Stephen H. Feinstein, Ph.D., of Kansas Elected NAMI National Board President

Posted on August 11, 2009

Washington,D.C. — Stephen H. Feinstein, Ph.D., of Louisburg, Kansas is the new president of the National Alliance on Mental Illness board of directors.

Feinstein served on the national board for the past five years and previously was president of NAMI Kansas. An experimental psychologist, he worked as a behavioral scientist, state government executive and consultant  in both the private and the public sectors. He also served as superintendent of state psychiatric hospitals in Oregon and Kansas.

"President Obama and Congress are engaged in a monumental struggle to achieve health care reform and in that context states are struggling to reform their own broken, fragmented mental health care systems," Feinstein said.

"This can be a turning point for mental health in America and I welcome the challenge of leading NAMI's national efforts to make the treatment of mental illness a vital part of health care reform."

Last month, NAMI's national convention elected Henry Acosta of New Jerset, Lynda Cutrell of Massachusetts, Ralph Nelson of California and Jim Payne of Virginia as new board members. Incumbent Dave Lushbaugh of Georgia was re-elected for a second term. The new board then elected its officers at the convention.

NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization, representing individuals and families affected by serious mental illnesses. Founded in 1979, NAMI has affiliates in every state and in more than 1,100 local communities across the country, engaged in support, education and advocacy.