Welcome to the Department of Behavioral Science
On behalf of our faculty, staff, and learners, I welcome you to the University of Kentucky College of Medicine Department of Behavioral Science. In 1956, Dr. William R. Willard arrived in Lexington as the founding dean of a new College of Medicine, tasked by Governor Albert "Happy" Chandler with building a medical center from scratch. Willard recruited a five-person planning team, including medical sociologist Dr. Robert "Bob" Straus, and together they insisted that the new college take seriously something most medical schools of the era did not: that behavior, not just biology, shapes health. That conviction led, in 1959, to the founding of the first freestanding Department of Behavioral Science at any medical school in the country, not a division tucked inside psychiatry, as behavioral scientists were typically organized elsewhere, but its own academic department, with its own faculty, curriculum, and research agenda.
Dr. Straus served as founding chair for nearly three decades, and the community he built still shapes us today. He recruited faculty in part through what is affectionately remembered as his "consideration test,” whether a candidate would genuinely support their colleagues, and that same collegial, team-oriented culture remains a hallmark of the department. Drs. Thomas Garrity and Carl Leukefeld carried the department forward after him, expanding our training mission to graduate students and building the grant-funded research infrastructure that continues to make us one of UK's most externally funded units. Dr. Thomas Kelly, who as Vice Chair and then Chair had nearly two decades of leadership in the department, has left us on even more solid footing, strengthening our relationship with key partners on campus like the Center for Clinical and Translational Science, the Center on Drug and Alcohol Research and the Center for Health, Engagement, and Transformation.
That history is visible everywhere in the department today. It's in our teaching, from the department's original 1960 courses through today's Introduction to Clinical Medicine, where medical students build the communication and relational skills their patients will need them to have, while also learning about the impacts of behavior on health. It's in our research, where faculty run independently funded programs in substance use, cancer, aging, clinical neuroscience, and community engagement. And it's in the wider footprint our people have across campus, where Behavioral Science faculty and staff regularly step into leadership roles beyond our own walls to advance the University’s capacity to improve the well-being of Kentuckians and others.
I come to this role having grown up professionally in this department, as a graduate student, postdoctoral fellow, and through the faculty ranks, and I don't take lightly the responsibility of stewarding what Dr. Straus and those who followed him built. My own research uses human behavioral pharmacology and clinical trials to understand and treat substance use disorders, and that work has taught me a simple lesson I want to apply to the department: the same translational instinct that turns laboratory mechanism into clinical impact for patients can also turn our department's strengths, our people, our research, our teaching, our service, into greater impact on public health and wellbeing.
Concretely, that means a few developments going forward. We're creating more shared spaces to build identity and visibility across a department whose people work in many locations. We're bringing more transparency to how the department runs, sharing information regularly so decisions are made together rather than behind closed doors. We’re investing deliberately in the wellness of our faculty, trainees, and particularly our staff. We're fortunate to have dedicated, talented staff whose vital work quietly sustains all three parts of our mission, every day. This team of individuals is so crucial to ensuring the success of our department and they bring a positive and caring attitude to all that they do. We’re working to make their jobs easier and better share our deep gratitude. And we're focusing on developing our future leaders, creating opportunities for faculty and staff to grow into leadership roles as the department's needs evolve. None of this replaces what already works; it builds on a department that is already a campus powerhouse in research, education, and service.
I invite you to explore these pages to learn more about our people, our programs and our work, and to reach out with questions about our research, training, and collaborative opportunities. Together, we will continue to use behavioral science research and training to advance the mission of the University and the health and well-being of our Commonwealth.
William W. Stoops, Ph.D.
Dr. William R. Willard Professor and Chair
Department of Behavioral Science
