Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz, a mother, daughter, sister, friend, and psychiatrist. Ellie served as the first Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and as the Administrator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 

She obtained her Ph.D. from Yale University with a specialty in Infectious Disease Epidemiology and is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. 

She is board certified in General Psychiatry and in Addiction Psychiatry and she is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry with more than 30 years as a clinician, teacher, clinical researcher, and government official. Dr. McCance-Katz has had a longstanding interest in improving health and mental health care for people with substance use disorders and serious medical and mental illness. 

Over the years, she has worked to establish best practices for the treatment of behavioral health conditions and has been able to successfully advocate for and implement policy changes that better serve this population.

She teaches at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University where she has the opportunity to interact with the next generation of psychiatrists and mental health professionals. Her clinical work is at the Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center providing care to veterans struggling with opioid use disorder and other mental health conditions. Her primary goal now is to work with and mentor other mental health professionals who will take careers in government so that the best and most informed healthcare policies can be implemented that will improve the lives of those with behavioral health conditions.