The 2017 Duncan Clark Lecture: “Mental Health Reform: A Decisive Moment. Insights into Moving Forward" with Herbert Pardes, MD

The reality is unassailable: by 2020 mental health disorders will surpass all physical diseases as the major cause of disability worldwide. This directly impacts each one of us, as healthcare practitioners and as citizens. After decades of work and research, we are still a nation that faces many challenges in prevention and provision of high quality care for people with mental illnesses. Despite those challenges, research described by 84 of the nation’s experts is in a most productive and optimistic phase. The question is how to act on our knowledge to make the 21st century the decisive moment when we significantly reduce the health burden of mental diseases.

Dr. Herb Pardes brings a unique perspective to this issue, given his breadth of experience and lifelong commitment to advancing the field. Among many other accomplishments, Dr. Pardes was director of the NIMH between 1978-1984, working closely with Rosalynn Carter and The President's Commission on Mental Health. He has chaired three psychiatry departments and served as President of the APA, Dean of Columbia University’s Medical School and President and CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian.  He is an esteemed pioneer in mental health care and policy. In his Duncan Clark address, Dr. Pardes will review the U.S. approach to mental health care over the past 70 years, what has been learned, discuss current exciting new research into prevention and treatment, and discuss options for ongoing progress in service delivery, financing and policy. His insights will help stimulate action to improve the mental health of individuals and our nation.

About the Speaker

After serving from January 2000 through September 2011 as President and Chief Executive Officer of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital and the New York-Presbyterian Healthcare System Dr. Pardes became Executive Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital.  Under his leadership, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital escalated to one of the highest ranked hospitals and comprehensive health care institutions in the United States.

Dr. Pardes has been an outspoken proponent for academic medicine, medical research, children’s health education, mental health, access to care, humanism and empathy in care delivery, Information Technology and medicine.

He has chaired three different departments of psychiatry at Downstate Medical Center, the University of Colorado and Columbia University.  He served from 1989 to 2000 as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and Vice President for Health Sciences.  A noted psychiatrist, he served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health and the United States Assistant Surgeon General during the Carter and Reagan Administrations.  He was also President of the American Psychiatric Association.

He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and has received the United States Army Commendation Medal as well as being the recipient of the Sarnat International Prize for leadership in the field of mental health.

He has served on commissions related to health policy appointed by Presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton including the Presidential Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Healthcare Industry and the Commission on Systemic Interoperability.  He serves on the NYeC Board Executive Committee for Information Technology, and is Vice Chairman of the New York Genome Center.  He is former Chairman of the Greater New York Hospital Association, the Hospital Association of New York (which on whose Board he continues to sit), the Association of American Medical Colleges and the New York Association of Medical Schools.

The 2017 Duncan Clark Lecture was presented by Dr. Herbert Pardes on November 14. His talk, "Mental Health Reform: A Decisive Moment. Insights Into Moving Forward" can be found here.