May 7, 2008

A child psychiatrist at Southern Illinois School of Medicine has been named medical director for the new Lincoln Prairie Behavioral Health Center in Springfield.  Dr. David H. Decker, assistant professor of psychiatry and chief of SIU’s child and adolescent psychiatry division, will oversee the clinical operations of the 80-bed psychiatric hospital for children and adolescents opening this May.

“We are very fortunate to have Dr. Decker in this key position because he has spent the majority of his career serving children and adolescents in central and southern Illinois.  No one is more attuned to the issues and challenges faced by the youth of our communities and Dr. Decker has already become a valuable member of our administrative team,” said Scott Viniard, CEO for Lincoln Prairie.  “His relationship with SIU’s psychiatry department also will give us access to exceptional psychiatric services and create an excellent opportunity for future recruitment.”

Decker heads SIU’s division that currently includes five faculty physicians.  The group provides inpatient and outpatient treatment to children and adolescents as well and consultation services to primary care physicians.

SIU medical school has started a child psychiatry fellowship and the first fellow has begun training.  The two-year program is accredited to train four physicians in total.  Clinical rotations for the fellows will include Lincoln Prairie and SIU’s own clinics as well as consultations as requested at the school’s affiliated hospitals, St. John’s Hospital and Memorial Medical Center.

“The new fellowship, combined with our partnership with Lincoln Prairie, will help us now respond to the severe shortage of child psychiatrists in downstate Illinois,” said Decker.  “The range of patient problems that we expect to see at this new facility will help provide a training experience with significant breadth and depth, as we provide the highest quality of care to our patients.”

Decker’s clinical interests include depressive disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.  He joined SIU’s faculty in 1989 in a position at McFarland Mental Health Center in Springfield, where he subsequently became medical director.

Decker completed a two-year fellowship in child psychiatry at the William S. Hall Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, (1988).  He completed his psychiatry residency and earned his medical degree both at SIU (1986, 1982).  He earned his bachelor's degree at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington (1979).

Decker is board certified in psychiatry and in child and adolescent psychiatry.  He is a member of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

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