Meet the JPLI Expert Team

Dr. Michael K. Champion is responsible for developing and overseeing a statewide system of clinical and forensic mental health services in Hawaii that spans the sequential intercept spectrum including crisis services, liaison with law enforcement, pre/post booking jail diversion, specialty courts, forensic service lines of the state psychiatric hospital and statewide community mental health network, and alliances and linkages with federal, state, and county criminal justice agencies. As Chair of the Forensic Division of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, he works with the forensic and medical directors representing all 50 states, 6 territories and pacific jurisdictions to track existing and developing best practices in support of state commissioners and directors of mental health nationwide. Dr. Champion is active in the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law and in the American Psychiatric Association (APA) where he is a member of the Council on Psychiatry and Law and its Workgroup on Mental Illness and Criminal Justice. He is a Co-Chair of the Judges and Psychiatrists Leadership Initiative of the Council of State Governments Justice Center and the APA Foundation and a member of the Conference of Chief Justices/Conference of State Court Administrator’s National Judicial Task Force to Examine State Courts' Response to Mental Illness.

Dr. Champion trained in psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School where he served as Chief Resident in the Program in Psychiatry and the Law, was awarded the Rappeport Fellowship of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and was a special student at Harvard Law School. He trained in forensic psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine in the Division of Law and Psychiatry and studied the interface of law and medicine at Yale Law School.

From 2007 – 2010, Miami-Dade County Judge Steve Leifman served as Special Advisor on Criminal Justice and Mental Health for the Supreme Court of Florida. In this capacity, Judge Leifman was responsible for chairing the Court’s Mental Health Subcommittee, which authored a ground-breaking report entitled, Transforming Florida’s Mental Health System. This report, which has received considerable state and national recognition, outlines recommendations with the goal of decreasing inappropriate and costly involvement of people with mental illnesses in the justice system. Since October, 2010 Judge Leifman has chaired the Florida Supreme Court’s Task Force on Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues in the Court.

Dr. Sarah Y. Vinson is a triple board certified Child & Adolescent, Adult and Forensic Psychiatrist. She is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Lorio Forensics, a multidisciplinary forensic mental health expert consultation company grounded in relevant clinical experience and cultural and structural competency. She has provided direct patient care in juvenile and adult correctional facilities and served as a forensic mental health expert in family, civil, criminal, state and federal courts. Dr. Vinson is a sought after speaker, educator. She is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics at Morehouse School of Medicine and holds an Adjunct Faculty appointment at Emory School of Medicine. In addition to her numerous engagements at medical meetings, she has been an invited lecturer at multiple national attorney conferences. She has won numerous awards in recognition of her leadership and service, including the Outstanding Young Alumna Award from the University of Florida College of Medicine in 2018. Dr. Vinson is a proud graduate of Florida A & M University and completed her training in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School/Cambridge Health Alliance in adult/general psychiatry and in both Child & Adolescent and Forensic Psychiatry at Emory School of Medicine. She has previously been appointed to the APA Communications Council by three different APA presidents and is an alum of the APA/SAMHSA Minority Fellowship Program.

Kathryn E. Zenoff has served as a justice of the Illinois Appellate Court, Second District, since 2007. She chairs the Supreme Court Special Advisory Committee for Justice and Mental Health Planning and the Illinois Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health and Justice Advisory Board. She was named co-chair of the national Judges' Leadership Initiative for Criminal Justice and Mental Health Issues in 2007 and has contributed to the Chief Justice Initiative, the Judges' Guide to Mental Health Jargon, and The Council of State Governments’ videos and discussion guide titled "Interacting with Individuals with Behavioral Health Needs." Previously, while serving as chief judge, she facilitated a community-wide task force that created a mental health court in Winnebago County, Illinois, and presided in that court before her appellate court assignment. Zenoff has testified in Washington, DC, before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law at a hearing titled "Human Rights at Home: Mental Illness in our Jails and Prisons." She received her JD from Columbia University School of Law.