Susan Maixner, M.D.

Clinical Associate Professor
Co-Director, Geriatric Psychiatry Program
Director, Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship

Biography

Susan Maixner, M.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program Director and the director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Section. She is triple board certified in general psychiatry, geriatric psychiatry and hospice and palliative medicine. She has been on faculty at the University of Michigan since 1999.

Dr. Maixner provides direct clinical care and education of patients and care partners at Michigan Medicine’s Geriatrics Center and Huron Valley PACE. She is the facilitated peer networking supervisor for the hospice and palliative medicine fellowship and has provided psychiatric consultation to Arbor Hospice. She is actively involved with educational initiatives through the Michigan Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the Rinne Lewy Body Dementia Initiative.

As a clinician-educator, Dr. Maixner is passionate about teaching and delivering patient and family centered care of complex behavioral and psychiatric symptoms emerging in aging, neurodegenerative illnesses, frailty, and dementia. These behavioral and psychiatric symptoms often are more painful and functionally impairing than physical symptoms. Approaches to decrease suffering and maximize functioning include:

  • Identifying resilience
  • Patient and family education
  • Evaluating for medical mimics producing psychiatric symptoms
  • Medication review and simplification
  • Judicious use of medications when indicated
  • Counseling
  • ID of strategic environment adaptations to allow a person to thrive.

Dr. Maixner has a national presence in geriatric psychiatry education, and has been awarded the American Psychiatric Society’s Nancy C.A. Roeske Medical Student Teaching Award.

Areas of Interest

  • Geriatric mental health issues
  • Dementia and behavioral disturbances
  • Neurodegenerative disorders: Alzheimer, Lewy body and Parkinson cognitive and behavioral changes
  • Palliative medicine and psychiatry
  • Peer wellness interventions for mental health
  • Mental Health Integration in Huron Valley PACE

Credentials

  • M.D., 1993, University of Nebraska

Published Articles or Reviews

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