Community Forum

Ron Manderscheid, Ph.D., has a life-long commitment to social-good and social-justice. This is reflected through a career that spans national work with the Congress and Administration, federal agencies, NGOs, and university teaching.

He serves currently as Partner and Director at Capstone Solutions Consulting Group, Adjunct Professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, and at the Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, University of Southern California. Until recently, he was President/CEO, National Association of County Behavioral Health and Developmental Disability Directors and National Association for Rural Mental Health. Both organizations represent county and local authorities in the DC community.

Concurrently, Dr. Manderscheid serves on the boards of the Global Leadership Exchange, the NASMHPD Research Institute, and the Danya Institute. He also served until recently as the Co-Chair of the National Coalition for Whole Health and on the boards of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and the National Grand Challenge for Social Work Initiative.

Past appointments include Director of Mental Health and Substance Use Programs at the Global Health Sector of SRA International and several federal leadership roles at the National Institute of Mental Health, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of HHS. Throughout his career, he has emphasized and promoted the concerns of peers with behavioral health conditions and their family members.   

Dr. Manderscheid was a Member of the HHS Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Healthy People 2020; the Clinton Healthcare Reform Task Force; President of the Federal Executive Institute Alumni Association (FEIAA) and Foundation; Chair of the APHA Mental Health Section and Governing Council, and a member of the post-9/11 Work Group; Chairperson of the Sociological Practice Section of the American Sociological Association; President of the Washington Academy of Sciences and the District of Columbia Sociological Society; and President of The College for Behavioral Health Leadership.

He edited eight editions of Mental Health, United States, co-edited Outcome Measurement in the Human Services, and contributed to Public Mental Health, First and Second Editions. He also published more than 550 scientific and professional papers on services to persons with mental illness and substance use conditions. He currently serves on several editorial boards and prepares a periodic blog. For almost two decades, he served on the editorial board of Behavioral Healthcare Executive (www.behavioral.net).