Griffith of Yale Medical School, however, cites historical evidence that confirms Comer’s analysis. “A number of distinguished psychiatrists in this country have participated in the civil rights movement and in the major struggle between dominant and non-dominant groups. Meharry and Howard played significant roles in the ’50s and ’60s and even into the ’70s in this struggle,†Griffith says. Pioneers and mentors such as Chester Pierce, June Jackson Christmas, Phyllis Harrison Ross, Price M. Cobbs, and Billy Jones paved the way for the current generation of physicians.
Rahn K. Bailey, M.D.
Title: Chair, Psychiatry Department, Meharry Medical College; Medical Director and CEO of Bailey Psychiatric Associates in Houston
Bailey battles the belief among African Americans that black children are over diagnosed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and, as a result, needlessly prescribed psychiatric drugs. Having conducted clinical trials for several medications, he advocates that states devote more resources toward mental health treatment and prevention programs to avoid the expensive and inappropriate imprisonment of mentally ill people who get into trouble with the law after not receiving adequate psychiatric care.
Carl C. Bell, M.D.
Title: Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health, University of Illinois at Chicago; President & CEO, Community Mental Health Council & Foundation Inc.
Bell is an internationally renowned authority on the mental health of African Americans. He has written more than 375 articles covering topics such as black-on-black homicide, teen suicide, violence prevention, and traumatic stress disorders. He participated in President Bill Clinton’s White House Strategy Session on Children, Violence, and Responsibility and served on the working group for the Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health; the Report on Culture, Race, and Ethnicity; and the Report on Youth Violence.
U. Diane Buckingham, M.D.
Title: Private Practitioner, Overland Park, Kansas
In her practice, Buckingham treats children, teens, and adults full-time while serving as chair of the psychiatry section of the National Medical Association U. Diane Buckingham, M.D. and the national professional advisory board of the nonprofit group CHADD (Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). Part of her work is over coming minority parents’ fear of having their children evaluated by psychiatrists and educating them that medication is not the only form of treatment for mental and behavioral conditions.
Felton Earls, M.D.
Title: Professor of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Earls examines the causes and consequences of children’s exposure to violence within the family and community. In one of the largest, most comprehensive Felton Earls, M.D. child and youth development studies ever undertaken, his research team follows the progress of Chicago children from birth to adulthood. An Institute of Medicine inductee and Physicians for Human Rights board member, he studies the psychosocial impact of HIV/AIDS on children in the African country of Tanzania.
Ezra E. Griffith, M.D.
Title: Deputy Chair for Clinical Affairs, Department of Psychiatry; Professor of Psychiatry and African-American Studies, Yale University School of Medicine
A renowned forensic psychiatrist himself, Griffith has written seminal works about the ethics of psychiatrists who serve as expert witnesses in court. He has raised consciousness within the medical and legal professions that race, cultural differences, and