The Board of Directors of American Psychiatric Publishing Inc. (APPI) has named Robert E. Hales, M.D., M.B.A., APPI’s next editor in chief for books. Hales replaced Carol Nadelson, M.D., who was the first psychiatrist to hold that position.
Hales, whose appointment became effective May 1, brings an extensive background as an educator, administrator, author, and editor to the APPI post. He is professor and chair of the psychiatry department at the medical school at the University of California, Davis, and medical director of mental health services for Sacramento County.
Among the 28 books that bear his name as author or coauthor are the Textbook of Psychiatry and the Textbook of Neuropsychiatry, both published by APPI and both in their third edition. He has also cowrote books directed at a nonmedical audience, including Caring for the Mind: The Comprehensive Guide to Mental Health and The Mind/Mood Pill Book.
Hales is also the deputy editor of the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience and was a member of the APA task force that developed DSM-IV.
A retired colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, Hales is a past president of the Association for Academic Psychiatry and a past vice president of the American Association of General Hospital Psychiatrists. Since 1985 he has been a member of the APPI Editorial Advisory Board
Hales said in an interview with Psychiatric News, “It is an honor to follow in Carol Nadelson’s footsteps. She has done an outstanding job over the last 13 years.” He added that he has “enjoyed working with APPI’s excellent staff and look[s] forward to working even more closely with them on a number of book projects.”
High on his agenda as editor in chief is a thorough evaluation of the book-publishing operation. “This year marks APPI’s 20th year in business, so it’s an appropriate time to conduct a comprehensive review of where it has been and where it’s going,” Hales said.
Hales plans to obtain input from readers, authors, the APPI Board, and Nadelson, he noted, “in a systematic way that will contribute to the development of a vision that will serve APPI through the next decade.” He hopes to get opinions from APPI authors, for example, on the process of soliciting and editing manuscripts as well as book-marketing strategies; he is also interested in hearing from APPI book purchasers on the array of titles in the publisher’s portfolio and what subjects they would like to see added.
“The success of American Psychiatric Press depends on who buys the books and what they think of the product,” Hales said.
Hales will be responsible for books published by APPI and by APA. ▪
