W&M Counseling Center hires psychiatrist
Patricia Roy In her role at W&M, Roy will be responsible for providing direct service to students through psychiatric evaluations and medication management. Photo by Stephen Salpukas
William & Mary has hired its first full-time psychiatrist.
Dr. Patricia Roy, medical director of the Virginia Hospital Center’s behavioral health department, will begin her work at William & Mary near the end of February.
“After a comprehensive and exhaustive search, we are beyond excited to have Dr. Roy join our team,” said Kelly Crace, associate vice president for health and wellness at William & Mary. “Her exemplary background, her relational approach to understanding the student first and not defining someone by their symptoms, and her desire to be an integral part of our campus community were the qualities we were looking for in such an important position.”
In her role at W&M, Roy will be responsible for providing direct service to students at the William & Mary Counseling Center through psychiatric evaluations and medication management. She will also participate in a multidisciplinary treatment team and help lead the center’s expansion of psychiatric services, to include the addition of psychiatric residents.
“I think of the doctor-patient relationship as a team,” Roy said. “I bring a certain expertise in mental health and a certain expertise in the medication, and the patient or person seeking my help has an expertise in themselves. We have to work together as a team to figure out the best course of action.”
Roy worked at the Virginia Hospital Center since 2012. Prior to that, she was an instructor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine from 2008 to 2011.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from George Mason University and a Doctorate of Medicine from Drexel University School of Medicine. She worked as a post-doctoral research fellow in the Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Psychiatry from 2004 to 2005, after which she served as a resident physician at the same facility until 2008.
Roy has published several papers in medical journals, and she has received multiple awards for her work, including the Janet M. Glasgow Memorial Achievement Award for Academics from the American Medical Women’s Association in 2003. Additionally, Northern Virginia Magazine named her among the area’s top physicians from 2013 to 2016.
Roy said she was interested in the William & Mary position because of the campus and local communities.
“I am looking forward to working and living in a great community, and working with the students and other professionals,” Roy said.
The position that Roy will fill at W&M was created as part of an ongoing effort by the Division of Student Affairs to maintain and strengthen the health and wellness of the student body. Another aspect of that plan is the construction of an Integrative Wellness Center, which will house the four departments that make up the thematic area of health and wellness in student affairs. Other recent initiatives include after-hours counseling assistance, therapist-guided access to an online learning platform and partnerships with the Park Rx project and Jed and Clinton Health Matters Campus Program.
"Dr. Roy brings a wellness approach to her work,” said Crace, “and I believe the opportunity to have an important role in developing progressive approaches to mental health at the new center was a feature that made this position exciting for her."