health sciences for the University’s newly expanded Division of Health Sciences. The School of Medicine will play an integral role in the expanded division.

     Thienhaus moved to Nevada in 1995 when he accepted the position of chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the School of Medicine. Thienhaus lives in both Reno and Las Vegas, commuting every week, treating patients in both urban areas and rural Nevada, often providing psychiatric services to communities that otherwise would not have access to care.

    Prior to joining the School of Medicine, Thienhaus was a faculty member and vice chair of psychiatry at the College of Medicine at the University of Cincinnati where he also received his residency training in psychiatry and completed his fellowship in geriatric psychiatry in 1984. Additionally, he received his MBA from the University of Cincinnati College of Business in 1985. Thienhaus was born in Northern Germany and attended universities in Germany and Ireland, graduating in 1978 with a medical degree from the Free University of Berlin. Upon graduation, Thienhaus began a surgery residency in Berlin; however after two years of training, he transferred to the psychiatry residency program at the University of Cincinnati.

    He has published nearly 100 articles and book chapters, as well as three books. He is a fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists and serves on the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.

As the state’s only public medical school, the University of Nevada School of Medicine has been a leader in healthcare, medical education and research in Nevada since 1969. The School of Medicine includes 16 clinical departments including family medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics and gynecology, internal medicine, surgery, and psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and five nationally recognized departments in basic science including microbiology and biomedical engineering. The more than 185 doctors of University Health System, the school’s clinical practice, offer care in more than 40 medical specialties and subspecialties with eight physician offices in the Reno/Sparks area and seven in Las Vegas. The school is committed to a best practices approach to medicine and is dedicated to exceptional healthcare for Nevada now and in the future. For more information visit www.medicine.nevada.edu.