minorities’ legacy of being oppressed cloud the objectivity of the criminal justice system. The relationship between religion and mental health among people attending black churches was the subject of his earlier influential studies.
David C. Henderson, M.D.
Title: Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Associate Psychiatrist, Massachusetts General Hospital
Researching how schizophrenia can be treated with psychologically active drugs, Henderson investigates the affects of these medications on weight and metabolism and the body’s processing of sugar in the blood. He has also focused on the impact of ethnicity and culture on psychiatry as well as the consequences of trauma in areas of mass violence. With projects in Rwanda, Cambodia, East Timor, Bosnia, Peru, New Orleans, and New York City, he develops programs to assist vulnerable populations.
William B. Lawson, M.D., Ph.D., DFAPA
Title: Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Howard University College of Medicine and Hospital Lawson, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, was the principal investigator for three National Institute of Mental Health funded studies on depression and bipolar disorders, which examined cultural aspects and genetics in African Americans. He also led the Mood Research Program, a partnership between Howard University and the National Institute of Mental Health launched in 2002 and funded by a $6.5 million grant that increased the representation of blacks both as the subjects of psychiatric research and physicians performing the work.
Cassandra F. Newkirk, M.D.
Title: V.P. for Correctional Mental Health Services and Chief Medical Officer, GEO Care Inc.
Working for a global corporation that has a quarter of the U.S. correctional Services market, Newkirk serves as chief medical officer of the subsidiary conducting behavioral and mental health work at state and local government correctional and residential treatment facilities. The national president of Black Psychiatrists of America, she held previous jobs that include mental health director at Rikers Island Penitentiary in New York City and mental health director and deputy commissioner for the Georgia Department of Corrections.
Alvin F. Poussaint, M.D.
Title: Professor of Psychiatry, Faculty Associate Dean for Student Affairs
Harvard Medical School Poussaint is the pre-eminent expert on issues of diversity, prejudice, and race relations. Private corporations and government agencies consult him about mass media questions of image, children, and the family. A script consultant for The Cosby Show, he’s been a strong advocate for nonviolent parenting and parenting education. He has co-authored a number of powerful tomes, including Come On, People: On the Path from Victims to Victors, with entertainer Bill Cosby. He also serves as director of the Media Center of the Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston.
Annelle B. Primm, M.D., M.P.H.
Title: Director of Minority and National Affairs, American Psychiatric Association; Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Primm is educating the minority public about mental health issues while increasing psychiatrists’ awareness of the cultural influences affecting their minority patients. She is a nationally recognized expert on psychiatric illness that occurs in tandem with substance abuse. To dispel the stigma associated with seeking psychiatric help, she has developed videotapes featuring African Americans and senior