President Sian Leah Beilock has made the promotion of health and wellness a top priority for Dartmouth from the beginning of her tenure. In October 2023, Dartmouth launched Commitment to Care, a strategic plan to support student mental health. 

Now Mark Reed, the interim medical director of Health and Wellness, has been named associate vice president and chief health and wellness officer, effective July 1. 

“Dr. Reed has been building bridges to support this community’s health for many years,” says Jennifer Rosales, senior vice president for community and campus life and chief student affairs officer, to whom the role reports. “This appointment reflects both his leadership and Dartmouth’s ongoing commitment to cultivating a healthy community as we begin to shape the next chapter of Commitment to Care.”

“We are at a unique time at Dartmouth when there is strong alignment throughout our entire community—senior leadership, students, faculty, staff, parents, alumni—on the critical importance of mental health and wellness. This starts with President Beilock, who has made this one of her top priorities,” says Reed, a practicing psychiatrist and an assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at the Geisel School of Medicine. He has served as director of the Dartmouth Student Health Service since 2015 and as interim medical director since January, when inaugural Chief Health and Wellness Officer Estevan Garcia left to become president and CEO of Dartmouth Health’s Southwestern Vermont Medical Center.

Reed is leading a steering committee to develop the next phase of Commitment to Care, with a focus on expanding health and well-being resources for faculty and staff and demystifying access for all students. He will also continue to oversee the Student Wellness Center and the Health Service and work with staff and faculty.

“What excites me most about this new role is the opportunity it provides to engage with all members of our community to build an environment where our students, staff, and faculty can thrive, and where we also have the skills and resources to help each other when we encounter a bump in the road,” Reed says.

Among recent accomplishments, Reed led the launch of Kind30, a campuswide initiative encouraging members of the community to engage in acts of kindness, which saw 765 participants in its first year. This community effort was informed by his engagement with mental health representatives on the student governments of Dartmouth’s undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools, who were instrumental in involving their peers. 

Additionally, in past years, his team expanded student counseling services, including the establishment of partnerships with teletherapy service Uwill and with Therapists of Color New England.

These and other Commitment to Care initiatives are having a positive impact on student mental health, according to data from the Healthy Minds Study, which shows fewer students at risk for depression and anxiety, and more who feel confident that Dartmouth will support them when they need help. 

Other recent examples of progress:

• In its first year, the Teevens Center for Peak Performance delivered nearly 20 pilot sessions of Dartmouth Peak Performance to more than 330 nonvarsity students, demonstrating the potential to maximize the performance and leadership capacity of every student.
• Arts and Nature Rx, a pilot that supports well-being through arts, culture, and outdoor programming, has referred more than 70 students since January.
• The Dartmouth Hazing Prevention Coalition, a cross-campus initiative, is reviewing campus climate data and identifying areas where community members can better care for one another and build a safer campus climate.
• Dartmouth’s ongoing housing expansion—including the opening of a refurbished Fayerweather Hall later this month, the opening of Russo Hall this fall, and groundbreaking on three additional residence halls—is an investment in living environments that support student wellness and belonging.
• Through the Accessible Dartmouth Initiative and workshops on how to nurture joy in learning, faculty and staff are embracing best-practice pedagogies and pioneering collaborative models to strengthen the community in and out of the classroom. 

Building on this foundation, this summer the Student Health Service will unveil an upgraded website designed to help students more easily find information and resources when they need them. 

As part of the concerted focus on faculty and staff needs, employees will have access to enhanced options for therapy and other services through the Faculty/Employee Assistance Program. A new training module on Community of Care: Mental Health Essentials at Dartmouth will soon launch to provide practical skills for noticing, responding to, and connecting others with mental health support.

Reed, who earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Arizona, moved to Hanover in 1987 to complete his residency in psychiatry at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center. He has been part of the Dartmouth community ever since, serving in many roles including as chief resident in psychiatry, director of medical school education in psychiatry, staff psychiatrist at the Health Service, and director of Counseling and Health Resources (now the Student Wellness Center). 

A former president of the New England College Health Association, Reed has received the American Psychiatry Association Teaching Award and has written and presented regionally and nationally on college mental health and suicide prevention. He currently serves on the American College Health Association Consultation Team, consulting locally, regionally, and nationally on college mental health issues.

“Whether it is helping a student or the community through loss or working with students and the community members to develop programs that enhance mental health and wellness, what I am most proud of are the relationships I have been fortunate enough to develop with our students, staff, faculty, and community members,” Reed says.