Throughout her career, psychiatrist Sarah Baker, M.D., has felt a strong commitment to helping medical students on a deeper level.

“Medical school is a challenging period in students’ lives and a time filled with many changes. Early on in my medical training, I became interested in the development of students’ professional identities and how medical education impacts trainees’ relationships with patients and, in particular, their empathy for patients,” Dr. Baker said. This interest, which led Dr. Baker to focus her graduate studies on the topic, plays a large role in her new position as Associate Dean for Student Affairs.

“Empathy is at the core of being a physician,” Dr. Baker said. “We want to ensure that the medical education process leads to the cultivation of students’ empathy toward patients rather than to the declines and desensitization that have been widely reported in the literature.”

Dr. Baker, who joined the UT Southwestern faculty in 2019, finds working with students especially rewarding. “I enjoy seeing them along their path through medical school,” she said. “They certainly inspire me to be a better physician.”

Dr. Baker earned a master’s degree in medical humanities and a medical degree from UT Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston. She subsequently completed general psychiatry residency training and a fellowship in forensic psychiatry from UTSW and Yale University School of Medicine, respectively. During residency, she received the Outstanding Resident Contribution to Medical Student Education Award and the Residency Education Committee Award for Excellence.

Since joining the faculty as an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Dr. Baker has become a leader in medical education, developing core curriculum in psychiatry and mentoring student projects. She has presented numerous scholarly works nationally, winning the Early Career Development Award from the Association for Academic Psychiatry in 2022 and the Faculty Medical Student Education Award from the Department of Psychiatry, also in 2022.

Currently, she serves as President of the North Texas Society of Psychiatric Physicians and co-Chairs a committee for the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. At UT Southwestern, she serves as co-Chair for the new Psychiatric Hospital Forensics Planning Subcommittee and leads the Mental Health, Policy, and Law area of concentration for the Psychiatry Residency Program.

In her new role that began in November, Dr. Baker said she hopes to help students feel more empowered as physicians and encourage them to make changes that improve health care.

“I’m looking forward to being part of our students’ educational journeys and helping them grow into empathetic physicians who think innovatively and comprehensively about how best to address their patients’ needs,” she said.