Julie Rand Dorney, MD
ABOUT
Dr. Dorney is a board certified forensic psychiatrist, who has practiced psychiatry for approximately 27 years. She is a founding partner of Peachtree Psychiatric Professionals, a private practice established in 1996 in Atlanta. Since 2012, Dr. Dorney has served as co-medical director with Dr. Huber for Peachtree DBT and has been intensively trained in DBT. Beginning in 2019, she and Dr. Huber began co-directing the Peachtree Cognitive Center, a center designed for assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, insomnia, ADHD and other cognitive disorders. Dr. Dorney integrates behavioral therapy into psychiatric medical treatment to optimize treatment response for mood, anxiety and ADHD disorders.
Dr. Dorney is a native Arkansan and moved to Atlanta in 1989. She graduated from the University of Arkansas in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry and was Phi Beta Kappa. She graduated from medical school at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1989. She completed general psychiatric residency training in 1993 at Emory University School of Medicine, where she was chief resident. She completed forensic psychiatry fellowship training at Emory in 1995 and was the first forensic fellow in the department. Dr. Dorney has extensive academic experience, including serving as an instructor and clinical assistant professor through the Emory Department of Psychiatry between 1993 and 1996 while working as an inpatient psychiatrist and consultation liaison psychiatrist at Emory University Hospital. She has continued to serve as adjunct faculty for the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Emory University School of Medicine, where she is currently Adjunct Associate Professor. Dr. Dorney is a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and has additional board certification in forensic psychiatry.
Since 2000, Dr. Dorney has served as assistant director of forensic training for the Grady Psychiatry and Law Service. Her forensic career has consisted of assessing both civil (medical malpractice, prisoners’ rights, psychiatric disability, workers’ compensation, fitness for duty, guardianship, and testamentary capacity issues) and criminal (competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility, civil commitment, sentencing, competence to waive Miranda rights, and risk/threat assessments) cases and testifying as an expert witness. From 1992-1998, she treated inmates at the DeKalb County Jail and supervised forensic fellows at the jail. Between 1996-2008, she was employed as a forensic psychiatrist for Forensic Services at Georgia Regional Hospital, where she evaluated and treated to restore to competency over 2000 defendants for competency to stand trial, civil commitment, and criminal responsibility. She also treated Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity acquittees and participated in conditional release planning and proceedings. Since 2008, she has continued to consult and testify in state, federal and capital cases. She continues to lecture and present to visiting students and Emory medical students, residents and fellows on topics related to forensic psychiatry.
Dr. Dorney is a member of the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, Georgia Psychiatric Physicians Association, and the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. She has been involved in various hospital committees over the years and currently is active as a member of the Emory Adjunct Faculty Workgroup. She also is a member of the Suicidology Committee for the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Regarding community involvement, she is actively involved in her church. She and Dr. Huber formed a free clinic in 2005 to support the psychiatric needs of victims of Hurricane Katrina. In 2017, Dr. Dorney and members of Peachtree Psychiatric Professionals created Community Support After Suicide, a postvention support network for families who have lost loved ones to suicide. She and the Peachtree DBT staff and volunteers have created an outreach community model of support for those in the Atlanta area who have suffered from suicide loss.
In her spare time, she enjoys watching SEC sports and the Atlanta Falcons with her friends and family. She enjoys her dogs and visiting the Florida and Georgia beaches.
