Janeta Tansey MD, PhD | Psychiatry | Coaching

Need fast-track to Dr. Tansey’s specific services? Go to: Tansey Clinics

Dr. Janeta Tansey is Principal and CEO at Virtue Medicine since 2009, with medical board-certification in Psychiatry (ABPN), a Fellow with the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow with the Institute of Coaching, McLean Affiliate Harvard Medical School, and a current Fulbright Specialist (2021-2025).

A practitioner in mind-body medicine, existential analysis and meaning-centered interventions, she is a Diplomate Clinician and Teaching Faculty in the Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy.

Dr. Tansey has served as clinical and adjunct medical faculty at the University of Iowa since 1999, with leadership in medical education, mental health, and bioethics. In 2008, she received the University of Iowa Collegiate Teaching Award, the university’s highest honor for educators. In addition to her M.D. from Loyola Stritch School of Medicine, she has a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa Department of Religious Studies. Her doctoral thesis investigated the moral emotions of empathy and shame as phenomena of ethical relation, drawing from the works of Buber and Levinas. She received the NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award in 2011, one of fifteen U.S. psychiatrists to receive that year’s commendation.

In partnership with colleagues and institutions around the country, Dr. Tansey continues scholarly activities and collaborations that invite the strengthening of authenticity, meaningfulness, and virtue in professional life, leadership and organizational communication.

Browse Written Scholarship Archive

Professional History
• Creighton University School of Arts and Sciences, Omaha, NE — 1988 – 1991
• Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE — 1991 – 1993
• M.D., Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine, Maywood, IL — 1993 – 1995
• Resident and Chief Resident, University of Iowa Department of Psychiatry — 1995 – 1999
• Clinical Faculty, University of Iowa Department of Psychiatry, Iowa City, IA — 1999 – 2009
• Diplomate in Psychiatry, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology — 2001 – 2021, renewed 2021 – 2031
• Ph.D., University of Iowa Graduate College, Department of Religious Studies, Iowa City, IA — 2008
• Principal, Virtue Medicine P.C. — 2009 – present
• Medical Director of Hospital Psychiatry, Mercy Iowa City Hospital — 2009 – 2011
• Hospital and Consultation-Liaison Staff Psychiatrist, Mercy Iowa City Hospital — 2009 – 2014
• Bioethicist, Palliative Care Service, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics — 2009 – 2014
• Adjunct Professor, University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine – 2009 – 2022 (Psychiatry); 2022 – present (Neurosurgery)
• Reiki Practitioner Certification, Levels I-III — 2010-2011
• Diplomate, American Board of Integrative and Holistic Medicine (ABIHM) — 2013/permanent
• Visiting Assoc. Professor, Center for Excellence in Ethics, Humanities and Spirituality, Texas Tech University Health Sciences — 2014 – 2016
• Diplomate, ABPS Board Certification in Integrative Medicine — 2014 – 2021
• Board Certified Coach (TM), with specialty designation in Executive/Corporate/Business/Leadership Coaching, Center for Credentialing and Education LLC — 2017 – 2028
• Post-graduate Training, Integrative Meaning Therapy (Dr. Paul Wong) – 2017
• Associate Certified Coach, International Coaching Federation — 2018 – 2024
• Academic Associate and Diplomate Clinician, Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy — 2018, 2019
• Teaching Faculty, Viktor Frankl Institute of Logotherapy, 2019 – present
• Fellow, American Psychiatric Association — 2019 – present
• Fulbright Specialist — 2021 – 2025
Sampling of Scholarly Activities
- Tansey, J. Dister, C. “Disgust, ‘Gut-Feelings’ and Existential Trust in Franciscan Discernment,” Franciscan Connections Conference, Virtual, 6/2022
- Keynote, Culturally Responsive Health Care in Iowa Conference: “Justice Made Faceless: The Ethical Violence of Assimilation, Invisibility, and the Model Minority Myths,” Iowa City, 6/2022
- Plenary Speaker, North American Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology: “Finding Joy in Medicine’s Paradoxes of Caring for Self and Others,” Chicago, 4/2022
- Parks, E. Tansey J. forthcoming “Listening Play as Disability Gain: Dialogue and Creativity in a Pandemic’s Disabling.” Listening: Journal of Communication Ethics, Religion, and Culture, in press, 2022
- Tansey JF. Parks, E. “Privileged Professionalisms: Using Co-Cultural Communication to Strengthen Inclusivity in Professionalism Education and Community Formation.” Ethics and Behavior, 2021-07-01, 1-18. DOI: 10.1080/10508422.2021.1925118
- Speaker, Daseinanalysis International Conference: ” ‘Woke’ to Dasein: A Psychiatrist’s Short Musings on Epistemic Humility,” 11/2021
- Speaker, American Dental Education Conference: “From Morbidity and Mortality to Meaning and Mindfulness: Building Resilience and Professionalism,” 10/2021
- Paper, International Network for Personal Meaning Conference: “M&M Rounds 2.0 for Distress-Management, Resilience, and Professionalism in Professional Practices,” 8/2021
- Paper, co-authored with Elizabeth Parks, International Communication Association Conference: “Hopeful Metaphors in the Midst of COVID-19: Making Meaning in Dialogue About Disability and Ethics,” 5/2021, and in press
- Tansey, J. “Existential Listening as Ethical Distancing: The Meaningfulness of Imposterism, Fear and Shame in Relation.” Listening: Journal of Communication Ethics, Religion, and Culture, 2021.
- Paper, Academy for Professionalism in Health Care: “Privileged Professionalisms: Using Co-Cultural Communication to Address Vulnerabilities, Competencies, and Inclusiveness in Medical Education Professionalism Training,” 10/2020
- Keynote Address: “Leadership in Paradox: Framing Resilience as a Counter-Narrative.” Chief of Staff/Medical Directors Meeting, University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 12/2019.
- Visiting Professor, Department of Communication, Colorado State University, 11/2019
- Panel Presentation: ” ‘Existential Listening’ in Types of Listening as Constitutive Phenomena of Dialogue.” International Association of Dialogue Analysis Conference, Milwaukee, 7/2019.
- Lecture: “Physician, Heal Thyself: An Integrative Curriculum for Burnout and Demoralization in Medicine.” Diplomate Thesis Presentation, World Congress on Viktor Frankl’s Logotherapy, Dallas, TX, 6/2019
- Faculty Workshop: “Tackling Demoralization in Academic Medicine.” University of Iowa Department of Pediatrics, 5/2019
- Grand Rounds: ” ‘You Can’t Teach Professionalism’ and other fictions: Finding Meaning in Medicine.” University of Iowa Department of Pediatrics, 5/2019
- Grand Rounds: “Ethical Cures for Burnout in Medicine.” Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center at Amarillo, 3/2019
- Medical Student Class Series: M&M Rounds 2.0: Mindfulness and Meaning Training, Visiting Professor, Texas Tech University Health Sciences, Center of Excellence in Ethics and Medical Humanities, 2018-2019
- Ethics Workshop: “Social Work Ethics in Theory and Practice: Finding Equilibrium in Moral Conflict.” University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, 6/2018
- Paper: “Response-Ability to Fatalism, Fanaticism, and Tranquilization: A Conversation with Viktor Frankl’s The Doctor and the Soul” Annual Conference on Medicine and Religion. St. Louis. 4/2018
- Panel Presentation: “Coaching to Physician Wellness.” Academy for Professionalism in Health Care, Chicago. 3/2017
- Honors College Commencement Keynote Address, University of Illinois in Chicago, 5/2016
- Erwin, CE, Tansey, J: Overview of Ethics in Psychiatry. (book chapter) in Black, D and Gunter, T (eds.): Scientific American Psychiatry [online]. Decker Intellectual Properties. July 2017. DOI: 10.2310/7800.13070.
- Paper: “Seeking the Sacred as an Act of Idolatry: Levinas, Transcendence, and an Argument for the Desacralization of Medicine.” Annual Conference on Medicine and Religion, Houston. 3/2016
- Lecture: “Ethics at the End of Life.” Symposium on Advanced Wound Care and Wound Healing Society Meeting, San Antonio, TX. 5/2015
- Paper: “Not Empathy, But Thou Shalt Not Kill: A Dialogue Between Buber and Levinas and its Implications for Medical Ethics.” Annual Conference on Medicine and Religion, Boston. 3/2015
- Grand Rounds: “Optimizing Spiritual Fluency: Assessment and Treatment of Demoralization.”
  Texas Tech Dept of Psychiatry, Lubbock, TX. 3/2015
- Lecture: “End of Life Care: Ethical and Existential Issues for Psychiatrists.”
  Iowa Psychiatric Society Annual Meeting, Iowa City. 11/2014
- Grand Rounds: ” Addressing Demoralization in Medicine.”
  University of Iowa Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Iowa City. 10/2014.
- Public Lecture: “Integrative Medicine and Mental Health Care.”
  National Alliance for Mental Illness Johnson County Chapter, Iowa City. 2/2014
- Faculty Workshop: “Maintaining and Modeling Community in the Face of Challenge.”
  St. Ambrose University, Davenport, IA. 1/2014