C. Freeman, M.D., M.B.A.

Candidate for 2023 Secretary

A Message from the Candidate

Biography

C. Freeman, M.D., M.B.A., FAPA is an adult and geriatric psychiatrist with diverse experiences as a consultant, educator, and leader. After training in both internal medicine and psychiatry, she began her career as medical director of an inpatient geriatric psychiatry unit that she salvaged from closure. C currently owns and operates her private practice of 24 years in Los Angeles, CA. C is a Climate Health Organizing Fellow at Cambridge Health Alliance and a Functional Psychiatry fellowship candidate.

C is committed to expanding access in under-resourced inner city and rural communities, improving the lives of vulnerable populations, and advancing the physician workforce. Her involvement in residency training began at the University of Southern California/California Hospital family medicine residency program. Later, as assistant program director at Meharry Medical College, she established geriatric psychiatry services with the college’s affiliates and revamped the telepsychiatry program. As founding training director at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, she obtained grant funding to develop telepsychiatry curricula, participated in faculty recruitment and development, and became a consultant to the California Future Health Workforce Commission for the expansion of GME. She has published scholarly writings in leadership, health disparities, and environmental health.

C’s leadership and insights into governance and administrative issues have been leveraged by APA leaders past and present. C has served the APA as a member of the Board of Trustees’ Investment Oversight Committee, 2018-2024; Area 6 Representative, 2021-2024; Assembly Rules Committee, 2021-2023; Board of Trustees’ Parliamentarian, 2021-2022; member, President-elect Advisory Group; and chair of the Population Variables subgroup, Presidential Taskforce on Assessment of Psychiatric Bed Needs, 2020-2021.

C has additionally served as a past president of the Los Angeles County Medical Association (2018-2019), Ethnic Minority Section Trustee of the California Medical Association (2015-2022), liaison to the CMA Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs, and treasurer of the National Medical Association (2010-2016). At NMA, she established the Frances Cress Welsing, M.D. Memorial Lecture.

As a community educator, C has been a consultant on the California Reducing Disparities Project Statewide Planning Workgroup for African Americans, National Minority AIDS Education and Training Center, and LAPD Consent Decree Mental Illness Project – Evaluation of LAPD Training, Policies and Procedures Regarding Police Contacts. C created trainings for first responders, nursing staff, and Adult Protective Services.

An avid believer in enjoying life while living, C enjoys laughing uncontrollably, playing golf, and catching every sunset that she can.

Education

• Bachelor of Science, Howard University
• Doctor of Medicine, Howard University
• Internal Medicine-Psychiatry Residency, University of Virginia
• Master of Business Administration, Pepperdine University
• Climate Health Organizing Fellowship, Cambridge Alliance (current)
• Functional Psychiatry Fellowship, Psychiatry Redefined (current)

Awards and Honors

• Young Physicians Section Young at Heart Award. California Medical Association (2022)
• Keynote Speaker. Seventh Annual Homecoming. Mt. Horem Baptist Church, Houston, Texas (2020)
• Keynote Address. Commencement Ceremony Class of 2019. American University of Health and Science, Long Beach, CA (2019)
• National Medical Fellowships Distinguished Alumni Award, Los Angeles, CA (2019)
• Los Angeles County Medical Association Physician Leadership and Excellence in Healthcare Award (2019)
• Keynote Address. White Coat Ceremony Class of 2022. Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, CA (2018)
• Rose Talbot Bullard Award, Woman Physician Champion and Trailblazer, Los Angeles County Medical Association Woman Physicians’ Action Committee, Celebration of Women in Medicine (2018)
• Ethnic Leadership Award, Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations, California Medical Association Foundation (2017)

Endorsements

• Altha J. Stewart, M.D.
  Senior Associate Dean for Community Health Engagement;
  Director, Division of Public and Community Psychiatry;
  Director, Center for Youth Advocacy and Well-Being.
  University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN
• Eliot Sorel, M.D.
  Founding Editor in Chief Global Mental Health and Psychiatry Review
  Clinical Professor Global Health, Health Policy & Management, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
  School of Medicine & School of Public Health The George Washington University
• Sarah Y. Vinson, M.D.
  Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry and Pediatrics
  Interim Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science
  Morehouse School of Medicine
• Maria T. Lymberis, M.SD.
  Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Honorary, UCLA School of Medicine
  Founding President Psychiatric Education & Research Foundation
  Founder & Past President Hellenic American Psychiatric Association
• Napolean Higgins, M.D.
  Private Practice
  CEO & Founder Bay Pointe Behavioral Health Service
  Executive Director Black Psychiatrists of America
• Ronald C. Thurston, M.D., MSP
  Founding President, Psychiatric Physicians Alliance of California
  Past Trustee, California Medical Association
• Cassandra F. Newkirk, M.D., MBA
  Chief Medical Officer, Wellpath
• Heather Silverman, M.D.
  Private Practice, Santa Monica CA
  Secretary. Los Angeles County Medical Association
• Natalie Umesi, M.D., MBA
  Psychiatry Resident
  Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center