SPS member profile: Jenny L. Boyer, MD

Jenny L. Boyer, MD, JD, PhD

Chair, Senior Physicians Section Governing Council 

Specialty: Psychiatry 

Location: Norman, Oklahoma 

I am ABPN board certified in general psychiatry, focusing on outpatient care and serving as a full-time telemedicine staff psychiatrist at the Beckley, West Virginia Veterans Administration. I am a member of the American College of Psychiatry. 

For a portion of my career, I served as an associate clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. I was medical director of the inpatient psychiatric service and supervised psychiatric residents and medical students. Prior to medical school, I worked as a licensed clinical psychologist in the same Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences where I served legal offenders and was an expert witness in trial cases. Thus, I was an administrator and clinician before I went to medical school in my mid-forties. As a psychiatrist I worked as deputy chief and acting chief of mental health within the Muskogee Oklahoma Veterans Administration for nearly a decade before transitioning to telemedicine, serving West Texas VA and then West Virginia VA. 

I have been active in service to the Oklahoma Psychiatric Physicians Association serving as president and now as legislative chair. I have been President of Tulsa Medical Society and on the Board of Trustees for the Oklahoma State Medical Association. I served on the state licensure board for Oklahoma and was also a Delegate to the AMA. I have been on the Board of Trustees for the American Psychiatric Association for eight years and served as Speaker of the Assembly of the APA. I now serve as a delegate to the APA Assembly from Senior Psychiatrists.  

I have written policies for many medical organizations. I serve as an associate editor for the Journal of the Oklahoma State Medical Association. I have written professional articles and given presentations nationally. Overall, I have enjoyed leadership positions in many arenas, but I am most proud of my work in my local Oklahoma community where I have been educated and served both physicians and patients.  

Q: What inspired you to pursue a career in medicine?  

A: I had a patient die when I was a psychologist as I was not educated in general medical disorders. I had a patient die of a brain tumor while I was doing cognitive psychotherapy. 

Q: What is the aspect of work that means the most to you? 

A: Service to others whether patients or my fellow physicians.

Q: What advice would you give those interested in pursuing a career in medicine?  

A: Make up your own mind about everything. Do not be influenced by those who advise you to do things you do not love. Stand for something when you are in leadership. Volunteer for most opportunities. Consider helping those who have the most need and challenge yourself intellectually. Value above all else the relationships you make. Work at keeping them. Forgive yourself and others daily and you will be happy. 

Have information about SPS members doing great work? Email us at [email protected].