Scientific Program Lecturers

Curtis Adams, M.D., was born and raised in Baltimore, MD. He completed his undergraduate and medical studies at Howard University in Washington, DC. He went on to train in general adult psychiatry at Hahenemann University in Philadelphia, PA. Dr. Adams joined the faculty of the department of psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1998 in the division of community psychiatry. He is the senior psychiatrist at a community mental health center and is an attending psychiatrist on their PACT team. He also provides biweekly consultation and training to Harbor City Unlimited, a psychosocial rehabilitation program. Dr. Adams also serves as the vice president of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists. He is a member of the Psychiatry and Community Committee of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

Dr. Iqbal "Ike" Ahmed, M.D., is a faculty member of the Department of Psychiatry at the Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu. He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, and a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Geriatric Medicine at John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM), University of Hawaii. He is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a Fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College Psychiatrists, England.. He is a Past-President of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. He is the Vice-Chair of the APA Scientific Program Committee.

Carl C. Bell, M.D., is Staff Psychiatrist at Jackson Park Hospital's Inpatient Consultation Liaison Service. He is Professor Emeritus at the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine at the UIC. He has published 600+ articles and chapters, is author of The Sanity of Survival and Fetal Alcohol Exposure in the African-American Community, and had an international NIMH R-01. He is co-editor of Family and HIV/AIDS and Psychiatric Clinics of North America. He has received numerous awards from NMA, BPA, Meharry, APA, ACPsych, NCCHC, AAPA. AACP, AASP, and NCCHC.

Elissa P. Benedek, M.D., is adjunct clinical professor, department of psychiatry, at the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Dr. Benedek's career in the field of forensic psychiatry has spanned 50 years, with a focus on research and policies impacting child abuse, trauma, and neglect and ethics in psychiatry. She has been an active member of the American Psychiatric Association, becoming the second woman president in 1990. Dr. Benedek also served on the APA Board of Trustees. For these and other contributions to the field of psychiatry, Dr. Benedek was recognized as a 50-year distinguished life fellow of the APA in 2015. Dr. Benedek was also the 2013 recipient of the Alexandra Symonds Award, given by the APA and the Association of Women Psychiatrists, and the 2003 APA Guttmacher Award for her published works on forensic psychiatry.

Carissa Cabán-Alemán, M.D., is a board-certified community psychiatrist and a graduate of the public psychiatry fellowship at Columbia University. She is an assistant professor at the college of medicine of Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, FL, and the medical director for behavioral health of the FIU Student Health Center. She is a board member of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists and CrearConSalud, Inc., a non-profit organization dedicated to mental health education in Puerto Rico. She serves as APA representative to the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health and councilor of the APA Hispanic Caucus. Dr. Cabán-Alemán is also a member of the Climate Psychiatry Alliance and APA Climate Change Caucus. She was a DSM-5 Task Force advisor for the Sleep-Wake Disorders Workgroup. A few of her main interests are addressing social determinants of mental health as a clinician, cultural humility, structural competency, and advocacy within medicine.

Eve Caligor, M.D., is clinical professor of psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and director of the psychotherapy division at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. A master teacher and educator, she is first author of Psychodynamic Therapy for Personality Pathology: Treating Self and Interpersonal Functioning (2018), and Handbook of Dynamic Psychotherapy for Higher Level Personality Pathology (2007), both books published by American Psychiatric Publishing. Dr. Caligor's clinical and research expertise is in the evaluation and psychodynamic treatment of personality pathology. She has published widely on these topics with her colleagues at the Personality Disorders Institute of the Weill Cornell Medical College, where they have developed the Structured Interview for Personality Organization (STIPO), a semi-structured interview evaluating personality pathology within the framework of object relations theory.

James Comer, MD, MPH is the Maurice Falk Professor of Child Psychiatry at the Yale University Child Study Center. In 1968, he founded the Comer School Development Program that integrates child development and academic learning; rather than focus on academic learning primarily. This work has improved the educational environment and learning in more than 1,000 schools throughout the U.S. He has authored numerous publications and received many awards for his work, including 49 honorary degrees. In 2014 President Barack Obama appointed Dr. Comer to his Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence.

King Davis is professor of research in the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. He was director of the Institute for Urban Policy Research & Analysis and holder of the Mike Hogg Endowed Chair in urban affairs from 2011 to 2014. He served as Executive Director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health from 2003-2008. He held an endowed chair in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia School of Medicine 1985-87. King was awarded the Ph.D. from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University in 1971.

Esperanza Díaz, M.D., provides teaching and supervision as an Associate Professor at the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, medical director of the Hispanic Clinic, and Associate residency program director. Dr. Dáaz received her M.D. degree from the Javeriana University in Bogotá, Colombia, and finished Psychiatry residency at Yale. She is a psychoanalyst from the Western New England Psychoanalytic Institute. Her research concentrates on adherence to treatment, development of culturally sensitive mental health services to Hispanics and teaching Cultural Psychiatry.

Jennifer I. Downey, M.D., deputy editor of Psychodynamic Psychiatry, is clinical professor of psychiatry at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and faculty member at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. Dr. Downey has conducted research on sexual orientation, Turner syndrome, and mental health effects of infertility in women and was the first investigator to demonstrate that sex hormones in homosexual and heterosexual women do not differ. With Dr. Friedman, she is the author of Sexual Orientation and Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: Sexual Science and Clinical Practice (Columbia University Press, 2008).

Dr. James Ellison, the Swank Foundation Endowed Chair in Memory Care and Geriatrics at Christiana Care in Delaware, provides collaborative care to people with cognitive impairment and behavioral concerns. He trained in psychiatry at MGH, received his MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, and has worked in Emergency Psychiatry, Somatic Therapies, and Geriatric Psychiatry. As Director of Geriatric Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, he developed the Partners Health Care Fellowship in Geriatric Psychiatry. He is a member of the AAGP and APA. He currently serves as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology.

Jacqueline Feldman, M.D., is Professor Emerita, UAB Dept of Psychiatry, and NAMI Associate Medical Director. She served as a federal court monitor for women’s mental health in the Alabama DOC, and the DOJ in its investigation of GA State Hospitals. She is Past President of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists and served on the APF Board. She is Chair of the 2019 APA AM Scientific Program Committee. Dr. Feldman has published and spoken extensively on schizophrenia, dual diagnosis, public policy development, the importance of advocacy, mental health and criminal justice, and recovery. She is Editor-in-Chief of the Community Mental Health Journal.

George Fitchett, D.Min., Ph.D., is Professor, Department of Religion, Health, & Human Values, Rush University Medical Center. He is a certified chaplain, holds a PhD in epidemiology and is a leader in developing a research-informed approach to chaplaincy. With Wendy Cadge (Brandeis University), he co-directs the Transforming Chaplaincy project. He is co-editor of Evidence-based Healthcare Chaplaincy: A Research Reader (2018). With Steve Nolan he has edited two books of chaplain case studies Spiritual Care in Practice (2015) and Case Studies in Spiritual Care (2018).

Dr. Loma Flowers is an educator, both privately and as a voluntary clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCSF where she has received prestigious teaching awards. Her broad clinical experience relates to the relationship between individuality and universality. In 1971, she published Psychotherapy: Black and White, foreshadowing cultural competence. Dr. Flowers' interests converged in the development of an emotional competence curriculum in 1994 working with low income, high potential, low performance high school students, faculty and parents.

Jeffrey L. Geller, M.D., M.P.H., is professor of psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and medical director of Worcester Recovery Center and Hospital, a 290-bed public psychiatric hospital. Dr. Geller has spent his career focusing on the delivery of psychiatric care to those with the greatest needs and fewest resources. Before assuming his current position, Dr. Geller was previously the director of public sector psychiatry at UMMS for 26 years. Dr. Geller has served as a consultant to many U.S. states, the DOJ, and the FBI; worked as an international consultant; and served on the boards of Treatment Advocacy Center, Genesis Club, American Association of Community Psychiatrists, World Federation for Mental Health, and Clubhouse International. Dr. Geller has held positions on the APA Board of Trustees, and as the book review editor and first-person account column editor for Psychiatric Services. Dr. Geller is the author of over 125 articles in refereed journals.

Joshua Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., received his degrees at the University of California, San Francisco, and completed his psychiatry residency at Columbia University. He joined the Columbia faculty in 2004. He became the director of the National Institute of Mental Health in September, 2016. Dr. Gordon's research focuses on the analysis of neural activity in mice carrying mutations of relevance to psychiatric disease. He employs a range of systems neuroscience techniques, including in vivo anesthetized and awake behaving recordings and optogenetics, the use of light to control neural activity. His work has direct relevance to schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, and depression. Dr. Gordon has received several prestigious awards including, most recently, being elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

Steven Grant, Ph.D., is a senior program officer in the division of neuroscience and behavior at the National Institute of Drug Abuse. For nearly two decades, he has been involved in a diverse program of drug abuse research in human neuroscience, genetics, psychopharmacology, cognition, and behavior at NIDA. He spent the first half of his career as an academic researcher in the area of brain electrophysiology, neuropharmacology, and behavior; taught undergraduate courses and graduate courses in neuroscience and neuropharmacology; and supervised Ph.D. and master's degree students. He was instrumental in the development of a program in cognitive neuroscience at NIDA. His studies conducted at the NIDA Intramural Research Program included the first publications of human brain imaging of cue-induced cocaine craving and laboratory-based decision making deficits in cocaine abusers.

Ezra Griffith, M.D., is professor emeritus of psychiatry and African-American studies at Yale University. In 2001, the Morehouse School of Medicine conferred on him the honorary degree, Doctor of Science. Dr. Griffith has published widely in the subdisciplines of forensic psychiatry and cultural psychiatry, with over 140 publications of academic articles, commentaries, and books. He has concentrated his attention most recently on the significance of narrative ethics as a reference point for forensic practitioners and on the place of performative narrative in forensic writing. He is the editor of Ethics Challenges in Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology Practice (Columbia University Press, 2018) and author of Belonging, Therapeutic Landscapes, and Networks (Routledge, 2018). He is chair of the American Psychiatric Association's ethics committee.

Patrice Harris, M.D., M.A., a psychiatrist from Atlanta, Ga., will be the first African-American woman to become AMA president in June 2019. Dr. Harris has diverse experience as a private practicing physician, public health administrator, patient advocate and medical society lobbyist. Active in organized medicine her entire career, Dr. Harris has served on the board of the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and was an APA delegate to the AMA. She has also been a member of the governing council of the AMA Women Physicians Congress, testified before and served on AMA reference committees, and has served on AMA work groups on health information technology, SGR, and private contracting.

Frederick W. Hickling, C.D., B.Sc. (Anat.), M.B.B.S., DM, FRCPsych (UK), FRSM, DLFAPA; educated at University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona; BSc in anatomy St. Thomas' Hospital Medical School, University of London; residency in psychiatry at UWI and the University of Edinburgh. Pioneered cultural therapy in Jamaica in the 1970's; established a private psychiatric research and clinical service in Kingston in the 1980's, and in the 1990's helped to shape policy for African Caribbean Mental Health at North Birmingham Mental Health Services, UK. Head, Section of Psychiatry, UWI Mona, from 2000 to 2006, and Executive Director of the UWI Caribbean Institute of Mental Health and Substance Abuse (CARIMENSA). Appointed Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, UWI in 2011. Elected a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association in 2011, Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists UK in 2011, receiving the Order of Distinction (Commander) by the Government of Jamaica in 2012.

Following military service, Jacob C. Holzer, M.D. completed psychiatry residency at Yale and fellowships in clinical neuroscience and neuropsychiatry. Since completing training, he has provided direct care in neuropsychiatry, psychopharmacology, and geriatric psychiatry, in addition to forensic psychiatry, and has consulted in public and private sectors with attorneys, businesses, and government agencies. His academic focus in forensic psychiatry has included geriatrics, neuropsychiatry, risk management, and forensic mental health aspects of national security.

Valerie B. Jarrett is a senior advisor to the Obama Foundation and Attn and a Senior Distinguished Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School. She also serves on the boards of Ariel Investments, 2U, Lyft, and the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.

Ms. Jarrett was the longest serving Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama. She oversaw the Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs and Chaired the White House Council on Women and Girls. Ms. Jarrett worked throughout her tenure at the White House to mobilize elected officials, business and community leaders, and diverse groups of advocates. She led the Obama Administration’s efforts to expand and strengthen access to the middle class, and boost American businesses and our economy. She championed the creation of equality and opportunity for all Americans, and economically and politically empowering women in the United States and around the world. She oversaw the Administration's advocacy for workplace policies that empower working families, including equal pay, raising the minimum wage, paid leave, paid sick days, workplace flexibility, and affordable childcare, and led the campaigns to reform our criminal justice system, end sexual assault, and reduce gun violence.

Ms. Jarrett has a background in both the public and private sectors. She served as the Chief Executive Officer of The Habitat Company in Chicago, Chairman of the Chicago Transit Board, Commissioner of Planning and Development, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley. She also served as the director of numerous corporate and not-for-profit boards including Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Stock Exchange, Chairman of the University of Chicago Medical Center Board of Trustees, and Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Ms. Jarrett has also received numerous awards and honorary degrees, including TIME's "100 Most Influential People" as well as the Abner J. Mikva Legal Legends Award.

Jarrett received her B.A. from Stanford University in 1978 and her J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School in 1981.

Camara Phyllis Jones, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., is a past president of the American Public Health Association (2015–2016) and a senior fellow at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Jones is a family physician and epidemiologist whose work focuses on naming, measuring, and addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation. She seeks to broaden the national health debate to include not only universal access to high-quality health care, but also attention to the social determinants of health (including poverty) and the social determinants of equity (including racism). As a teacher, her allegories on "race" and racism illuminate topics that are otherwise difficult for many Americans to understand or discuss. She aims through her work to catalyze a national conversation on racism that will mobilize and engage all Americans in a National Campaign Against Racism.

Robert Kohn, M.D., completed his psychiatry residency at Brown University. Since residency his clinical career remains dedicated to geriatric psychiatry. During his tenure as a Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University he founded their geriatric psychiatry fellowship and helped develop geriatric psychiatry services at affiliated hospitals. His academic work is focused on cultural psychiatry, psychiatric epidemiology, and geriatric psychiatry. He has been the director, of the WHO Collaborating Center for Research on Psychiatric Epidemiology and Mental Health. A current project with PAHO/WHO is to develop geriatric psychiatry training programs in Latin America.

Melinda S. Lantz, M.D., is the vice chair and chief of geriatric psychiatry for Mount Sinai Beth Israel and is an associate professor of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is currently serving as the president of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. She is active as a program director for fellowship training and in all areas of geriatric psychiatry practice.

Alan K. Louie, M.D., is Professor, Associate Chair, and Director of Education in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He oversees psychiatric education involving learners across college, medical school, residency, clinical and postdoctoral fellowships, and CME (about 7,000 learners/year). Previously, he was an educator at UCSF for almost 30 years. He serves as Deputy Editor of Academic Psychiatry, a journal devoted to psychiatric medical education, career development, and leadership. He trained at Harvard, Stanford, Univ. of Chicago, and UCSF.

Samantha Meltzer-Brody, M.D., M.P.H., is a reproductive psychiatrist and clinician-scientist who holds the Ray M. Hayworth Distinguished Professorship of Mood and Anxiety Disorders in the Department of Psychiatry, UNC School of Medicine (SOM). She founded and directs the UNC Perinatal Psychiatry Program of the UNC Center for Women's Mood Disorders. She also serves as the Executive Medical Director for the system-wide Well-Being Program of UNC HealthCare and SOM.

Shannon Price Minter is a transgender man and currently serves as the Legal Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, one of our nation's leading legal advocacy groups for LGBT people. He has litigated impact cases across the country on behalf of LGBT parents, employees, students, elders, asylum seekers, prisoners, and health care patients. Minter was lead counsel for same-sex couples in the California marriage equality case and part of the legal team that litigated Obergefell v. Hodges in the U.S. Supreme Court. He has helped pass state laws protecting youth from conversion therapy.

Greer M. Murphy, Jr., M.D., Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine, where his laboratory performed neuroscience and genetics. He was among the first to use microarray genotyping to identify DNA markers for antidepressant medication response and adverse reactions in clinical trials. Later he performed large scale genotyping studies for response to smoking cessation medications. He also has numerous publications on the neurobiology of Alzheimer's disease, and on glial cell neuroimmunology. He currently practices in the inpatient, outpatient, emergency room, and telemedicine settings. He is triple board certified in Psychiatry, Geriatric Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine.

Charles B. Nemeroff, M.D., Ph.D., is a professor of psychiatry and director of the Institute for Early Life Adversity at the University of Texas Dell Medical School in Austin. He is past president of the American College of Psychiatrists and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. His research has focused on the neurobiology of mood and anxiety disorders with a focus on the long-term consequences of child abuse and neglect and how these changes increase vulnerability for psychiatric disorders in adulthood. He has published more than 1,000 research reports and reviews and 15 books. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences (USA).

Patricia A. Newton, M.D., M.P.H., M.A., is the President and CEO of Behavioral Science Management (DBA as Newton-Thoth, Inc.). She is a graduate of the Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) having received her undergraduate degree (BS) in Pre-Medicine the from University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff (UAPB) and a Master's Degree in Molecular Biology from the George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University (Nashville, TN).

John M. Oldham, M.D., is distinguished emeritus professor of psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine, previously holding the Barbara and Corbin J. Robertson, Jr. Endowed Chair for Personality Disorders and serving as senior vice president and chief of staff of the Menninger Clinic. He is secretary general and fellow of the American College of Psychiatrists (ACPsych). In addition, he is past president of the American Psychiatric Association, ACPsych, New York County District Branch of the APA, South Carolina Psychiatric Association, International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders, and Association for Research on Personality Disorders. He is also a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh. Dr. Oldham is editor of the Journal of Psychiatric Practice, joint editor-in-chief of Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, and joint editor of the Journal of Personality Disorders.

Britta Ostermeyer, M.D., M.B.A., is the Paul and Ruth Jonas Chair in Mental Health, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Chief of Psychiatry at OU Medicine, University of Oklahoma. She graduated from Hannover Medical School, Germany and trained in neurology at Baylor College of Medicine followed by a psychiatry residency at The New York State Psychiatric Institute/Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. She completed a forensic psychiatry fellowship at Case Western Reserve University and received her MBA from the University of Tennessee.

Dr. Herbert Pardes is Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and Weill Cornell School of Medicine. He is Executive Vice Chairman of the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital Board and President of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation Scientific Council. Nationally recognized for expertise in medical, education, research and clinical care, he is a vigorous advocate of empathic care for patients and technological innovation in medicine. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and Healthcare System from 1999 to 2011, Vice Pres.

Dr. Daena Petersen is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Community Psychiatry Clinic within the Community and Public Safety Psychiatry Division in MUSC's Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. She currently serves as Chairperson of the APA HIV Psychiatry Steering Committee. Dr. Petersen's professional career began with 20 years of work in community mental health and public health prior to medical training. She received her medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science, her Master of Public Health from The Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Clinical Practice, and her Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Chapman University.

Currently, Dr. Petersen serves vulnerable populations in the Lowcountry including People Living with HIV/AIDS as well as LGBT youth and adults. In partnership with Dr. Cassandra Salgado MUSC's Infectious Diseases Department Directory and Dr. Edward Kantor of Psychiatry Residency Director, MUSC's Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Department, Dr. Petersen as a MUSC Psychiatry Resident and APA Public Psychiatry Fellow spearheaded the first HIV psychiatry project in Charleston. She is currently one of two attending physicians supervising the outpatient MUSC HIV Psychiatry clinic. The program at MUSC's Ryan White outpatient clinic has three objectives: first, to embed psychiatric services in the outpatient HIV clinic in an academic medical center; second, to establish collaborative clinical care between HIV and psychiatry services in the university health system and with community health organizations; and third, to establish an inpatient consult-liaison linkage service for HIV-positive patients with significant psychiatric problems hospitalized for HIV/AIDS-related concerns.

In addition to the development of MUSC's HIV Psychiatry services, Dr. Petersen specializes in gender and sexuality clinical care, particularly for adolescents and young adults. She is currently working with adolescent and adult patients within an outpatient psychiatry clinic for young people who identify as gender variant as well as those questioning their sexual orientation, the only of its kind in the Lowcountry.

Dr. Petersen also serves as an attending physician at Berkeley Community Mental Health Center working with rural adults with serious and persistent mental illness, seeing patients three days per week.

Edmond Pi, M.D., is a Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychiatry at University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine. He is former Medical Director of Department of Mental Health, State of California. Professor Pi is an accomplished researcher in psychiatry and psychopharmacology, particularly cross-cultural aspects. During the past 40 years, Dr. Pi has been very active on the national and international mental health scenes, including President of Association of Chinese American Psychiatrists; Vice President of Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists; Chair of Committee of Asian American Psychiatrists, Rep of Asian-American Caucus, Chair of Minority and Underrepresented (M/UR) Groups, and Member of Assembly Executive Committee of APA. Dr. Pi is a Distinguished Life Fellow of APA and Honorary Fellow of World Psychiatric Association (WPA). Currently, he is a Board Member of WPA representing APA, Zone 2, USA. Dr. Pi is the recipient of the 2009 Asian American (Kun-Po Soo) Award, APA.

Patricia Ryan Recupero, M.D., J.D., is the SVP of Education and Training for Care New England Health System and past President Emerita of Butler Hospital. She is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She holds board certification in Forensic Psychiatry and Addiction Psychiatry. Dr. Recupero is able to combine the professions of medicine and the law to advance mental health. She has been an advocate for law reform for persons with mental illness. She has authored over 30 peer-reviewed articles, numerous book chapters, articles and abstracts, most recently focusing on the impact of cyber technology on the practice of psychiatry.

Kerry J. Ressler, M.D., Ph.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Poitras Chair in Psychiatry and Chief Scientific Officer at McLean Hospital. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in molecular biology from M.I.T., and his M.D., Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School. Dr. Ressler is past-president of the Society for Biological Psychiatry, a previous Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine. His work focuses on translational research bridging molecular neurobiology in animal models with human research.

Skip Rizzo, Ph.D., is the director of MedVR at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies. Over the last 24 years, Skip has conducted research on the design, development, and evaluation of VR systems across the domains of psychological, cognitive, and motor functioning in healthy and clinical populations. In spite of the diversity of these clinical R&D areas, the common thread that drives all of his work with digital technologies involves the study of how virtual reality simulations can be usefully applied to human health care beyond what's possible with traditional 20th century methods.

Carolyn B. Robinowitz, M.D., is a former dean of Georgetown University School of Medicine and former associate provost for health sciences at George Washington University. She served as the senior deputy medical director and chief operating officer of the American Psychiatric Association, where she was the founding director of its Office of Education. She has held many leadership roles in psychiatric and other medical organizations, including presidencies of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, the American College of Psychiatrists, the American Psychiatric Association, the Council of Medical Specialty Societies, the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry, and the Association for Academic Psychiatry, and chaired the AMA Council on Science and Public Health and the AMA Section Council on Psychiatry. In addition to maintaining a clinical practice, she has been a consultant in program development and medical education, and an executive coach.

James Rundell, M.D., has previously been professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (2000−2012), professor of psychiatry at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine (2012−2014), and professor of psychiatry at the Mayo Clinic (2005−2012). Clinical interests include primary care/mental health integration, integrated team care of active duty servicemembers with PTSD, population health, and inpatient consultation-liaison psychiatry. Research interests include outcomes of population health/collaborative care delivery models and impacts of psychiatric disorders on medical and neurological outcomes. He currently works in Germany in an embedded behavioral health program providing integrated care services to active duty servicemembers with posttraumatic stress disorder and other psychiatric disorders related to military service.

Alan F. Schatzberg, M.D., is the Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, where he is also director of the Mood Disorders Center and past chair of the department. Previously, he was professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He received his medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in psychiatry at Massachusetts Mental Health Center, Boston, MA, and a clinical fellowship in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He has authored over 700 publications and abstracts on the pathophysiology, diagnosis, and somatic and psychosocial treatment of mood disorders. He has received numerous honors and awards, including recently the Julius Axelrod Mentorship Award of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the Gold Medal from the Society of Biological Psychiatry, and the Kraepelin Gold Medal from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Stephen M. Strakowski, M.D., is Associate Vice President, Regional Mental Health and Founding Chair and Professor of Psychiatry at Dell Medical School, University of Texas. Previously, he spent 24 years at the University of Cincinnati, serving most recently as Senior Vice President of Strategy in the health system. He is an internationally recognized expert in the management of bipolar disorders, as a Best Doctor® and by US News and World Report® as a Top 1% Psychiatrist. His research focuses on the brain changes that occur at the onset of bipolar disorder.

Stanley Sue is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Palo Alto University and previously Professor of Psychology, Psychiatry, and Asian American Studies at the University of California, Davis. He also served as Director of the National Research Center on Asian American Mental Health, an NIMH-funded research center from 1988-2001. His research has been devoted to the study of the adjustment of, and delivery of mental health services to, culturally-diverse groups, especially Asian Americans. On the Scopus h-index, which is one of the most influential ratings of scholarly impact and contributions, Dr. Sue ranked first in the multicultural counseling field.

La June Montgomery Tabron is the president and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) in Battle Creek, Michigan, one of the largest private foundations in the United States.

As a champion for vulnerable children and for creating the conditions necessary for them to thrive, La June Montgomery Tabron leads the Kellogg Foundation and its work to ensure the optimal development of young children from birth to age 8, heal the profound racial inequities in communities and cultivate community leaders and community-led solutions that support educated kids, healthy kids and economically secure families.

Prior to becoming president and CEO in 2014, she served in a variety of positions at the Kellogg Foundation after joining the organization as the controller in 1987. Most recently, she was the executive vice president of operations and treasurer, which included oversight of all financial plans, policies and relationships within the financial community and WKKF’s Technology, Human Resources and Administration, Finance, Program Services and Quality & Organizational Effectiveness functions. In this role, she was pivotal in connecting and integrating WKKF’s leadership committees: the Executive Council, Program Leadership Council, Talent Board and Organizational Advisory Team, ensuring unified execution of the organization’s mission and strategic framework across all programmatic and priority place areas. She also provided leadership for WKKF’s place-based grantmaking in Mississippi and New Orleans since 2011, launching a significant effort to help set young males of color on the path to success in 2013.

Tabron has played an active leadership role in the Kellogg Foundation’s racial equity, diversity and inclusion work for more than two decades – both internally through work with its board and staff, and externally through its work with grantees, partners and vendors.

Other earlier positions at WKKF included: chief operating officer and treasurer; senior vice president/chief financial officer and treasurer; vice president – finance and treasurer; and assistant vice president for finance and assistant treasurer. Prior to joining WKKF, she was an auditor for Plante & Moran CPAs.

Throughout her more than 30 years in philanthropy, Tabron has participated in numerous sector efforts to enhance philanthropy, including: the policy and annual conference committees for the Council on Foundations and the board development and transparency committees for Independent Sector.

As a community and civic leader, Tabron serves as president of the board of the Western Michigan University Foundation and is a member of the Kalamazoo Chapter of the Links, Incorporated. She serves on the boards of the Battle Creek Community Health Partners, Southwest Michigan First, Bronson Healthcare Group and the Douglass Community Association, all in Michigan. She also serves on the board of the Mississippi Center for Education Innovation. Tabron is a member of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the Foundation Financial Officers Group.

Tabron holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor and a master's degree in business administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. She is a certified public accountant and certified management accountant licensed in Michigan. She is also a graduate of the inaugural class of the Council on Foundations' Career Pathways Program.

Christopher Thompson, M.D., has been the medical director for the Juvenile Justice Mental Health Program and director of juvenile court mental health services of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health for the past 7 years. He is also an associate clinical professor of psychiatry at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is board certified in general psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, forensic psychiatry, and addiction medicine. He is also a certified correctional health professional of the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. He is a distinguished fellow of the APA and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP). He is quite involved in organized psychiatry and is the immediate past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (AAPL), current president of the California Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and a prior member of the board of directors of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences (AAFS).

Barbara Van Dahlen, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist who was named to TIME's 2012 list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World. She is the Founder and President of Give an Hour™, a nonprofit she began in 2005 to provide free mental health services to the military community. Give an Hour's mental health professionals have given more than 265,000 hours of care valued at over $26M. In 2017, Give an Hour expanded its model and now provides care to others in need. Give an Hour leads the Campaign to Change Direction®, an initiative focused on changing the culture of mental health.

Nora D. Volkow, M.D., became Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) at the National Institutes of Health in May 2003. NIDA supports most of the world's research on the health aspects of drug abuse and addiction. Dr. Volkow's work has been instrumental in demonstrating that drug addiction is a disease of the human brain. As a research psychiatrist and scientist, Dr. Volkow pioneered the use of brain imaging to investigate the toxic effects and addictive properties of abusable drugs.

Karen Dineen Wagner, M.D., Ph.D., is professor and chair of the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas. She is president of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and an internationally recognized expert in the pharmacological treatment of childhood mood disorders.

Tisha Wiley, Ph.D., is the associate director for criminal justice and chief of the Services Research Branch at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Since 2012, Dr. Wiley has directed a portfolio of health services research grants in the Services Research Branch at NIDA, with a special emphasis on criminal justice settings, technological innovations, and implementation science. Dr. Wiley has served as the NIDA project scientist on several large-scale multi-site research initiatives. Prior to joining NIDA, Tisha was a fellow at the Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (OBSSR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where she worked several methodological initiatives. Prior to joining NIH, she was the assistant director of research at the Juvenile Protective Association, a non-profit social service agency in Chicago. Dr. Wiley received her Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago.