2007 Summit

Faculty Biographies

Keynote Speaker
David L. Satcher, MD, PhD
(Photo available) David Satcher, MD, PhD, was named Director of the National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA in September 2002. From March to September 2002, Dr. Satcher served as a Senior Visiting Fellow with the Kaiser Family Foundation, where he spent time reflecting and writing about his experiences in government and speaking. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of Johnson & Johnson, and the Henry J.Kaiser Family Foundation.

Dr.Satcher was sworn in as the 16th Surgeon General of the United States in February 1998. He also served as Assistant Secretary for Health from February 1998 to January 2001. As Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr.Satcher led the Department’s effort to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health. He also released Surgeon General’s reports on tobacco and health; mental health, which was followed by supplements on children’s mental health; culture, race and ethnicity; suicide and mental retardation prevention; oral health; sexual health and responsible sexual behavior; youth violence prevention; and overweight and obesity.

Dr.Satcher is a former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and Macy Faculty Fellow. He is the recipient of nearly three dozen honorary degrees and numerous distinguished honors, including top awards from the National Medical Association, the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. He was also awarded the SARNAT Prize for Mental Health from the National Academy of Sciences-Institute of Medicine. In 2005, Dr.Satcher was appointed as a Commissioner on Social Determinants of Health of the World Health Organization and became Co-Chair of the Ad Council’s Advisory Committee on Public Issues. In June 2006, he was announced as the first Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental Health.

Dr.Satcher graduated from Morehouse College in 1963 and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received his MD and PhD from Case Western Reserve University in 1970 with election into Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He did his residency/fellowship training at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, UCLA, and King-Drew. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine, and the American College of Physicians.

Plenary Speakers
Steven Adelsheim, MD
Steven Adelsheim, MD, is a child psychiatrist and Professor of Psychiatry, Family/Community Medicine, and Pediatrics at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, where he is the Director of the Community Behavioral Health programs for the Psychiatry Department. Dr.Adelsheim serves as a consultant to the New Mexico Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative and is the former school mental health officer for the New Mexico Department of Health. In 2006 Dr. Adelsheim received the Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for Prevention from the American Psychiatric Association and in 2005 received the Irving Phillips Award for Prevention of child and adolescent mental illness from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry for his prevention work nationally and in New Mexico. Dr Adelsheim is also the Co-Chair of the Committee on Schools of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Dr.Adelsheim is currently working on the development of telepsychiatry programs with the Indian Health Service in New Mexico. He is married and has four daughters.

Marvin C. Alexander, LSW
Marvin C. Alexander, LSW is a youth coordinator for a system of care community in the Mississippi River Delta Area in Arkansas. As youth coordinator, Marvin leads a team of youth support advocates that support youth-run focus and development groups for young people with severe emotional and behavioral disharmonies in four counties. Marvin is also a board member of Youth M.O.V.E. (Motivating Others through Voices of Experience), formally the National Youth Development Board. Mr. Alexander advocates on the local, state, and national level for increased youth voice, involvement, and decision-making roles in treatment and in the policies that govern care. His expertise in youth involvement comes all but natural. As a younger youth, Mr. Alexander was a consumer of mental health services, touched by the juvenile justice system, and survived alternative education only after four years in residential care.

Peggy A. Clark, MSW, MPA
Peggy Clark has over 25 years’ public- and private-sector experience managing and implementing social service and health programs for vulnerable populations. Ms. Clark joined the Medicaid Managed Care Team in the Office of Managed Care at the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) in 1996. She is currently Technical Director, Division of Integrated Health Systems in the Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group within the Center for Medicaid and State Operations, managing program analyses of freedom of choice waivers for special populations of disabled and elderly Medicaid beneficiaries and is the Mental Health Policy Lead. Prior to her arrival at HCFA, she worked at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, where she was a Project Officer in the Community Support Program overseeing project grants to State Mental Health Authorities. Previous to her government positions, Ms. Clark was the Staff Associate for the Health and Mental Health Commission at the National Association of Social Workers, and Executive Director of the Family Guidance Center, a United Way Agency in Montgomery, Alabama. She holds a Master of Public Administration degree from Auburn University and a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Pittsburgh.

Terry Cline, PhD
Terry Cline, PhD, was confirmed by the US Senate in December 2006 as Administrator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. As administrator, Dr. Cline leads the $3.3 billion agency responsible for improving the accountability, capacity, and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health service delivery systems. Throughout his career Dr. Cline has worked to ensure individual and family needs are the driving force for the prevention, treatment and recovery support services delivered. He has championed the principle that mental health and freedom from substance abuse are fundamental to overall health and well-being and that mental and substance use disorders should be treated with the same urgency as any other health conditions. Prior to his appointment as Administrator, Dr. Cline was Oklahoma’s Secretary of Health. At the same time, he served as Oklahoma’s Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services. Dr. Cline has extensive experience in overseeing health and human services at the state level. He has also served as a provider with the Cambridge Youth Guidance Center and at McLean Hospital. His professional history includes a six-year appointment as a Clinical Instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and chairman of the governing board for a Harvard teaching hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Cline received a master’s degree and doctorate in clinical psychology from Oklahoma State University.

King Davis, PhD
King Davis is Executive Director of the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health and the Robert Lee Sutherland Chair in Mental Health and Social Policy in the School of Social Work, University of Texas at Austin. In 2002 he received the lifetime achievement award from the Council on Social Work Education. Davis has been professor of Public Mental Health Policy and Planning at the Virginia Commonwealth University, held the William and Camille Cosby Chair at Howard University, the Libra Chair in the School of Business and Public Policy at the University of Maine, and was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Washington University. Davis is a former Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services. From 1985-87 Davis served in the position of Galt Visiting Scholar where he held full professorships at each of Virginia’s three medical schools and departments of psychiatry. Davis is a Vietnam-era veteran and was honorably discharged in 1969 at the rank of Captain. He has served on a number of local, state, and national boards and commissions and has written and published numerous articles and reports on mental health, managed health care, fund raising, and social justice. He recently served on the Surgeon General’s Workgroup on Mental Health, Culture, Race and Ethnicity and presented to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health in 2002. Davis was awarded the PhD from the Florence G. Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. He holds the masters and bachelors degrees in social work from California State University.

Benjamin Druss, MD, MPH
As the first Rosalynn Carter Chair in Mental Health at Emory University, Dr. Druss is working to build linkages between mental health and broader public health and health policy communities. Prior to this position, he was on faculty in the departments of Psychiatry and Public Health at Yale. Dr. Druss has published more than 80 peer-reviewed articles largely focusing on the policy and systems issues on the interface between primary care and mental health. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine committee on Improving the Quality of Health Care for Mental and Substance-Use Conditions and serves on an NIMH grant review panel. Dr. Druss has received several national awards for his work, including the 2000 American Psychiatric Association Early Career Health Services Research Award, the 2000 AcademyHealth Article-of-the-Year Award, and the AcademyHealth 2003 Alice S. Hersh New Investigator Award In 2006, he received a Midcareer Investigator Award from the National Institute of Mental Health to pursue a program of research on improving collaboration between Community Health Centers and Community Mental Health Centers in the United States.

Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD
Arthur C. Evans Jr, PhD, is the Director of Philadelphia’s Department of Behavioral Health and Mental Retardation Services, a $1 billion healthcare agency. He is leading a major initiative to transform how behavioral health care and mental retardation services are delivered in the city. Since Dr. Evans’ appointment to his position in 2004, Philadelphia has begun a transformation of its entire system to one that focuses on recovery for adults, resiliency for children, and self-determination for all people who use mental retardation services. More recently, Dr. Evans has been appointed to the additional position of Acting Commissioner of the Department of Human Services. In this role he is working to implement reforms in the child welfare system in Philadelphia. Dr. Evans is a clinical and community psychologist and holds a faculty appointment at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He has also held faculty appointments at Yale University School of Medicine and Quinnipiac University. Dr. Evans has had extensive experience in transforming systems of care and serves in several national leadership capacities. Dr. Evans is highly committed to serving people who are underserved and ensuring that all people have access to effective, quality services.

Saul Feldman, DPA
Saul Feldman, DPA, is Chairman Emeritus of United Behavioral Health following his former role as its Chief Executive Officer. At the National Institute of Mental Health, he founded and directed its Staff College, as well as led the nation’s community mental health centers and applied services research programs. He has served as a member of the National Advisory Council of SAMHSA on a panel of experts appointed by the Institute of Medicine and on a national policy panel dealing with the quality of treatment for alcohol and drug problems. Currently, he is a member of the MacArthur Foundation Network on Mental Health Policy Research and a Commissioner on California’s Mental Health Services Oversight and Accountability Commission. Dr. Feldman holds a graduate degree in psychology and a doctorate in public administration, with a specialization in health services policy.

Deborah Fickling
Deborah Fickling is the Behavioral Health Ombudsperson for the State of New Mexico Medicaid program and other New Mexico Behavioral Healthcare Collaborative member agencies. In this role, her “lived experience” as a recipient of services in the publicsector informs her passionate advocacy for individuals with mental health and substance abuse issues who are asking for help, seeking resolution to a problem, or just wanting to know that someone cares. Ms. Fickling is a member of the American College of Mental Health Administration Board of Directors as well as Chair of the Membership Committee.

Sandra Forquer, PhD
Sandra L. Forquer, PhD, currently serves as Vice President for market development for Comprehensive NeuroScience, Inc. Prior to joining CNS, Dr. Forquer served as Senior Vice President for Strategic Development for ValueOptions, and as Executive Director for Colorado Health Networks, the ValueOptionsColorado Medicaid Capitation Project. Dr. Forquer has also served as Deputy Commissioner for Quality and Management Information Systems for the New York State Office of Mental Health and as Director of the Division of Behavioral Health Education in the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Dr. Forquer is Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health and Sciences. She currently is President of the American College of Mental Health Administration.

Dennis S. Freeman, PhD
Since 1978 Dennis S. Freeman, PhD, has served as Chief Executive Officer of Cherokee Health Systems, Inc., a community-based provider of integrated primary care and behavioral health services in East Tennessee. The company now has over 500 employees, an annual budget of $37 million, and two-dozen service locations. Dr. Freeman is a licensed psychologist in the state of Tennessee and is included in the National Register of Health Services Providers in Psychology. His professional interests include health services development and management, preservation of the safety net, managed care, and the blending of behavioral health and primary care services.

Renata J. Henry, MEd
Renata J. Henry, MEd, is director of the Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health, Delaware Health and Social Services, responsible for the administrative direction and oversight of public sector behavioral health services for adults in Delaware. Ms. Henry has over 30 years experience in the behavioral health field, serving in various clinical and administrative positions in community-based mental health and substance abuse organizations. She has worked with county government in Pennsylvania. Prior to becoming the division director, she was the director of Substance Abuse Services for the State of Delaware. Ms. Henry has served on the National Advisory Mental Health Council for the National Institutes of Health. She has also participated on numerous committees, expert panels, and task forces, which have advised the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration on behavioral health policy, practice, financing, and cultural competence issues. Ms. Henry is the president of the board of directors of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. She holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Wisconsin and a master’s degree in education from Antioch University.

Gail P. Hutchings, MPA
Gail Hutchings, Chair of the Summit Planning Committee, is the founding President and CEO of the Behavioral Health Policy Collaborative, a private consulting firm in Alexandria, VA. Her clients include public and private sector organizations dedicated to improving mental health and substance abuse systems, services, and outcomes. Until late 2005, Ms. Hutchings was Chief of Staff of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), US Department of Health and Human Services. While with SAMHSA, she served in a variety of other senior roles including Acting Deputy Administrator, Acting Director of its Center for Mental Health Services, and Senior Advisor to the Administrator. For each she had lead responsibilities for coordinating and overseeing a wide portfolio of policy, programmatic, financial, management, administrative, and communications issues. She was directly responsible for major policy initiatives including serving as an Alternate Commissioner on the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and as the senior content editor and contributing writer to the Commission’s Final Report, Achieving the Promise: Transforming Mental Health Care in America. Ms. Hutchings is the past Deputy Executive Director and Director of Technical Assistance of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. She is a nationally recognized expert on national- and state-level behavioral health policy and practices as well as effective technical assistance on a wide range of topics and issues.

Edward L. Knight, PhD
Edward L. Knight, PhD, is a nationally known consumer survivor leader, researcher, and trainer. He is Vice President of Recovery for ValueOptions and an Adjunct Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences at Boston University. He is currently doing research with UCLA/RAND, Yale University, Nathan Kline, and Mental Health Empowerment Project. He is diagnosed with schizophrenia andhas been homeless. He is a user of mental health services in Colorado Springs, CO.

Ronald Manderscheid, PhD
Ronald Manderscheid, PhD, has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of mental health and substance use. He joined the Constella Group in 2006, coming from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) where he served as chief of the Survey and Analysis Branch within the Center for Mental Health Services. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. At Constella, Dr. Manderscheid leads a program area that includes development, demonstrations, and research projects in the areas of mental health and substance use, with special emphasis on consumer and family empowerment. His work spans public, non-profit and private sectors, and focuses on services, systems, financing, program support, statistical information and information technology. Dr. Manderscheid’s federal career spanned a broad range of activities. He previously served as chief of mental health services research, mental health statistics and evaluation research programs at the National Institute of Mental Health. He later became the chief of mental health statistics and IT at the Center for Mental Health Services within SAMHSA. He also served as a senior policy advisor on health care reform in the office of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Health, and was an editor of Mental Health, United States for the year spanning 1987 to 2004. Dr. Manderscheid is particularly noted for his work with the consumer and family communities and for introducing consumer participation in federal workgroups and consumer assessments of mental health care. Such assessments are now commonplace in the field.

Danna Mauch, PhD
Danna Mauch, PhD, is a principal/scientist with Abt Associates, Inc. with more than 30 years of experience in designing, implementing and leading clinical and administrative organizations in the health services arena, with emphasis on public insurance and care financing programs. During the recent past she has worked on the Massachusetts Unified Behavioral Health Initiative; the Primary Care and Mental Health Services Integration Study – a joint initiative of the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); and as Principal Investigator and Quality Review Officer for The Best Practices Documentation Project. She is a well known author and presenter. Mauch received her PhD from Brandeis University in Social Policy, Health Planning and Administration with a concentration in Health Economics. Her master’s degree is from Temple University in Psychology.

Barbara Mauer, MSW CMC
Barbara Mauer, MSW, CMCis a Managing Consultant for MCPP Healthcare Consulting in Seattle, WA. She has over 15 years of consulting experience focused on strategic planning, program design, performance management, and quality management processes. She is a co-author of How to Thrive in Managed Behavioral Healthcare and The Primary Care Performance Management System as well as multiple articles discussing organizational design and performance management. Ms. Mauer has worked with behavioral health systems throughout the West Coast in planning efforts that bring together consumers, advocates, families, providers, and partner organizations to identify ways to improve services and achieve better outcomes. She is nationally active in writing, training, and consulting on ways to better integrate primary healthcare services with mental health and substance abuse services, serving as the lead consultant for the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare on this subject.

Jacki McKinney, MSW
Jacki McKinney, MSW, is a survivor of trauma, addiction, homelessness and the psychiatric and criminal justice systems. She is a consumer and family advocate specializing in issues affecting African-American women and their children and is a founding member of the National People of Color Consumer/Survivor Network. She has worked in a number of major and social policy initiatives including the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health. Ms. McKinney has been a consultant and advisor to the Center for Mental Health Services and is well known for her moving presentations to national audiences on issues such as seclusion/restraint, intergenerational family support and minority issues in public mental health.

A. Kathryn Power, MEd
A. Kathryn Power, MEd is Director of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). CMHS provides national leadership in mental health promotion, mental illness prevention, and the development and dissemination of effective mental health services. Power leads the transformation of the nation’s mental health care system into one that is recovery-oriented and consumer-centered. In 2005, Power received the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service for spearheading the Federal Mental Health Transformation Team, an unprecedented interdepartmental coalition that produced the first ever Federal Action Agenda for Mental Health Transformation. Ms. Power served as President of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. She has also been recognized locally and nationally for her leadership and advocacy by organizations such as the Center for Performance Excellence, the Rhode Island Protection and Advocacy System, and the National Organization for Victim Assistance. In addition, Ms. Power has served on the boards of directors of over 100 non-profit agencies, commissions, and task forces in the public and private sectors. Power received her master’s degree in education and counseling from Western Maryland College. She is a graduate of the Toll Fellowship program of the Council of State Governments. She has also completed programs in senior executive leadership development, mental health leadership, and substance abuse leadership at the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government. Power is a Captain serving in the US Navy Reserve.

Brenda Reiss-Brennan, MS, APRN, CS
Brenda Reiss-Brennan, MS, APRN, CS, Mental Health Integration Leader, Intermountain Healthcare, has been a licensed psychiatric nurse practitioner for over 30 years. She developed the Mental Health Integration concepts, which have been adopted and refined at Intermountain and for which she is well-known nationally. In 2006 Ms. Reiss-Brennan received the “Osler’s Cloak Award for Excellence in Caring and Curing” for her outstanding contribution to patient care and the advancement of clinical learning. Ms. Reiss-Brennan serves as Principal Investigator on several Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grants related to implementing sustainable models of integrating mental health into primary care. She has published and presented both nationally and internationally and holds a joint faculty appointment with the University of Utah College of Nursing.

Delfy Peña Roach
From 1991 to 2005, Ms. Roach was the Executive Director of Parents for Behaviorally Different Children, a statewide family support and advocacy parent organization for families with children with neurobiological, emotional, and behavioral challenges in New Mexico. She left that position for ValueOptions New Mexico where she is the Vice President of the Service Systems Relations Department. This department through its liaisons is responsible for problem-solving, interagency support, and program development related to specific consumer populations and programs. In addition to providing key links with the New Mexico Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative agencies, Ms. Roach and her staff work with providers and other ValueOptions New Mexico Service Center staff to implement planned changes in service system philosophy and design throughout the provider network. She is also the parent of a tax paying, voting young adult who has been diagnosed since age four with bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Alexander F. Ross, ScD
Dr.Ross is a senior health policy analyst in the Health Systems Organization and Financing Group, Office of Planning and Evaluation, Health Resources and Services Administration, US Department of Health and Human Services. The focus of his work is on policy and evaluation studies that address the health care concerns of low-income and uninsured population across the nation. He is currently working on the impact of marketplace changes on safety net providers, access to behavioral health care services for patients seen in managed care and primary care settings, and the role of safety net providers in Medicare Advantage managed care plans. Previous to his position with the Health Systems Organization and Financing Group, Dr. Ross worked in the Bureau of HIV/AIDS as Chief of the Program Development Branch and Acting Chief of the Legislative Branch within the Office of Program Development. He began his federal service in the Division of Program Evaluation and Methodology Development, US Government Accountability Office. Dr. Ross holds a Doctor of Science from The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health as well as an undergraduate degree in anthropology from the State University of New York at Albany.

David L. Shern, PhD
David Shern, PhD, was named in 2006 as the president and CEO of Mental Health America, formerly the National Mental Health Association, the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization addressing all aspects of mental health and mental illness. Prior to joining NMHA, Dr. Shern served as dean of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute at the University of South Florida, one of the largest research and training institutes in behavioral health services in the US. He also founded and directed the National Center for the Study of Issues in Public Mental Health, a National Institute of Mental Health-funded services research center located in the New York State Office of Mental Heath. His work has spanned a variety of mental health services research topics including epidemiological studies of the need for community services; the effects of differing organizational, financing, and service delivery strategies on continuity of care and client outcome and the use of alternative service delivery strategies such as peer counseling and self help on the outcomes of care. He has received more than $20 million in external grant support and authored more than 100 publications including papers in Health Affairs, Psychiatric Services, Medical Care, Health Services Research, Behavioral Health Services and Research and the American Journal of Public Health.

Alicia D. Smith, MHA
Alicia D. Smith, MHA, has over 10 years of experience in Medicaid and behavioral health policy, financing, and reimbursement matters. Prior to joining Health Management Associates, Ms. Smith operated a consulting practice assisting state and local behavioral health authorities and providers with the development of needs assessments and resource inventories, strategic assessments, and coverage and reimbursement policies. As Deputy Director of Resources For Recovery, a national grant program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Alicia assisted states with identifying and implementing strategies for the expansion of alcohol and other drug treatment access and resources. She also worked as a health care consultant with one of the nation’s largest law firms specializing in behavioral health and worked as a Medicaid health services administrator for the Ohio Medicaid program. Alicia serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Community Housing Network – a supportive housing services provider and real estate development company – and also serves as a member of the Rebuilding Lives Update Strategy Committee to plan and address the needs of homeless families, children and adults in Franklin County, OH.

Sandra Spencer
Sandra Spencer, Executive Director of the National Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, has commanded respect from national policy and program leaders, family members, youth, and children for more than a decade. Ms. Spencer has navigated a highly visible career path through local family organizing, state level systems of care development, advocacy, national meeting planning for both the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health and the Technical Assistance Partnership, and providing training and technical assistance to family-run organizations. In addition to her successes Sandra’s struggles have led to the deepest ways of knowing and learning. Sandra has been homeless and on welfare. She has spent sleepless nights protecting her son from the symptoms of his emotional disorder. She has developed and managed resources to raise her children alone in an environment of unconditional love and support. Those are the real skills and abilities Sandra brings to her work.

Andrew Toribio
Andrew Toribio is a 19-year-old American Indian from Via Pueblo, New Mexico. During his early teens, Andrew was diagnosed with depression, contemplated suicide, used drugs, was involved with a gang, and was truant from school – all leading to his involvement with the criminal justice system through a Drug Court. Andrew attributes his mother’s dedication to helping him, and his involvement with Judge Amy Lovell and the local Tribal Educator who interacted with his school to his recovery. He is now earning good grades as a freshman at Central New Mexico College and pursuing a nursing degree on his path to become an Emergency Room Nurse.

Wilma Townsend, MSW
Wilma Townsend, MSW, provides consultation for states, local government entities, managed care organizations, and consumer and family organizations in the areas of cultural competence, consumer outcomes, and consumer involvement. Ms. Townsend was chief of the Office of Consumer Services, State of Ohio Department of Mental Health (ODMH) for over 15 years. In that role, she was the state’s liaison with statewide consumer and family organizations. She also worked with the culturally diverse communities of Ohio in developing culturally diverse programs and culturally competent systems of care. She was instrumental in ODMH funding of a Diversity Resource Center, which serves as a statewide clearinghouse for cultural diversity materials, as well as providing resources and training for the Ohio Mental Health System and other state and local entities. Ms. Townsend now manages her own company, WLT Consulting.

Mark Weist, PhD
Mark Weist received a PhD in clinical psychology from Virginia Tech in 1991 and has since then worked at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he is a professor. Dr. Weist directs the School Mental Health Program, which provides mental health services to students in 28 Baltimore City schools and the Center for School Mental Health Analysis and Action, a federally funded program and policy analysis center. He is active in a number of professional organizations including the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care, the American School Health Association, the International Union for Health Promotion and Education, and helped to launch the International Alliance for Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Schools. He has served as principal investigator on a number of research grants, including a current grant from the National Institute of Mental Health on Enhancing Quality in School Mental Health. He serves on numerous editorial boards and has written four edited books on children’s and school mental health.