Forty Years of Neglect
The Federal Role in Caring for the Severely Mentally Ill
October 31, 2003
Speaker Biographies
Stuart M. Butler is Vice-President for Domestic and Economic Policy Studies at The Heritage Foundation in Washington DC. He plans and oversees the Foundation's research and publications on all domestic issues. He is an expert on health, welfare and Social Security policy. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Graduate School and in 2002 he was a Fellow at Harvard University’s Institute of Politics.
Stuart Butler has authored books and articles on a wide range of issues including Enterprise Zones: Greenlining the Inner Cities (Universe Books, 1981); Privatizing Federal Spending (Universe Books, 1985); Out of the Poverty Trap (Free Press, 1987); and A National Health System for America (Heritage, 1989). He has played a prominent role in the debate over Medicare, health care for working Americans, and Social Security reform, arguing for solutions based on individual choice and market competition. He has written extensively on these issues and has testified frequently before Congress on a broad range of issues.
Wayne S. Fenton,
M.D., Deputy Director for Clinical Affairs in the Division of Mental Disorders, Behavioral Research and AIDS at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Fenton’s research has focused on the integration of biological, psychological and policy initiatives for the treatment of severe mental illness. He has conducted clinical trials of pharmacological and psychosocial interventions for schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses, is the author of over 75 publications related to this research, and is the recipient of numerous awards including the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the Maryland Schizophrenia Service Award, the American Suicide Foundation’s Alexander Gralnick Award, and the Research Award of the International Society for the Psychological Treatment of Schizophrenia (ISPS). Dr. Fenton is a consultant to the Special Litigation Section, Civil Rights Division of the United States Justice Department. He is Deputy Editor of
Schizophrenia Bulletin and is on the Editorial Board of
Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Jeffrey L. Geller, M.D., M.P.H.
is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Public Sector Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Geller is very active in the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Currently he is Book Review Editor and First Person Account Column Editor for
Psychiatric Services; a member of the Council on Social Issues and Public Policy; and Area 1 Representative to the APA Assembly. Dr. Geller consults widely to state governments, the FBI, and the U.S. Department of Justice. He is the coauthor of
Women of the Asylum and the author of over 80 refereed articles in professional journals. Dr. Geller is the recipient of the 2003 Arnold L. Van Ameringen Award from the APA.
Robert Keisling, M.D.
is the Associate Medical Director for Mental Health, at Unity Healthcare in Washington, DC. Before joining Unity Healthcare, Keisling held many positions in and around Washington, including serving as the Medical Director of Forensic Services at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and as the Director of Clinical Services for the D.C. Commission on Mental Health Services. In addition to his work at Unity Healthcare, Keisling is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the George Washington University Medical Center. His articles have appeared in publications such as the
Archives of General Psychiatry and the
American Journal of Psychiatry. Dr. Keisling is a Fellow with the American Psychiatric Association.
Sally L. Satel, M.D.
is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC. Before joining AEI, Dr. Satel was a practicing psychiatrist and lecturer at the Yale University School of Medicine. She continues to be a staff psychiatrist at the Oasis Clinic and a senior associate at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, both in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Satel has written widely on drug treatment. In addition to medical journals, her articles have appeared in the New Republic, the City Journal (of the Manhattan Institute), the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, SLATE, the Public Interest, and the Women’s Quarterly. Of particular interest to her are the problems of politicized science and the intrusions of political correctness into medicine and research.
E. Fuller Torrey, M.D.,
is a research psychiatrist and Associate Director for Laboratory Research of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, which supports research on schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He is also co-director of the Stanley Brain Research Laboratory, a professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and president of the Treatment Advocacy Center. He is the author of 18 books and more than 200 lay and professional papers. Dr. Torrey’s books include
The Invisible Plague: The Rise of Mental Illness from 1750 to the Present; Surviving Manic Depression: A Manual on Bipolar Disorder for Patients, Families and Providers; Surviving Schizophrenia: A Manual for Families, Consumers and Providers; and
Out of the Shadows: Confronting America's Mental Illness Crisis. Dr. Torrey has appeared on national radio and television (outlets like NPR, Oprah, 20/20, 60 Minutes, and Dateline) and has written for many newspapers. He received two Commendation Medals by the U.S. Public Health Service, a 1984 Special Families Award from NAMI, a 1991 National Caring Award, and in 1999 received a research award from the International Congress of Schizophrenia and a humanitarian award from NARSAD.
Mary Zdanowicz
serves as founding executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), a national organization working to eliminate legal and clinical barriers to timely and humane treatment for millions of Americans with severe brain disorders. TAC is a nonprofit organization working on the national, state, and local levels to educate civic, legal, criminal justice, and legislative communities on the benefits of assisted treatment in an effort to decrease devastating consequences caused by lack of treatment.
Prior to joining TAC in June 1998, Ms. Zdanowicz was an attorney in private practice. She also has held numerous volunteer positions with diverse organizations, including vice president of the Mental Health Association of Monmouth County, New Jersey, a member of the Board of Trustees of NAMI New Jersey (formerly New Jersey Alliance of the Mentally Ill), and chairperson of the Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital Family Advisory Association where she established a partnership program in which family members regularly toured and monitored conditions at the hospital. During this time, Ms. Zdanowicz was additionally appointed to serve on the New Jersey Senate Accountability Monitoring Board for Quality Mental Health Treatment.
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