Marley Doyle, M.D., named director of BHECN

An expert in reproductive psychiatry at UNMC, Marley Doyle, M.D., has been selected as the new director of the Behavioral Health Education Center of Nebraska (BHECN).

The appointment was announced today by Rodney Markin, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the BHECN Executive Committee. Dr. Markin is the chief operating officer for the University of Nebraska Central Administration. He also holds two positions at UNMC — associate vice chancellor for business development and the David T. Purtilo Distinguished Professor of Pathology & Microbiology — and is director of UNeTech, an institute for UNMC and the University of Nebraska at Omaha designed to identify promising start-up companies and help them become successful.

Dr. Doyle succeeds Howard Liu, M.D., who served as director of BHECN since 2014. Dr. Liu was named chair of the UNMC Department of Psychiatry last month, and with this new responsibility, was unable to commit the time to BHECN.

“Marley has the interest and the passion for helping BHECN move forward and take the next steps in its evolution,” Dr. Markin said. “We look forward to her leadership and her vision for the future. I also would like to commend and thank Dr. Liu for his leadership over the past six years.”

BHECN was created in 2009 when the Nebraska legislature passed LB 603 to address the statewide crisis in mental health access. Housed at UNMC, BHECN is dedicated to improving access to behavioral health care across the state through its unique partnership with all of the graduate behavioral health training programs in Nebraska.

A native of Cincinnati who moved to Lenexa, Kan., for high school, Dr. Doyle majored in biology and was a magna cum laude graduate of Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., in 2006. She earned her medical degree in 2010 from Creighton University. She did a four-year residency in adult psychiatry at McGaw Medical Center of Northwestern University in Chicago and a one-year fellowship in women’s mental health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

She joined the UNMC Department of Psychiatry in 2017 as an assistant professor and as associate director of the Women’s Reproductive Psychiatry Program, which features a clinic to assist women experiencing mood disorders during times of hormonal transition, such as pregnancy, postpartum and menopause. She sees these patients on Thursdays and will continue this clinic in her new position.

Dr. Doyle expressed her excitement as she prepares for her new role with BHECN.

“BHECN is a wonderfully innovative organization that has — with strong leadership and a dedicated team — received national recognition,” she said. “Providing access to behavioral health services for all Nebraskans is a mission that resonates with me.

“I hope to continue the workforce development that Dr. Liu and his team have done so well. I also hope to increase behavioral health education for primary care providers, as well as increase behavioral health literacy.

“From my work with pregnant and postpartum women, I have a great appreciation for the generational transmission of mental illness and the negative impact this has on society as a whole. I believe that with interprofessional collaboration, we can ensure BHECN continues to find creative solutions to limited behavioral health access. I am honored to join the BHECN team and look forward to the great work to be done.”

Dr. Doyle has received several grants as well as national recognition. She is currently the director of the Adult Outpatient Division and associate program director for the Creighton-UNMC Psychiatry Residency. She is co-chair of the Graduate Medical Education (GME) Steering Committee and was actively involved in the visioning and execution of the new residency program application in which UNMC plans to start its own residency program in psychiatry.

She has a joint appointment with the UNMC OB/GYN Department and provides consultation to the Olson Center for Women’s Health.

A recognized leader in the field of gender equality in academic psychiatry, Dr. Doyle has presented 10 peer-reviewed abstracts at national conferences and has six publications in peer-reviewed journals. She is also a frequent lecturer in the medical school and multiple residencies at UNMC. She has won numerous teaching awards and is a member of the Gold Humanism Honor Society.