UH Chair of Psychiatry Builds Bridges Between Patients Providers and Systems

UH Clinical Update | October 2025

Jeanne Lackamp, MD, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at University Hospitals, didn’t plan on becoming a physician. She was raised in Shaker Heights, graduated from Shaker Heights High School and headed to the College of Wooster, where she studied psychology and philosophy — a choice that she credits for her lifelong approach to critical thinking and communicating with intention.

Jeanne Lackamp, MD

After college, she worked at a quirky housewares and furniture shop called “Habitat,” on Larchmere Boulevard, before obtaining a position as a CWRU research assistant – in the UH Cleveland Medical Center Department of Psychiatry. It was during this first research assistant position that a supervisor asked her a question that changed everything: “Have you ever thought about going to medical school?”

“I still remember where I was standing when he asked me that,” Dr. Lackamp says. What she calls her “lightbulb” moment sparked a new path for her. After taking pre-med science courses at Cleveland State University, she enrolled at Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine (now NEOMED) in Rootstown, as one of very few four-year students in the predominantly six-year program.

Drawn to psychiatry through her previous research experience as well as medical school rotations, Dr. Lackamp did her internship and residency in psychiatry, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City. There, she found herself inspired by the collaborative nature of consultation-liaison psychiatry, where teamwork is essential, especially when navigating complex clinical cases or unexpected challenges.

She returned to UH Cleveland Medical Center Department of Psychiatry in 2008, this time as an attending physician, after completing a fellowship in psychosomatic medicine at George Washington University/Inova Fairfax Hospital in Virginia.

 “Sometimes you just know you’re in the right place,” she says of UH.

First in educational and clinical roles, and now in leading her department, Dr. Lackamp’s activities have nearly always centered on purposeful connection — between patients, providers, and systems — and she continues to serve as a bridge between psychiatry and other clinical teams.

In 2018, as the opioid epidemic gripped Ohio, Dr. Lackamp stepped into a new leadership role as Director of the UH Pain Management Institute. The institute grew out of UH’s opioid safety steering committee, and it became a platform to discuss optimal, integrated care — bringing together specialists in psychiatry, addiction, pain medicine, physical rehabilitation, psychology, pharmacy, nursing, primary care and UH Connor Whole Health.

Her colleagues describe her as a tireless advocate for patient safety and provider education. Sean Hoynes, MD, a UH primary care physician, nominated her for a recent “Dinner with the Doc” award, praising her for developing the UH Controlled Substance Guidelines and for her ability to unite diverse teams around shared goals.

“She has such a passion to improve our health system,” he wrote, “and to help providers feel confident in treating patients safely and effectively.”

Despite her leadership roles, Dr. Lackamp remains grounded in the human side of medicine. “At UH we value clinical, educational, and research activities,” she says. “Our department is excelling in all three arenas, such that we take excellent care of patients, while teaching the next generation of clinicians, and discovering new avenues for treatment.”

And she’s back in Shaker Heights, just a few blocks from her childhood home. “I didn’t stray too far,” she says with a smile, drawn by Cleveland’s culture and arts scene — and the chance to be near her mother.

What drives her most is the growing openness around mental health, and the ongoing innovative opportunities to care for patients. “The best thing that’s happened in recent years is that people are more willing to talk about mental health issues,” she says. “Now we need to expand our ability to help people navigate the healthcare landscape.”

To nominate a physician for this honor, click here for the Dinner with the Doc Nomination Form.