Betsy White Williams, PhD, MPH

Rush University Medical Center Office of Continuing Medical Education

Director of Outcomes and Research

Assistant Professor at Rush University Medical Center

Departments of Psychiatry and Behavior Science

Professional Renewal Center

Clinical Director

Dr. Williams earned her Masters Degree in Public Health from Boston University and her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology with specialization in clinical aging from the University of Southern California. She completed her postdoctoral training in clinical neuropsychology at the University of California, San Diego. Her early research and clinical work were in the area of changes associated with Alzheimer’s Disease. More recently her research and clinical foci have shifted to issues having to do with professionals, particularly physicians. Dr. Williams has lectured both nationally and internationally and published research in the areas of issues associated with the efficacy of continuing medical education, disruptive behavior, chemical dependency, sexual misconduct, aging, and clinical competence.

She has extensive experience working with high accountability professionals, in particular healthcare professionals. Her work with physicians includes addressing issues related to clinical competency, impairment, professional boundaries, disruptive behavior and aging. In this work she has provided assessment, treatment and remedial education/treatment programs. Currently she is the Clinical Director at the Professional Renewal Center in Lawrence, KS.

In her clinical capacity Dr. Williams provides ongoing interface among client, the workplace, administrative and regulatory authorities, and professional assistance programs. As a result of her broad experience Dr Williams is also familiar with issues related to clinical and quality assurance systems.

She has an academic appointment in the Departments of Behavioral Science and Psychiatry at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She is the Director of Outcomes and Research in the Department of Continuing Medical Education. She is the course director and faculty for the Distressed Physician, a remedial continuing medical education activity for physicians in whom there are concerns about disruptive workplace behavior. She was the recipient of the 2010 Ray L Casterline MD Award for Excellence in Writing from the Federation of State Medical Boards for his article Disruptive Physicians: A Conceptual Approach.