Board Member

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Altha J. Stewart, MD, to the Sozosei Foundation Board of Directors.

Dr. Stewart is a nationally recognized leader in psychiatry and the management of public mental health systems. She brings a wealth of experience in public and mental health advocacy and addressing health disparities. She has also been a stalwart and outspoken advocate for the decriminalization of mental illness, a focus of the Foundation’s efforts. Dr. Stewart’s expertise strengthens the Foundation’s mission to increase access to mental healthcare to eliminate the inappropriate use of jails and prisons for the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness.

Dr. Stewart serves as Senior Associate Dean for Community Health Engagement, Director of the Center for Youth Advocacy and Well-Being, and Director of the Division of Public and Community Psychiatry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). In her role at UTHSC, she oversees programs working to enhance access to primary care and behavioral health services to justice-involved persons and chronic disease management services in underserved communities.

Dr. Stewart’s distinguished career includes serving as President of the American Association for Community Psychiatry, as well as past presidencies at the Association of Women Psychiatrists, Black Psychiatrists of America, and the American Psychiatric Foundation. She was the first Black person to be elected president of the American Psychiatric Association. She has co-edited several critical volumes on mental health equity and diversity— Psychiatric Clinics of North America: Workforce and Diversity in Psychiatry (2022) and Achieving Mental Health Equity (2020) — and has authored works addressing the systemic challenges that contribute to health disparities in marginalized communities, including Black Mental Health: Patients, Providers, and Systems (2018).

Read the complete press release here.