Michael R. Jarvis, PhD, MD

Michael R. Jarvis, PhD, MD, professor of psychiatry, is recognized for outstanding contributions to house staff teaching.

Jarvis is the inpatient medical director of the psychiatry unit at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and vice chair for clinical affairs in the Department of Psychiatry. In those roles, he has taught countless medical students and supervised hundreds of psychiatry residents.

Residents admire his clinical skill and talent for effectively sharing his expertise. He excels, they report, in guiding trainees as they hone their therapy and critical-thinking skills, instilling confidence, teaching self-directed learning, and most of all, supporting trainees in defining and pursuing their personal career goals. He accomplishes it all with a compassionate, gentle manner and sense of humor. Beyond teaching psychiatry, he is known as an effective role model for achieving work-life balance.

Jarvis also is credited with recruiting residents to join Washington University’s psychiatry faculty and, in particular, in mentoring women into leadership roles. In addition, many trainees who have gone elsewhere now hold leadership roles. He has been honored for teaching excellence by Washington University medical students and residents and by the Osler Institute.

He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, in 1977, his doctoral degree from the University of Illinois in 1982 and his medical degree from Washington University in 1985. He completed his residency training in psychiatry at Washington University and then joined the faculty in 1989. He has been listed in Best Doctors in America since 2006 and is a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.