Candidate for 2025 Secretary

Biography

Eric Williams, M.D., is a child and adolescent psychiatrist, Associate Dean of Student Affairs, and Associate Professor of Neuropsychiatry and Behavioral Science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia, where he did both his residency and fellowship. His current clinical practice consists of serving on an ACT team for the past 13 years, telepsychiatry, and a small private practice. Prior to his current roles, he worked in the settings of juvenile justice, child and adolescent sexual trauma, college mental health, inpatient adolescent, an outpatient adolescent autism clinic, and as core clinical faculty at the university.

Dr. Williams has served on standardized question-writing editorial boards since 2003, including the PRITE, FOCUS, USMLE, and ABPN, and has applied those experiences to medical education and contributions to articles on question writing and to psychiatry review books, most recently the latest iteration of the Kaplan & Sadock study guide and self-examination text.

His leadership roles in the APA include serving as chair of the SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Selection Committee (2023-present), the Scientific Program Committee (2022-2024), the Membership Committee (2019-2021) and the Assembly ECP Committee (2008-2009). In the South Carolina Psychiatric Association, he has held the positions of President, Vice-President, Public Affairs Liaison, and Newsletter Editor, and is currently an Executive Board Member. He has also held several leadership roles in the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and its South Carolina regional organization, and the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Williams is passionate about mentorship, especially of medical students, residents, and fellows, both professionally and extramurally through his involvement in the APA and other organizations. He also believes in the value of advocacy and has participated in both national and state advocacy events, bringing medical students and residents with him to meetings with legislators.

He has taught group fitness classes for 23 years and enjoys board games, cruising, and economics podcasts.

Education

• Child and Adolescent Fellowship, University of South Carolina School of Medicine/Palmetto Health Alliance (2005)
• General Psychiatry Residency, University of South Carolina School of Medicine/Palmetto Health Alliance (2003)
• M.D., Wake Forest University School of Medicine (2000)
• B.A., Psychology, Wake Forest University (1996)

Awards and Honors

• APA Jeanne Spurlock Minority Fellowship Achievement Award (2024)
• Lifetime Achievement Award for service to the South Carolina APA District Branch and South Carolina AACAP Regional Organization (2024)
• Alpha Omega Alpha (2019)
• Chairman’s Award (2011) Teacher of the Year Award (2007)
• Child Psychiatry Resident of the Year Award (2005)
• Child Psychiatry Medical Student Educator Award (2005)
• American College of Psychiatry Child PRITE Fellow (2004)
• Palmetto Health Alliance Resident of the Year (2003)
• American Psychiatric Association AstraZeneca Minority Fellow (2002)