Kevin M. Simon, M.D. 2020-2021 REACH Scholar

Kevin M. Simon, M.D., is an ABPN Board-certified psychiatrist. Dr. Simon is completing concurrent fellowship training in child and adolescent psychiatry and addiction medicine at the Boston Children's Hospital / Harvard Medical School. Dr. Simon's is a 2020-2021 REACH (Recognizing and Eliminating disparities in Addiction through Culturally-informed Healthcare) scholar recipient. Dr. Simon completed general psychiatry training in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Morehouse School of Medicine. Kevin graduated from the SIU School of Medicine.

Dr. Simon has received numerous awards in recognition of his service and leadership, including the National Institute of Mental Health research fellowship, National Institute of Drug Abuse-American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Award in Substance Use Disorders, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry Fellowship, and American Psychiatric Association-Public Psychiatry Fellowship.

His work on Health Policy, Poverty, Clinical Engagement and Access to Care has been published in notable journals including Anti-Cancer Drugs, Clinical Psychiatry News, Psychiatric Services, Psychiatric Times, Current Psychiatry and Health Affairs. He has contributed to policy briefs disseminated by The Kennedy Forum and has written a book chapter, Measurement-Based Care in Pediatric Mental Health for Primary Care Providers: A Clinician's Guides. He has been an invited speaker at national conferences, including the Institute on Psychiatric Services Annual Meeting, American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Annual Meeting.

Altha J. Stewart, M.D. Senior Associate Dean for Community Health Engagement, University of Tennessee Health Science Center | Past President, American Psychiatric Association

Altha J. Stewart, M.D. is Senior Associate Dean for Community Health Engagement for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. An Associate Professor and Chief of Social and Community Psychiatry, she is also Director of the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth at the UTHSC. In 2018 she began a one-year term as the 145th President of the American Psychiatric Association, the first African American elected to this position in the 175-year history of the organization.

Prior to joining the faculty at UTHSC, she served as Executive Director of Just Care Family Network, the Memphis/Shelby County System of Care program. A native of Memphis, Dr. Stewart worked for decades as CEO/Executive Director in large public mental health systems in Pennsylvania, New York, and Michigan, overseeing the management and development of programs for persons with mental illness and substance use disorders. She received her medical degree from Temple University Medical School and was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Regis College in 2006 and Doctor of Science from her alma mater, Christian Brothers University in Memphis in 2018.

Dr. Stewart is past president of the Black Psychiatrists of America, the Association of Women Psychiatrists and the American Psychiatric Association Foundation. She is an honorary member of the South African Society of Psychiatrists and received the Memphis Child Advocacy Center Community Advocate Award, the Black Psychiatrists of America Lifetime Achievement Award, the HealthCare Hero – Physician Award from the Memphis Business Journal, and the Annual Africa In April Executive of the Year award.

Read More here.

Aletha Maybank, M.D., M.P.H. Chief Health Equity Officer and Group Vice President, American Medical Association

Aletha Maybank, M.D., M.P.H. recently joined the American Medical Association (AMA) in April 2019 as their inaugural Chief Health Equity Officer and Group Vice President. Her role is to embed health equity in all the work of the AMA and to launch a Health Equity Center.

Prior to this in 2014, Dr. Maybank became an Associate Commissioner, and later a Deputy Commissioner, and launched the Center for the Health Equity, a new division in the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene geared towards strengthening and amplifying the Health Department';s work in ending health inequities. Under her leadership and in a short amount of time, the health department made great strides in transforming the culture and public health practice by embedding health equity in the health department's work. This work has been recognized and adapted by other City agencies and has even captured the attention of the CDC and WHO.

Prior to this role, she was an Assistant Commissioner in the NYC Health Department over the Brooklyn District Public Health Office, a place-based approach, from April 2009 - 2014. Her Bureau set a precedence DOHMH and created a template for community-driven neighborhood planning. Dr. Maybank also successfully launched the Office of Minority Health as its Founding Director in the Suffolk County Department of Health Services in NY from 2006-2009.

She also teaches medical and public health students on topics related to health inequities, public health leadership and management, physician advocacy, and community organizing in health. Currently, Dr. Maybank serves as President of the Empire State Medical Association, the NYS affiliate of the National Medical Association. In 2012, she co-founded "We Are Doc McStuffins," a movement created by African American female physicians who were inspired by the Disney Junior character Doc McStuffins.

Dr. Maybank holds a BA from Johns Hopkins University, a MD from Temple University School of Medicine, and a MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. She is pediatrician board certified in Preventive Medicine/Public Health.

Danielle Hairston, M.D. Psychiatry Residency Training Director, Howard University School of Medicine | President, APA Black Caucus

Dr. Hairston was raised in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. She attended Rutgers University for her undergraduate education and earned a degree in Biological Sciences. She earned her medical degree at Howard University College of Medicine. Dr. Hairston was Chief Resident for the Department of Psychiatry at Howard University Hospital, where she completed her general psychiatry residency. She went on to become faculty at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, in Baltimore, Md., where she also completed Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry Fellowship. In 2018, Dr. Hairston returned to Howard University College of Medicine as faculty and was recently appointed as the Psychiatry Residency Training Director. She is also a member of the department's newly formed Curriculum Task Force.

Dr. Hairston has served as the Black Psychiatrists of America (BPA) Scientific Program Chair since 2016. She is also APA's Black Caucus' Early Career Representative. Dr. Hairston has also had the opportunity to speak nationally and internationally about the impact of racial trauma and culture on mental health. She is a contributing author to the recently published book, Racism and Psychiatry: Contemporary Issues and Interventions. Her interests include consultation-liaison psychiatry, resident education, minority mental health, cultural psychiatry, and collaborative care.

Thea L. James, M.D. Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine, Boston Medical Center/Boston University School of Medicine | Associate Chief Medical Officer, Vice President of Mission, and Director, Violence Intervention Advocacy Program (VIAP) at Boston Medical Center.

Dr. James has chaired and served on national committees within the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM), served as a moderator, and has given public lectures and talks. She was appointed to the SAEM Women in Academic Emergency Medicine Task Force, is a member of the Boston University School of Medicine Admissions Committee, and in 2009, Dr. James was appointed to the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine, where she presently serves as Chair of the Licensing Committee. Dr. James is the 2008 awardee of the David H. Mulligan Award for public service.

Dr. James' passion is in Public Health both domestically and globally. She is a Supervising Medical Officer on the Boston Disaster Medical Assistance Team, under the Department of Health and Human Services, which has responded to several disasters in the United States and across the globe. She has deployed to post 9/11 in New York City, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, Bam, Iran after the earthquake in 2003, and Port-Au-Prince Haiti after the earthquake of 2010.

For twelve years Dr. James has traveled to Haiti, with colleagues and emergency medicine residents. A graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, James completed an emergency medicine residency at Boston City Hospital, where she was a chief resident.

Ayana Jordan, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine | 2018-2021 ECP Trustee-at-Large, APA Board of Trustees

Dr. Jordan completed an M.D., Ph.D. program at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University in New York City, where she became passionate about serving minority populations. She completed a general adult psychiatric residency at Yale University, where she served as Program-Wide Chief. During residency, Dr. Jordan became interested in treating patients with substance use disorders, given the intense stigma witnessed from other disciplines. Given her dedication to treating addiction, Dr. Jordan completed specialized addiction training at Yale, with a particular interest in using her research background to address clinical questions in the Black community. Currently, Dr. Jordan is an assistant professor at Yale and a physician attending at Connecticut Mental Health Center. She is committed to increasing access to addiction services within minority communities, both nationally and abroad. Dr. Jordan has done research in Sierra Leone, West Africa examining the link between, mental illness, substance use and stigma, and has served as an expert witness discussing these issues.

Walter E. Wilson Jr., M.D., M.H.A Member, APA Council on Minority Mental Health and Health Disparities

Dr. Wilson was born and raised in Brooklyn, N.Y. He conducted his undergraduate work at Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology. He also received Master of Science degrees in both neuropsychology and anatomy from Howard University in 2007 and 2009, respectively. He then went on to attain a Master of Healthcare Administration degree from the University of Minnesota and, subsequently, graduated from the Stony Brook University School of Medicine in 2015.

During medical school, he served as Co-president for the Stony Brook Chapter of the Student National Medical Association, in addition to serving on the National Board of Directors for the Student National Medical Association. He is a National Health Service Corp Scholar and was selected for membership in the Gold Foundation for Humanism in Medicine Honor Society. From 2017-2019, Dr. Wilson served as a SAMHSA/APA Minority Fellow and engaged in a project focused on African American mental health and spirituality, African American mental health and psychiatric training, and the mental health of African American boys, adolescents, and men. He is also currently a member of the Council on Minority Mental Health and Health Disparities of American Psychiatric Association (APA).

Dr. Wilson completed his general adult psychiatry training at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and is currently completing his second-year in the child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. He will start his clinical career this July working for a federally qualified health center in Covington, Ky. His professional goal is to operate at the intersection of mental healthcare treatment, policy, administration, and advocacy for underserved and underprivileged patient populations.

Jeffrey Geller, M.D., M.P.H. President, American Psychiatric Association

Read Dr. Geller's full bio here.

Ebony Dix, M.D. Assistant Professor, Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry

Dr. Ebony Dix is an Assistant Professor at Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. She completed her residency in psychiatry at West Virginia University School of Medicine, and a fellowship at Yale University, School of Medicine.

Chuan-Mei Lee, M.D. Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry, UCSF; Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, USCF Benioff Children's Hospital

Dr. Chuan-Mei Lee received her BA in Human Biology from Stanford University. She then went on to medical school at Harvard and completed her residency in general psychiatry and her fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at UCSF. Additionally, she completed a post-doctoral fellowship in healthcare systems design at Stanford's Clinical Excellence Research Center.

Dr. Lee is currently an Assistant Clinical Professor in Psychiatry at UCSF and works clinically as a child and adolescent psychiatrist at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland. She is also the Associate Director for Research and Program Evaluation at the UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Portal. Her clinical and research interests include integration of mental health services in pediatric primary care and providing access to quality care for vulnerable populations.

Peter Ureste, M.D. Assistant Clinical Professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry

Peter Ureste, MD is an assistant clinical professor at University of California San Francisco (UCSF) in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. He provides inpatient psychiatric care to individuals with serious mental illness at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. He also provides clinical supervision to UCSF medical students and psychiatry residents. Dr. Ureste also serves on multiple committees including the UCSF School of Medicine Admissions Interview Committee, his department's Diversity Committee, and chairs the Latinx Task Force. He also serves as a career advisor and coach in the Bridges Curriculum with medical students.

Michele Reid, M.D., DLFAPA, FACPsych Clinical Assistant Professor Wayne State University Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences l Chief Medical Officer, CNS Healthcare | Task Force Member | APA Trustee-At-Large Board Member

Dr. Reid is a general adult psychiatrist who has worked with underserved populations in community mental health settings for her entire career. She is Chief Medical Officer at CNS Healthcare, a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic, and is Vice-Chair of the Board at Northeast Integrated Health, a Community Mental Health Center in Detroit, Mich.

Dr. Reid is member of the APA Black Caucus and has previously served as an APA NIMH Minority Fellow, Chair of the APA Committee of Black Psychiatrists and a member of the APA Council on Minority Mental Health and Health Disparities. She has served on the APA Assembly as a Area 4 representative for the Michigan Psychiatric Society and on the Reference Committee on Diversity and Health Disparities. She is a past president of the Michigan Psychiatric Society. Dr. Reid is a fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists and is the vice-chair of the Committee on Diversity and Meaningful Inclusion. She is also a member of the Black Psychiatrists of America, Association of Women Psychiatrists, and the American Association of Community Psychiatrists.

Crystal Clark, M.D., M.Sc. Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Obstetrics and Gynecology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

Dr. Crystal T. Clark is board-certified in adult psychiatry with expertise is in mood disorders. She has specific expertise in the treatment of women across the life span and in relation to mental illness impacted by hormonal changes (e.g., pregnancy, postpartum). Dr. Clark is a researcher who has devoted her career to studies focused on the optimization of medication management of bipolar disorder in pregnant and postpartum women. She has been awarded the Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) NIH award, a PhRMA foundation grant, and a career development award from the National Institute of Child Health and Development.

Dr. Clark is committed to educating the next generation of psychiatrists and leading advancements in mental healthcare. She serves as a director of the advanced training fellowship, Women's and Perinatal Mental Health at Northwestern and as the Associate Program Director for general adult psychiatry residency training. She is the president of the international organization, Marcé of North America, an organization which is devoted to improving research, treatment, care, and advocacy for perinatal women with mental illness and their families.

Dr. Clark received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Northwestern University and her Master of Science and Doctor of Medicine from the University of Louisville. She completed her psychiatry training at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Md. She has been a contributor for several media outlets including National Public Radio (NPR), New York Times, Washington Post, Forbes, ABC 7, and CBS.

Gabriel Felix, M.D. APA-APAF Public Psychiatry Fellow 2020-2022 | PGY-2 Adult Psychiatry Resident at Cambridge Health Alliance / Harvard Medical School

Dr. Gabriel Felix is an adult psychiatry resident at Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA)/Harvard Medical School (HMS). He received his bachelor degree from SUNY Binghamton and his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine. He has held multiple leadership positions at regional and national levels including serving as the 55th National President for the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) and as an officer on the Board of Trustees of the National Medical Association (NMA). He is active in multiple organizations and is currently a Public Psychiatry Fellow for the American Psychiatric Association. His clinical interests include psychotherapy, forensic psychiatry, general mental health/well-being, and health disparities in medicine. His other interests include leadership development, health policy, and community engagement. He has been invited to speak locally and nationally on topics including mental health, medical education, health disparities, and leadership.

Anthony Kulukulualani, M.D. APA-APAF Jeanne Spurlock Congressional Fellow, United States Senator Tina Smith | PGY-3 Psychiatry Resident, The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University

Dr. Anthony Kulukulualani graduated Summa Cum Laude from North Carolina State University with a B.S. in Biological Sciences and Plant Biology. After graduating college, he conducted research at the Environmental Protection Agency for two years. He then attended Tufts University School of Medicine and graduated in 2018. He is a third-year psychiatry resident at The Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University (ECU) and currently serves as one of two American Psychiatric Association (APA) Jeanne Spurlock Congressional Fellows. He works as a Health Policy Fellow in the office of the U.S. Senator Tina Smith, where he is able to help shape health policy and legislation in the United States Senate.

Dr. Kulukulualani has held several local, regional and national leadership positions as well as received numerous awards in recognition of his leadership and service. Past leadership positions include National President of the Student National Medical Association (SNMA) as well as serving on the Board of Directors of the SNMA and as a voting member on the Graduate Medical Education Resident Council. Past awards include Intern of the Year and the American Medical Association Foundation Minority Scholars Award. Additionally, Dr. Kulukulualani has previously been awarded the APA SAMHSA Minority Fellowship and APA Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship. He has published articles on his research in peer-reviewed journals and articles about his journey through the medical field in magazines and newsletters.

After completing his fellowship with U.S. Senator Tina Smith, Dr. Kulukulualani plans to return to his adult psychiatry residency program at ECU and likely fast-track into a child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship program. He is passionate about mentoring minority students, teaching, and clinical research. Dr. Kulukulualani plans to pursue a career in academic medicine and hopes to serve in underserved and vulnerable communities.

Michael Mensah, M.D., M.P.H. APA Resident Fellow Member Trustee | Co-Chief Resident, UCLA Department of Psychiatry

Michael Mensah, M.D., M.P.H., is Co-Chief Resident at UCLA Department of Psychiatry, APA Resident Fellow Member Trustee, and Co-Editor of the Race and Mental Health Equity Column in Psychiatric Services. Born in Scranton, PA, he received his AB in philosophy and African American Studies at Princeton University and his MD at the University California, San Francisco Medical School as a PRIME-US student. During medical school, he co-founded UCSF White Coats for Black Lives and won the Zuckerman Fellowship for an MPH from Harvard T.H.Chan School of Public Health. He has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Scientific American, and was recently named one of the Medscape 25 rising stars in medicine. He will join the National Clinicians Scholar Program at Yale University this academic year.

Nicole Pacheco, M.D. APA-APAF SAMHSA Minority Fellow; Chair of the Minority Fellowship Program | PGY-3 Resident, Columbia-New York State Psychiatric Institute Psychiatry Residency Program

Dr. Nicole Pacheco is from Brooklyn, New York. She completed her undergraduate degree at the Macaulay Honors College at Hunter College, where she graduated as Salutatorian and Summa Cum Laude. She then went on to Icahn School of Medicine for medical school. Dr. Pacheco is now a third-year resident at the Columbia-New York State Psychiatric Institute Psychiatry residency program.

Dr. Pacheco's career has focused on improving diversity within medicine. During medical school, she was a president of her school’s SNMA (Student National Medical Association) as well as co-president of SEOM (Students for Equal Opportunity in Medicine); two organizations that strived to support medical students of color. She also co-founded the group CUNYinMedicine, which worked to aid students from the City University Schools in New York learn more about a career in medicine.

Dr. Pacheco has continued similar work within residency. She is currently co-leader of PRDA (Psychiatry Resident Diversity Alliance) and a member of the Columbia Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. Dr. Pacheco is also a SAMHSA/APA Minority fellow and currently serves as chair for the APA MFP (Minority Fellows Program). Through her SAMHSA/APA fellowship, Dr. Pacheco is engaged in various projects including the development of the JJC (June Jackson Christmas) Medical Student Fourth Year Elective program, which sponsors under-represented medical students to complete rotations/research at Columbia University. Dr. Pacheco is also highly involved in education, teaching medical students about structural racism and health inequities.

Sheritta A. Strong, M.D., DFAPA Director of Inclusion, University of Nebraska Medical Center | Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, UNMC College of Medicine

As the Director for Inclusion, Dr. Sheritta A. Strong is the Chief Diversity Officer who is leading the University of Nebraska Medical Center to inclusive excellence. As an award-winning distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, she is an adult psychiatrist UNMC and a leader in medical student education as a Co-Director of the Neurosciences Course in the College of Medicine. She is an Omaha Native and her hometown is where she received her training, including her post-graduate education that consisted of residency at Creighton-Nebraska Psychiatry training program.

In her many roles at UNMC, she is Chair of the Inclusivity Council, the faculty advisor and mentor to G.R.A.D.S., which is an inclusive, campus-wide, peer-mentoring group, a founding member of I.A.M.H.O.M.E. (diverse group of faculty, staff, and students), past faculty board chair and psychiatry director for the UNMC student-run free (S.H.A.R.I.N.G.) clinics and provides psychiatric care at the local community health clinic, The Charles Drew Health Center.

Nationally, Dr. Strong moderated a virtual town hall in 2020 on racism for the Association of Directors of Medical Student Education (ADMSEP), co-led multiple workshops including the topic of microaggressions at the ADMSEP, and she served on a panel for women diversity in medicine at the BraveEnough conference with other nationally well-known speakers. She was a guest on the Growth Edge Leadership podcast to discuss "Quelling Fear Amid Uncertainty." Also, in 2020, she served on a regional panel for the Central Area of the Omaha Chapter Links, Incorporated to discuss ways to cope during the COVID-19 crisis.

Furthermore, Dr. Strong has received several awards locally and nationally including the Urban League of Omaha Health Award, the Omaha Chapter of the National Coalition of Negro Women’s (NCNW) Women in Medicine Award, the UNMC's Alumni Early Career Achievement Award, and the American Psychiatric Association's Nancy C.A. Roeske, M.D. Award.

She is also a member of University of Nebraska's Diversity Officers Collaborative, Nebraska Psychiatric Society, the National Medical Association, the Omaha Chapter of the Links, Inc, and Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. In her spare time, she enjoys nature by walking her dog, attends virtual group dance exercise classes, and spends time with her husband and teenage sons.

Nhi-Ha Trinh, M.D., M.P.H. Director, Psychiatry Center for Diversity Department of Psychiatry Massachusetts General Hospital | Associate Director, Hinton Society, Harvard Medical School (HMS) Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, HMS

Dr. Nhi-Ha Trinh serves as the Director for the Department of Psychiatry Center for Diversity at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Trinh is committed to fostering a more diverse and inclusive academic community and is devoted to educating students, trainees, staff, and faculty in cultural sensitivity and humility to both improve patient care, the hospital workplace culture, and the medical learning environment. Dr. Trinh completed residency training in Adult Psychiatry at the Mass General/McLean Adult Psychiatry Training Program and a clinical fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, and has served as faculty at MGH since 2007.