2023 Distinguished Alumna
Janice Hutchinson, MD, MPH, is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C., and an associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the Howard University College of Medicine. She is also director of the college’s Psychiatry Residency Program. A native of Chicago, Dr. Hutchinson received her undergraduate degree in sociology from Stanford University before attending the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
During her final year of medical school, Dr. Hutchinson worked at the John. F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, just the first of several instances in which she would serve as a medical missionary. Following graduation, she completed her internship at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and then returned to Cincinnati for her psychiatry residency at UC. She then completed a residency in pediatrics at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Dr. Hutchinson also earned a master’s degree in public health from the University of Illinois.
In the early 1980s, Dr. Hutchinson joined the Rush University Medical School as an adjunct faculty member. She eschewed private practice to join the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps before taking a leave of absence to work in a refugee camp outside of Bangkok, Thailand.
When she returned to the United States, she completed a child and adolescent fellowship at the Institute for Juvenile Research at the University of Illinois. At the same time, she served as a public health physician with the American Medical Association, working on teen pregnancy and child abuse issues. Following the discovery of the HIV antibody, she became concerned about the devastating effect of the disease on children and helped to organize the American Medical Association's first major HIV conference in the mid-1980s.
Board certified in pediatrics and adult and child psychiatry, Dr. Hutchinson has taught and written extensively about many children’s health and social issues, including child abuse, domestic violence, teen pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, impulsivity and aggression, incarceration and mental illness, and the use of antidepressants with children and youth suicide.
In 2007, Dr. Hutchinson co-authored the book “Losing Control: Loving a Black Child with Bipolar Disorder.” The book is a true story of an African-American mother’s difficulties with her daughter’s mental illness, which is ultimately diagnosed as bipolar disorder.
Dr. Hutchinson received the American Psychiatric Association’s Irma Bland Excellence in Teaching Award in 2005. Earlier this year, she was honored with the Marian A. Spencer Mosaic Award by the University of Cincinnati Alumni Association. The award is presented annually to a UC graduate who has demonstrated leadership while enhancing shared community through cultivating collaboration, fostering inclusiveness, championing the cause of the underrepresented and promoting greater equity and opportunity for all.
Throughout her career, Dr. Hutchinson has worked to improve the quality of the lives of others through the power of medicine. She has done this through caring for her patients; undertaking multiple overseas medical missions; lecturing and writing on child abuse, teen pregnancy, sex trafficking, juvenile detention and childhood mental illness and other childhood issues; and volunteering in shelters for homeless men, women and children. Additionally, she has served as the chair of the Washington Psychiatric Association’s Advocacy Committee.