Altha Stewart | |
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Born | |
Academic background | |
Education | BA, biology, 1973, Christian Brothers University M.D., Temple University School of Medicine |
Academic work | |
Institutions | University of Tennessee Health Science Center |
Altha Jeanne Stewart is an American psychiatrist. In 2015,Stewart was recruited by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center to establish and direct the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth. While there,she became the first African American president of the American Psychiatric Association.
Stewart was born and raised in South Memphis,Memphis,Tennessee [1] to a librarian mother and civil service father. [2] Growing up,she attended Carver High School and Sacred Heart High School for Girls. [3] Following high school,she was among the first class of women admitted to Christian Brothers University before earning her medical degree from Temple University School of Medicine and completing her residency in general psychiatry at Temple University School of Medicine. [1] Stewart was later named to the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association's Hall of Fame by CBU [4] and earned an honorary degree from Regis College. [5]
Following her medical degree,residency,and fellowship,Stewart served as the City of Philadelphia's Department of Public Health's medical director from 1983 to 1991. [6] She was then appointed to the rank of senior deputy commissioner for the New York State Office of Mental Health &Alcoholism Services. [7] From there,Stewart served as the executive director for the Detroit-Wayne Community Mental Health Agency from 1999 to 2002. [8] Upon moving back to Memphis,Stewart managed a federal grant for Shelby County,which focused on children with mental illness and their risk for going into the juvenile justice system. By 2011,she was appointed the executive director of the Just Care Family Network where she became an advocate for youth and families. [9]
Stewart eventually left the public sector and was recruited by the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) to establish and direct the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth. While serving in this role,she was selected to direct Phase II of Shelby Count's initiative,which was referred to as Defending Childhood Shelby. [10] As a result of her efforts,Stewart received the 2017 James G. Hughes Community Advocate Award from the Memphis Child Advocacy Center [11] and was honored as a Memphis Legend. [12] Beyond UTHSC,Stewart is also active within the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and served on their Board of Trustees,Conflict of Interest Committee and the Minority Fellowship Selection Committee,and Joint Reference Committee and the Council on Advocacy and Government Relations. [13]
In 2018,Stewart was appointed the first African American to lead the APA as president,for a one-year term. [13] Upon stepping down,she was named the senior associate dean for Community Health Engagement in the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. [14] In 2021,Stewart joined the Jed Foundation Advisory Board to advise on strategies in mental health and suicide prevention. [15] She also joined the University of Tennessee College of Social Work's Board of Visitors. [16] Later that year,Stewart received the Solomon Carter Fuller Award from the APA as a "Black citizen who has pioneered in an area that has significantly improved the quality of life for Black people." [17]
Shelby County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census,the population was 929,744. It is the largest of the state's 95 counties,both in terms of population and geographic area. Its county seat is Memphis,a port on the Mississippi River and the second most populous city in Tennessee. The county was named for Governor Isaac Shelby (1750–1826) of Kentucky. It is one of only two remaining counties in Tennessee with a majority African American population,along with Haywood County.
The University of Tennessee system is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is one of two public university systems,the other being the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR). It consists of four primary campuses in Knoxville,Chattanooga,Pulaski and Martin;a health sciences campus in Memphis;a research institute in Tullahoma;and various extensions throughout the state.
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) is a public medical school in Memphis,Tennessee. It includes the Colleges of Health Professions,Dentistry,Graduate Health Sciences,Medicine,Nursing,and Pharmacy. Since 1911,the University of Tennessee Health Science Center has educated nearly 57,000 health care professionals. As of 2010,U.S. News &World Report ranked the College of Pharmacy 17th among American pharmacy schools.
The Memphis Medical District is an area which was created to provide a central location for medical care,serving both Memphis and the Mid-South.
Carola Blitzman Eisenberg was an Argentine-American psychiatrist who became the first woman to hold the position of dean of students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1978 to 1990,she was the dean of student affairs at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She has for a long time been lecturer in the newly renamed Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at HMS. She was also both a founding member of Physicians for Human Rights and an honorary psychiatrist with the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston,a longstanding position there.
Patricia E. Deegan is an American disability-rights advocate,psychologist and researcher. She has been described as a "national spokesperson for the mental health consumer/survivor movement in the United States." Deegan is known as an advocate of the mental health recovery movement and is an international speaker and trainer in the field of mental health.
Jeffrey Alan Lieberman is an American psychiatrist who specializes in schizophrenia and related psychoses and their associated neuroscience (biology) and pharmacological treatment. He was principal investigator for CATIE,the largest and longest independent study ever funded by the United States National Institute of Mental Health to examine existing pharmacotherapies for schizophrenia. He was president of the American Psychiatric Association from May 2013 to May 2014.
The University of Tennessee College of Medicine is one of six graduate schools of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) in downtown Memphis. The oldest public medical school in Tennessee,the UT College of Medicine is a LCME-accredited member of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) and awards graduates of the four-year program Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees. The college's primary focus is to provide practicing health professionals for the state of Tennessee.
Phyllis Harrison-Ross was an American psychiatrist who pioneered programs for developmentally disabled and mentally ill children.
Karen C. Johnson is the chair for the Department of Preventive Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). She has been involved in at least five clinical world trials,including a Women's health initiative,the SPRINT Trial,the Look AHEADStudy,the TARGIT Study and the D2d Trial. She has been noted by Thomson Reuters as one of the world's most-cited scientists.
Memphis Greenspace Inc. is a non-profit corporation started in October 2017 in Memphis,Tennessee. The issue that led to its creation was the unanimous decision of the City Council of Memphis and Shelby County to remove statues of Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Nathan Bedford Forrest from public parks. However,under the new Tennessee Heritage Protection Act,they could not do so without permission from the Tennessee Historical Commission,which refused permission.
Abbas Eqbal Kitabchi was an Iranian-born American doctor,teacher,and research scientist,whose major contributions in the field of medicine related to the treatment of severe conditions arising from diabetes. He spent his professional career in Memphis,TN and his work influenced the practices of physicians around the nation and the world.
Clark Martin Blatteis,was a German-American biomedical researcher. After escaping Nazi Germany as a child,he became a distinguished professor in the field of physiology at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine in Memphis,Tennessee,where much of his work focused on discovering details of the mechanisms by which fevers develop.
Shelley White-Means is an American health economist who is a professor at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC),and director of the Consortium for Health Education,Economic Empowerment and Research (CHEER) at UTHSC. She is a past president of the National Economic Association.
Penny A. Asbell is an American ophthalmologist. As of 2018,she is the Barrett G. Haik Endowed Chair at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC) where she focuses her research on the treatment of dry eye syndrome.
David "Neil" Hayes is an American oncologist and physician-scientist. He is the Van Vleet Endowed Professor in Medical Oncology and the division chief of haematology and oncology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. As a result of his research,Hayes was elected a Member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation.
Peter F. Buckley is an American psychiatrist and university administrator who focuses on the neurobiology and treatment of schizophrenia. He received his medical degree from the University College Dublin School of Medicine in Ireland and joined the Medical College of Georgia in 2000 as chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior. During the period of 2010–2017 he served as dean of the college. Then he moved to Virginia Commonwealth University and was appointed dean of the school of medicine in 2017,a role in which he served until 2021. Buckley is senior author of a postgraduate textbook of psychiatry and editor-in-chief of Clinical Schizophrenia &Related Psychoses. He has published more than 500 scientific articles. He has served as chancellor of the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis,Tennessee since February 1,2022.
Carol Cooperman Nadelson is an American psychiatrist. In 1984,she was elected the first female president of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).
Ann King Cashion is an American nurse scientist specialized in genetic markers that predict clinical outcomes. She is a professor emerita in the department of health promotion/disease prevention at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. Cashion was the acting director of the National Institute of Nursing Research from 2018 to 2019.