Board of Directors

Saul M. Levin, M.D., M.P.A., is the Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). Prior to assuming this role in October 2013, Dr. Levin led the District of Columbia Department of Health (DOH). There, Dr. Levin was responsible for the health of the nation’s capital, including the primary care for everyone from infants to seniors on Medicaid and Medicare, DC-funded health care, HIV/AIDS, addictions, health professional licensing and regulation, policy, and planning. He was also responsible for health emergency preparedness, planning, and coordination alongside dozens of federal and local agencies—ensuring the public’s good health during major events such as President Obama’s second inauguration. Moreover, he promoted the development of a citywide health information exchange that connects health care providers, shares critical information to promote patient care, tracks outcomes, prepares for disasters, and provides for public health surveillance.

Dr. Levin also served on the D.C. Health Exchange Board and chaired the Essential Health Benefits Package Subcommittee, where he successfully led the effort to ensure that residents of the District of Columbia had access to a full range of substance abuse and mental health services. He also co-chaired the committee that oversaw the integration of substance abuse and mental health services into the new Department of Behavioral Health.

In 2012, Dr. Levin served briefly as Senior Deputy Director of DOH’s Addiction Prevention and Recovery Administration. During his tenure, Dr. Levin promoted substance abuse prevention efforts in all eight wards of the city through the work of the Prevention and Access to Recovery teams, including implementation of over $20 million in federal grants for services, assessed and referred an increasing number of individuals into treatment services, and connected more clients to recovery support services.

Dr. Levin has long been involved in organized medicine and psychiatry. He served as Vice President for Science, Medicine, and Public Health at the American Medical Association. As VP, he oversaw programs related to evolving health delivery systems, such as in the areas of prevention and health care disparities. He also led efforts to improve the interface between clinical medicine and public health.

Among other positions Dr. Levin has held includes serving as a special expert appointee in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he led the initiative to integrate primary care, substance abuse, mental health, and HIV/AIDS response. While serving as President for Access Consulting International Inc., he worked with federal, state, and local governments and private companies to provide health policy, program, and research and evaluation services.

He is a former President and CEO of Medical Education for South African Blacks, an anti-apartheid education trust that provided scholarships to South African black students in health care. He helped award more than 11,000 scholarships to students studying to become physicians, nurses, substance abuse counselors, and other health care professionals.

In 1982, Dr. Levin received his M.B.B.Ch. (M.D.) from the University Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and completed his residency in psychiatry at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center. In 1994, he received his master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians – Edinburgh, and Clinical Professor at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington DC.

Prior to joining Mayo Clinic Dr. Taylor-Desir served as a community psychiatrist for tribal communities for 16 years. Dr. Taylor-Desir graduated from the University Of Cincinnati College Of Medicine. After completing her psychiatry residency and a fellowship in community psychiatry at Emory University, Dr. Taylor-Desir began her career with the Winslow Indian Health Care Center in Winslow, AZ working with a predominantly Navajo population. This work was through her commitment to the National Health Service Corps as a Scholarship recipient. Dr. Taylor-Desir then moved to Phoenix, Arizona to serve the Salt River PimaMaricopa Indian Community for eight years. She was the first tribally hired psychiatrist and provided outpatient psychiatric care to community members, worked with the crisis team, the Salt River Department of Corrections and the community residential treatment center. She also worked to secure psychiatric care between state and tribal jurisdictions. Dr. Taylor-Desir then moved to New Town, North Dakota to serve the Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara Nation for three years as their Chief Medical Officer and psychiatrist for the Elbowoods Memorial Health Care Center. She was instrumental in securing SAMHSA grants addressing mental health and substance use in tribal communities. One of her proudest honors is receiving the American Psychiatric Association 2019 Award for Excellence in Service and Advocacy from the Women of the Assembly. Dr. Taylor-Desir also serves as a member of the National Advisory Committee to the National Health Service Corps where she continues advocacy for and service to tribal and rural communities.

Dr. Bazzi then moved back to the New York area where she served as the Director of the Assisted Outpatient Treatment program in Suffolk County It was in this capacity that she evaluated, treated, and testified on hundreds of cases involving respondents with extensive criminal histories, co-occurring substance use disorders, and severe mental illnesses.

Dr. Bazzi currently serves as the Inpatient Unit Director at Maimonides Medical Center, a Community Mental Health Center in Brooklyn, New York. She works as a Forensic Psychiatrist, where she serves as a court appointed expert in civil and criminal cases.

In addition, she is a Medical Review Officer and treats patients with Substance Use Disorders. Dr. Bazzi serves as an expert witness in several courts in New York City, as well as in federal and national cases. Dr. Bazzi has been active in the American Psychiatric Association since she was a resident. She served as an APA Leadership Fellow and sat on the Council for Psychiatry and the Law as well as the Board of Trustees as a nonvoting member during that time. She served a three-year term as the APA Early Career Psychiatry Trustee at Large. She is passionate about advocacy, education, increasing awareness, and improving the relationships between the justice system and the mental health system to better serve patients.

From 2005-2016, he was Associate Chair for Education and Academic Affairs for the Department of Psychiatry, from 2006-2007, he was Vice Chair of the department, then served as Interim Chair until his appointment as Chair in 2010.

Dr. Dalack has had research interests in the treatment of chronic and persistent mental illnesses, particularly focusing on schizophrenia. He has conducted studies examining nicotine addiction and smoking cessation interventions in schizophrenia, health behaviors in schizophrenia, and metabolic effects of second-generation antipsychotic medications in severe mental illness. More recently, he has been involved in developing collaborative care programs to provide psychiatric and behavioral health expertise within primary care clinics at UMHS, the local community, and throughout the State of Michigan.

Dr. Dalack received his B.S. in Chemistry at Yale University, and received his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He completed his internship in Medicine at the Presbyterian Hospital in the City of New York and his Psychiatry Residency at the New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI). Also at Columbia and NYSPI, he completed a fellowship in Psychopharmacology.

Dr. Dalack previously served on the APA Council on Quality Care, chaired the APA Workgroup to Establish a Psychiatry Registry (2014-2015), and serves on the APA Registry Oversight Committee (2016-present).

Education:

• Yale University, B.S. in Chemistry
• College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, M.D.
• Presbyterian Hospital New York City, Internship in Medicine
• New York State Psychiatric Institute, Residency in Psychiatry
• New York State Psychiatric Institution & Columbia University, Fellowship in Psychopharmacology

Her research and health policy efforts have helped to reduce disparities, especially mental health disparities, that prevent underserved populations from receiving needed health services by eliminating the barriers of stigma, enhancing education, and improving access. Since her General Psychiatry Residency and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Iowa (2009-2014), she has been involved in mentoring activities with pre-health and medical students across the country. Dr. Del Castillo is a former APA/APAF SAMHSA Minority Fellow.

Dr. Del Castillo received her B.S. degree in Chemistry from the University of Illinois and her M.D. from Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. She also completed a M.P.H. from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy at Harvard University.

Michelle P. Durham, M.D., M.P.H., FAPA, DFAACAP is the Chief Behavioral Health Officer for Ibn Sina Foundation. Dr. Durham is leading the expansion of outpatient mental health services and integrated mental health services for our clinics. Her public health and clinical roles have always been in marginalized communities with a focus on health equity and advocacy for equitable mental health treatment globally and locally. Prior to joining Ibn Sina, Dr. Durham was the Vice Chair of Education at Boston Medical Center (BMC) Department of psychiatry and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) where she continues to hold her adjunct faculty appointment. Her federally and privately funded research focused on workforce development that reflects groups historically excluded from medicine, training and education for both the pediatric workforce and mental health professionals. She has expertise in pediatric integrated care, trauma in communities of color and training and education for the both the pediatric workforce and mental health professionals and has presented nationally and internationally on these topics. She has authored multiple book chapters on race and culture in psychiatry, adolescent depression and pediatric integrated care as well as authored peer-reviewed articles on these topics. She is involved at the state and national level with the American Psychiatric Association and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry to improve the standard of care for adults, children and adolescents. She is has testified for the U.S. Senate HELP and Finance Committees to advocate for increase funding, access and parity in mental health. She received her M.D. from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA, completed her residency training at BMC/BUSM and completed her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut. She received her Masters in Public Health in Health Policy and Management from the Emory Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, Ga.

Dr. Jaswa completed her OB/GYN residency at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF), followed by her Fellowship training in Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility at UCSF, and she now serves on the Faculty at UCSF as an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences. Dr. Jaswa has authored numerous research publications and actively presents her work at national and international conferences. Her research interests include mental health, wellness, fertility preservation, polycystic ovary syndrome, oocyte cryopreservation, and fertility biomarkers. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband, and personally enjoys running, travel, drums, biking, and reading about physics and human behavior.

Dr. Hsiao is a former President of the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA) and received the 2011 American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation Leadership Award. He is a current AMA delegate and has helped to start a Paul O’Leary, M.D. (former APA Assembly Speaker) fund through the AMA Foundation. Dr. Hsiao currently serves on the APA Council on Quality Care and is former APA/APAF Minority Fellow (Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship).

Dr. Hsiao received his medical degree from Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University. He completed his residency at University of Washington and is triple board certified in psychiatry, addiction psychiatry and child and adolescent psychiatry.

Dr. Pi is certified in the specialty Board of Psychiatry (1980- ) and Psychosomatic Medicine (2008-2018). Dr. Pi is former Medical Director of the Department of Mental Health (DMH), State of California. Professor Pi is an accomplished researcher in the fields of clinical psychiatry and psychopharmacology, particularly ethnic and cross-cultural aspects.

Dr. Pi is a Distinguished Life Fellow of American Psychiatric Association (APA). He has been very active on both the national and international scenes in organized psychiatry in the past 30 years, including President of the Association of Chinese American Psychiatrists, Vice President and Treasurer of the Pacific Rim College of Psychiatrists, Chairperson of the Committee of Asian American Psychiatrists, Chair of the Minority and Underrepresented (M/UR) Groups, and Member of the Executive Committee of the APA Assembly. Also, Dr. Pi served on the Scientific Program Committee (SPC) of the APA during the past 20 year, including Vice Chair of the SPC of APA's 2019 and 2020 Annual Meetings. He received the SPC Overachiever Award, APA Annual Meeting, 2019. Dr. Pi is an Honorary Fellow of WPA. He served as the Representative for Zone 2 – USA within the WPA Board (2014-2020), most recently, elected to the WPA Executive Board as the Secretary for Scientific Meetings (2020- ). Among his many honors, Dr. PI is the recipient of APA's 2009 Kun-po Soo Award and 2021 George Tarjan Award. Dr. Pi is listed among the Best Doctors in America (Psychiatry) and America’s Top Doctors (Psychiatry).

She completed her training in the Harvard Medical School programs, first as a resident at Cambridge Hospital and then at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital as chief resident, followed by a two-year clinical and research fellowship in Women’s Psychiatry. As a part of her role on the President’s Special Advisory Council on Women at Harvard, she founded and directed the Harvard University Center for Parenting.

Dr. Van Niel’s clinical work has been in general psychiatry and all aspects of women’s psychiatry, including as a member of the Brigham staff; as director of psychiatry at a community health center and a day treatment trauma program; and as chief psychiatric consultant to the Diocese of Massachusetts.

Dr. Van Niel was elected president of the APA Women’s Caucus where she served from 2016 through 2021. In 2016 Dr. Van Niel was the first psychiatrist appointed to the Multidisciplinary Steering Committee of the U.S. Dept of HHS Women’s Preventive Services Initiative (WPSI). During 2020, Dr. Van Niel was elected chair of the APA Minority and Underrepresented (M/UR) Committee, where she and her colleagues have developed materials to address racial discrimination in all areas of medicine. Dr. Van Niel also has been passionate about the work of the APA Foundation, serving as an ambassador and contributor from 2016 through 2020. Dr. Van Niel also is a prolific writer whose peer-reviewed articles have appeared in media outlets throughout the country.

Career highlights:

• 2016 World Series MVP with the Chicago Cubs
• Back-to-back World Series champion (2016, 2015)
• Drove in game-winning run in the 10th inning during Game 7 of the 2016 World Series
• Led the Cubs in hits (10) during 2016 World Series
• Ranked first in 2015 MLB post-season for runs (15)
• Ranked third in the 2015 AL post season for batting average (.303)
• Three-time All-Star (2016. 2013, 2009)
• Selected to play for Team USA in the 2013 World Baseball Classic H
• Ranked top 10 in the American League for doubles during the 2011 and 2012 seasons
• Awarded Player of the Week in May 2011
• Baseball Writers Association of America (Tampa Bay Chapter) named Zobrist as the 2009 MVP of the Rays
• Rays honored Zobrist with the Heart and Hustle award in 2011 and 2012
• Played in his first World Series with the Rays in 2008
• Received INT Player of the Week in August 2008
• Drafted in the 6th round in the 2004 MLB draft by the Houston Astros and was traded to the Rays in July of 2006

Given that Ben Zobrist’s resume reflects his career as a professional baseball player, he also provided this personal statement about his background and interest in mental health awareness:

“Hello, my name is Ben Zobrist. I’m 38 yrs. of age with a wife and three young children and currently unemployed thankfully by choice! I’m known to most people as a former Major League Baseball player, 3x All-Star, 2x World Series Champion, And World Series MVP for the Chicago Cubs in 2016. In the baseball world, people know me as one of the first Super-utility players in the game.

Those who know me personally know that I’m just a small town midwestern kid who had a passion for sports and blue-collar work ethic combined with competitive focus that has driven me to succeed at the highest levels of professional sport. Throughout my playing career, I actively pursued public speaking engagements to youth and faith communities. I have always loved to inspire people toward change in areas of personal and community health, healing and growth. More recently, mental and emotional health have become a research passion of mine due to my own personal struggles with a high-profile career filled with daily performance pressure.

In the last few years of my playing career, I launched a charitable non-profit called Patriot Forward that existed to help young minor league baseball families navigate the pressure of the performance life. We have been helping mentor around 25 young players and their families through a very transitional time of life.

I am entering into my first official year of retirement from baseball since I was 5 years old so I’m in quite the transition myself right now, but so far I’m excited about what’s next! I look forward to becoming more educated in the areas of mental, emotional, and relational health in the near future and I plan to use that education to continue speaking for the purpose of inspiring generations of people toward a more healthy and balanced life! In my downtime, I enjoy working out, reading, listening to podcasts, deep conversations, jumping on the trampoline with my kids, flying my drone, and generally re-organizing my life after being on the road for the last 15 years.”

Twitter: @benzobrist18

Instagram: @benzobrist18

Dr. Summers is a nationally recognized educator, author and clinician. He is a member of the ACGME Psychiatry Residency Review Committee, and a Past President of the American Association of Directors of Psychiatry Residency Training (AADPRT). He is currently Chair of the APA Workgroup on Psychiatrist Wellbeing and Burnout.

Dr. Summers has written on psychodynamic therapy training, therapeutic alliance, psychodynamic formulation, positive psychology and psychiatry residency training. His book, Psychodynamic Therapy: A Guide to Evidence Based Practice, co-authored with Jacques Barber, is currently used in over thirty training programs. Summers and Barber’s second book, Practicing Psychodynamic Therapy: A Casebook was published in 2014, and Positive Psychiatry: A Casebook, edited with Dilip V. Jeste, MD, is forthcoming.

Dr. Summers was awarded the Earl Bond Outstanding Teacher Award of the Department of Psychiatry at Penn in 2000, the Robert Dunning Dripps Award for Excellence in Graduate Medical Education by the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the Psychiatric Educator of the Year by the Philadelphia Psychiatric Society in 2007. He was Teacher of the Year at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia in 2008, and Outpatient Teacher of the Year Award in 2002, 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2017 in the Penn Department of Psychiatry. Most recently, he received the University of Pennsylvania Provost’s Award for Teaching Excellence in 2014. He is a Philadelphia Magazine Top Doc.

Dr. Summers’ clinical interests focus on psychotherapeutic and psychopharmacologic treatment of mood and anxiety disorders, and adult lifecycle development. His research interests include the contemporary revision of the theory and technique of psychodynamic psychotherapy and new approaches to psychotherapy training and education. He is an Associate Editor of Psychiatry, 4th Ed., eds. Tasman, Kay, Lieberman, First and Maj.

Dr. Summers received a B.A. from Harvard College in 1979, graduating magna cum laude in sociology, and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Following psychiatry residency at the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, Dr. Summers completed psychoanalytic training at the Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia, on whose faculty he currently serves.

Dr. Brendel is Director of the Master of Bioethics Program and Associate Director of the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School. She bases her clinical and forensic psychiatry practice at Massachusetts General Hospital, where she is Director of Law and Ethics at the Center for Law, Brain, and Behavior. She is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brendel is also admitted to the Massachusetts Bar. She is past Medical Director of the One Fund Center for Boston Marathon bombing survivors at Massachusetts General Hospital and past Clinical Director of the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program for returning veterans and their families.

Dr. Brendel is a Distinguished Fellow of the APA. Prior to assuming her position on the APA Board of Trustees, Dr. Brendel served as Chair of the APA Ethics Committee from 2019 to 2021. She has previously served as Parliamentarian to the APA Board of Trustees, Chair of the APA Ad Hoc Workgroup on Ethics (2014-2015), member of the APA-AMA Delegation, and Chair of the APA Bylaws Committee. She is a fellow and past president of the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (2018-2019), of which she served on the Board from 2010 to 2020. Dr. Brendel is incoming Chair of the Massachusetts Medical Society Committee on Ethics, Grievances, and Professional Standards and an appointed member of the American Medical Association Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs (CEJA).

Dr. Brendel is a past Councilor and Ethics Committee Member of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society. She has also served on the Massachusetts Bar Association Health Law Section Council and Mental Health Law Committee and in consultative roles to the Massachusetts Probate and Family Court, the One Fund Boston, and the Federation of State Medical Boards. Informed by her medical, legal, and ethics training and experience, Dr. Brendel writes, teaches, sits on journal editorial boards, and lectures nationally and internationally on critical topics at the intersection of psychiatry, ethics, human rights, and law.

Education

• Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Yale College
• Juris Doctor, University of Chicago
• Doctor of Medicine, University of Chicago

He was a longstanding representative in the APA Assembly (1996-2017, 2019-2023), authoring several influential action papers, including one in the year 2002 foresightfully advocating for telehealth to improve access to care. In 2016-18 he was Secretary of the New York State Psychiatric Association (NYSPA). In the APA he has served as Chair of the Bylaws Committee, Vice-Chair of the Council on Member and DB Relations, APA’s representative on AMA IMG Section, and on Finance and Budget Committee, Council on Global Psychiatry, Committee on C-L Psychiatry, Nominating Committees, Assembly Committee on MOC, and Board and Assembly workgroups. He founded and conducted an annual RFM Posters contest for the thirty residency programs in New York State (2016-2023). He founded and conducted a pioneering, innovative annual Residents’ Scholarly Presentations contest for the four residency programs in the Brooklyn District Branch (1992-2023). It was the first such program to be organized by a district branch of the APA. He served on the NYSPA Legislative Committee for more than 25 years, doing federal and state legislative advocacy, e.g. for parity. He founded the APA Caucus on Maintenance of Board Certification to have grassroots input into the process, including reducing financial and other burdens of certification. He is Chair, Committee on C-L Psychiatry, Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry. He is a past Chair, Finance Committee, Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture. He is a member of AAAP, AACP, AADPRT, AAGP, AAPL, ACLP, ACPsych, AMA, and Climate Psychiatry Alliance.

Dr. Viswanathan is Board Certified in Psychiatry, Internal Medicine, Consultation-Liaison, Geriatric, Addiction and Forensic Psychiatry. He is a tenured Professor and Interim Chair of Psychiatry, and Director of C-L Psychiatry and C-L Psychiatry Fellowship at the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Health Sciences University. He was the Presiding Officer of the Faculty and Professional Staff of the College of Medicine (2020 – 2022). He now serves as a Senator from this campus on the 64-campus SUNY Faculty Senate (2022 – 2025). His research has been in physician communication, ethics, innovations in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy, treatment adherence in gynecologic cancers, children’s sickle cell disease, HIV, and substance use. He has numerous publications and presentations, and appearances in the media. From the beginning of the COVID pandemic he pioneered support groups for physicians and nurses, and published on this topic. He provided post-tsunami disaster relief in India. He practices public and private psychiatry. His vision is to advance science and practice without unnecessary intrusions by third-parties, prevention, access to care, social justice, empowerment of minorities and women, diversity, inclusion, physician wellness, positive psychiatry and environmental psychiatry.

Education

• Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, Madras Medical College, University of Madras, India
• Doctor of Medicine, The University of the State of New York Education Department, recognizing above education

Dr. Looney was recruited to Duke as Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. In that role, he began the development of research in child psychiatry which has expanded into a major enterprise. Dr. Looney is also the Emeritus Director of the Duke Substance Treatment Program for Youth and the Emeritus Director of the Duke Center for Psychiatry and Law. He is Board Certified in many areas: 1) General Psychiatry, 2) Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 3) Addiction Psychiatry, 4) Forensic Psychiatry, and 5) Administrative Psychiatry. Dr. Looney has been selected for Fellowship in the major honorary organizations in American Psychiatry, and is President Elect of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.

Dr. Looney’s primary interest is in the mental health of college students– helping them develop management skills to be successful in college. Out of that interest he developed the first alcohol and substance abuse program for young people in an academic division of child psychiatry in the United States.

Dr. Looney received Professor Emeritus status in 2015. In 2016, he was elected President of the Southern Psychiatric Association. He remains active at Duke and in the Department with his primary efforts being in the Consortium for the Study of The American College Student and Duke Forensic Psychiatry Associates. He does external consultation in his areas of interest.

Education

• M.D. 1969 - University of Texas at Dallas
• B.M.S. 1966 - Dartmouth College