Alexander Cole, M.D.

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Dr. Cole is assistant professor of psychiatry and a member of the Department of Psychiatry's interventional psychiatry service.  His clinical focus is on the evaluation and treatment of acutely ill psychiatric patients currently in the inpatient setting as well as treatment-resistant patients for whom transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), ketamine-based treatments (e.g., Spravato), and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are being considered. Prior to joining the interventional psychiatry service, he worked as an inpatient psychiatrist and served as medical director of the inpatient psychiatric unit at William P. Clements University Hospital.

Dr. Cole was born and raised in the Dallas metroplex. He graduated magna cum laude from Baylor University, majoring in biochemistry. While at Baylor, he was an elected member of the Student Senate, became chapter president of the Baylor chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a national coed service fratnernity, and served as a supplemental instruction leader for the introductory chemistry sequence for science majors.

He attended medical school at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. At Pritzker, he graduated on the medical education track, served as a teaching assistant for multiple first- and second-year courses, served as an educational consultant at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and was a member of the school's admissions committee. He served as co-president of Pritzker's Adolescent Substance Abuse Program, teaching middle school students about the function of the human body and the effects of drug use on physical health.

He returned to Dallas for his internship and psychiatry residency at UT Southwestern Medical Center/Parkland Health and Hospital System. During residency, he was an American Psychiatric Association Leadership Fellow, American College of Psychiatrists Psychiatry Resident-in-Training Exam (PRITE) Fellow, and a member of the editorial board of The American Journal of Psychiatry Residents' Journal. He was awarded the Outstanding Resident Contribution to Medical Student Education award as a second-year resident and graduated on the residency program's educator track. He served as chief resident of psychiatry and chair of the Chief Residents' Council at UT Southwestern during his final year of residency training.

Dr. Cole's clinical interests include the evaluation and treatment of mood disorders, psychotic disorders, and substance use disorders. In addition to his work at Clements University Hospital, he works on the psychiatric emergency service at Parkland Memorial Hospital. He is involved in the education of medical students, residents, and other mental health trainees and serves as the course director for the psychopharmacology course for second-year doctoral psychology students, the Frontiers in Medicine course for fourth-year medical students, and is a member of the Medical Education Curriculum Committee for the medical school. He is also a treating psychiatrist, owner, and founder of a private practice in Plano.