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SAMHSA News Room
Contact Media Services: (240) 276-2130

SAMHSA News Bulletin

Date: 4/5/2007
Media Contact: SAMHSA Press
Telephone: 240-276-2130

New Associate Director of Medical Affairs Will Support SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services

Kenneth S. Thompson, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, recently joined the staff of the Center for Mental Health Services at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) where he will serve as Associate Director of Medical Affairs.

In his new role as medical advisor to A. Kathryn Power, director of the Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) at SAMHSA, Dr. Thompson will provide comprehensive medical leadership in the diverse integrated planning, design and implementation actions that relate to CMHS programs and objectives.  In addition to providing medical consultation and assistance to CMHS programs, he will monitor the application of relevant American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association professional standards to CMHS policies and programs. 

A native of Pittsburgh, Dr. Thompson has worked for the past 15 years as a community psychiatrist in a wide variety of settings, including a primary care clinic, an HIV clinic, a state hospital, several disaster response teams, a homeless outreach team and a community mental health center.  He held an assortment of administrative, clinical and teaching positions within these settings.  Most recently he has worked with the Office of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services in Pennsylvania, providing psychiatric consultation to the Harrisburg State Hospital closure process. 

He has been a leader in the American Association of Community Psychiatrists and has been actively engaged in local, state and national efforts to support psychiatrists interested in public service, community mental health and transformation of mental health services to support recovery.  A community-engaged scholar and practitioner, he has served on the boards of numerous national and local professional and nonprofit organizations. 

Dr. Thompson received his AB degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, before working for a year as a mental health worker at Mclean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts.  He then attended Boston University School of Medicine on a National Health Service Corps Scholarship, graduating in 1982.  

Dr. Thompson is a recipient of the American Psychiatric Association’s Bruno Lima Award for his work addressing the mental health aspects of disasters and a recipient of the Chancellor’s Award for Public Service at the University of Pittsburgh.  He is a fellow of the International Center for Health Leadership Development at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

Dr. Thompson’s wife, Andrea Fox MD, is an internist/geriatrician.  He has three children, two golden retrievers and no hamsters, cats or fish.

SAMHSA is a public health agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. The agency is responsible for improving the accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation's substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment, and mental health services delivery system.


Page Last Updated: 4/5/2007