Health Sciences

Ron Manderscheid, Ph.D.
Director, Mental Health and
Substance Use Programs

Dr. Ronald Manderscheid has more than 30 years of experience in the fields of mental health and substance abuse. He currently serves as the Director of Mental Health and Substance Use Programs for Constella. Dr. Manderscheid leads a program area that includes development, demonstrations and research projects in the areas of mental health and substance use.

Dr. Manderscheid came to Constella after retiring from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), where he served in a variety of leadership roles, most recently as Chief of the Survey and Analysis Branch within the Center for Mental Health Services.

Dr. Manderscheid's federal career has spanned a broad range of activities. He previously served as chief of mental health services research, mental health statistics, and evaluation research programs at the National Institute of Mental Health, before later becoming the chief of mental health statistics and IT at the Center for Mental Health Services within SAMHSA. He also served as a senior policy advisor on health care reform in the office of the Health and Human Services (HHS) Assistant Secretary for Health.

Dr. Manderscheid is a recognized national and international thought leader in mental health and substance use and has numerous published works. He was principal editor and a co-author for the last eight editions of Mental Health, United States, spanning 1987 to 2004, and he has produced a very large number of scientific articles and white papers, which have been published in a broad array of peer-reviewed publications, including Preventing Chronic Disease,The Journal of Behavioral Health Services and Research, Psychiatric Services, and Archives of General Psychiatry, among others. Dr. Manderscheid is also a regular contributor to Behavioral Healthcare and serves on the editorial boards of numerous publications in public and mental health.

Dr. Manderscheid is a regular keynote speaker at industry functions and has received numerous awards for his contributions to the fields of mental health and substance abuse including the American College of Mental Health Administration's Distinguished Service Award and Saul Feldman Lifetime Achievement Award, the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Lifetime Achievement Award, and the 2006 Excellence in Public Service Award, given by the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare. He is particularly noted for his work with the consumer and family communities and for introducing consumer participation in Federal workgroups and consumer assessments of mental health care services. Such assessments are now commonplace in the field.

Dr. Manderscheid has been elected Chairperson of the Mental Health Section, American Public Health Association; President of the Washington Academy of Sciences; President of the District of Columbia Sociological Society; and President of the Federal Executive Institute Alumni Association.

Currently, Dr. Manderscheid also serves as Adjunct Professor in the Department of Mental Health, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland.