Page 14 - WesternU View Summer 2019

Dr. David Baron holds a Doctor of
Osteopathic Medicine degree from the
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
and a Master of Science in Education from
the University of Southern California. Over
the course of his career, he has held academic
and administrative positions of increasing
responsibility and impact in higher education,
government, and clinical settings, and is an
internationally recognized authority on
concussion in sports, ADHD, global mental
health literacy, drug addiction and treatment,
and the role of mental health in primary care.
He is a past president of the American
College of Neuropsychiatry and the Group for
Advancement in Psychiatry. He is a former
Deputy Clinical Director of the National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), an
International Fellow of the Royal College of
Medicine, and a Distinguished Life Fellow of
the American Psychiatric Association. He is
certified by the American Board of Psychiatry
and Neurology and the American Osteopathic
Board of Neurology and Psychiatry. He is
board certified in Brain Injury Medicine and is
licensed to practice in California, Nevada, and
Pennsylvania.
Dr. Baron was named a National Fulbright
scholar in 2017-18 and conducted his research
as Distinguished Chair in Brain Research at
the University of Calgary. He also is the
recipient of a Fulbright Specialist Award for
2016-21.
Did you know?
Dr. Baron is a former underwater
photographer and scuba instructor.
Among his favorite diving spots
are the Cayman Islands,
Hawaii, Micronesia and the
Gold Coast in Australia. His
secret for photographing fish:
frozen peas.
“Frozen peas stay where you put
them. Get the picture when the fish is
coming toward you.” n
12 | WESTERNU VIEW Summer/Fall 2019
Oregon,” Baron said. “But we’ve had the opportunity to
say we are looking for global partners, so potentially
student exchanges, faculty exchanges, collaboration on
scholarly products – grants, papers, books – and this will,
I think, enhance our brand recognition. It will allow
students and faculty to feel even more proud of being a
part of WesternU because I have every intention of
working with our team here, and whatever resources I
have with personal affiliations, to have WesternU be
viewed as one of the premier graduate health education
institutions globally in innovative training, whether it’s a
certificate, a master’s degree, or more.”
WesternU recently received a $980,000 grant to look at
treatment for opioid addiction, which is a global health
problem.
“The two trips I’ve been on most recently in India and
Egypt — they view this as one of their biggest public
health crises. They are going to be essentially purchasing
some of our expertise to train their providers in how to
better deal with this growing problem,” Baron said.
“There is lots of interest, and they are willing to pay to
collaborate with us because they don’t have the expertise
within to provide what we can.”
Collaboration could result in online training, student
exchanges and collaborative scholarly projects, Baron
said. Physicians from India may learn podiatric techniques
at WesternU to help them secure better jobs in India.
“We will be working with other universities
internationally or in some cases working with the
ministers of health on creating opportunities to train their
existing workforce to get to a higher level, so we can feel
proud of the contribution we can make at a global level,”
Baron said.
Dr. Wilson has brought in people across the board to help
him achieve his mission and goals.
“Every interaction I’ve had with the president is he just
wants WesternU to be the best it can be in the WesternU
way,” Baron said. “He is very respectful of our heritage. (I
am) working for a president who values the things that I
value individually and is so committed and proud to be
here at WesternU, as am I. I’m very happy to be here in
this new role that I didn’t really suspect would even come
up. I’m just thrilled to be part of a university that I think
has extraordinary potential and that is something that
hopefully all of us will feel proud to be part of. Transition
is never easy, but hopefully it will pay off in the end.” n