Member Spotlight

Meet Kaz

Dr. Kaz J. Nelson is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and serves as Vice Chair for Education in the University of Minnesota (UMN) Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences and Program Director of the Psychiatry Residency at the UMN Medical School. She  is an Honors graduate of UMN-Morris and received her medical degree and psychiatry residency training from UMN Medical School. Kaz is the 2018 Minnesota Psychiatric Society "Psychiatrist of the Year" and a "2018 Exemplary Psychiatrist" awarded for the state of Minnesota by the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

Kaz developed an openly accessible podcast with her brother, George, called "The Mind Deconstructed" which aims to serve the general community to demystify and increase understanding of common mental health conditions. Here is a link to the most recent podcast episode "Impending Doom".  She also serves in the role of Associate Designated Institutional Official for the University of Minnesota Office of Graduate Medical Education. Kaz's portfolio within this role is to work to prevent suicide and increase health and wellbeing for over 1,000 UMN residents and fellows. 

Kaz previously served in the role of Psychiatry Residency Director from 2012 to 2020, at which point she passed to torch to a phenomenal psychiatric educator, Dr. Lora Wichser. Together, along with colleagues Dr. Jonathan Homans, Dr. Jenna Triana, and Physician-Scientist Track Resident Dr. Tolu Odebunmi, Dr. Nelson has established the University of Minnesota Psychiatry Education Research Lab (PERLab). The PERLab has a number of ground-breaking projects including the development of an online training module to improve and evaluate the quality of training for psychiatrists evaluating candidates for the ABPN Clinical Skills Evaluations, which is supported by an ABPN research grant (launching soon!). The PERLab has also generated innovative educational frameworks, including the "Minnesota Arc," a conceptual framework to teach communication in high-stakes environments, from the clinic to the classroom.

Kaz enjoys connecting with psychiatric educators and residency program directors over Twitter. Please be in touch using Twitter Handle: @KazJNelson.

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