M. Lynn Crismon is the Behrens Centennial Professor of Pharmacy and professor of psychiatry at The University of Texas at Austin and past dean and James T. Doluisio Regents Chair of the College of Pharmacy.
Before joining the faculty at the University of Texas, Crismon was a commissioned officer and served as deputy chief of pharmacy at the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Indian Hospital in Winslow, Ariz. He also held pharmacy leadership positions at Austin State Hospital and the Healthcare Rehabilitation Center in Austin, Texas.
Crismon’s research has focused on improving the pharmacotherapy of adults and children with severe mental disorders. He developed and served as director of an ASHP accredited residency in psychiatric pharmacy practice in collaboration with Austin State Hospital, the Texas Department of State Health Services, and Seton Health Network. The program was one of the oldest continuously operating, accredited psychiatric pharmacy residency programs in the country.
He was one of the lead investigators in the Texas Medication Algorithm Project and the Children's Medication Algorithm Project and helped develop psychotropic prescribing parameters for youth in Texas foster care. He served as a consultant for federal, state, and local government entities, including the Healthcare Financing Administration, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health, the Texas Attorney General, Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation, and the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services.
He served as a member of the National Academy of Medicine Committee that developed the 2019 consensus report Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-Being. The report received the American College of Healthcare Executives’ 2021 James A. Hamilton Book Award.
He has published over 260 articles, chapters, or handbooks. He has served as a reviewer for several scholarly journals, including AJHP, The Lancet, Journal of Behavioral Health Services, and Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.
Crismon has a long record of service to the profession, including serving as the current chair of the ASHP Foundation Research Advisory Council. His ASHP service also includes terms as a member of the Commission on Goals and the Deans Advisory Council, Texas delegate in the ASHP House of Delegates, and a chair of the ASHP taskforce to recognize psychiatric pharmacy as a specialty by the Board of Pharmaceutical Specialties (BPS). He is past chair of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) Council of Deans, a past AACP board member, past member of the American College of Clinical Pharmacy (ACCP) Board of Regents and the ACCP Research Institute Board of Trustees, and the first chair of the BPS Council on Psychiatric Pharmacy.
He earned his B.S. in pharmacy from The University of Oklahoma and his doctor of pharmacy degree from a joint program of The University of Texas Austin and University of Texas Health - San Antonio. He completed a pharmacy practice residency at the USPHS Gallup Indian Medical Center and a psychiatric pharmacy residency at The University of Texas.