Phyllis Harrison-Ross
From Philosopedia
Harrison-Ross, Phyllis (19 - )
With more than 35 years in the Community Mental Health profession, Dr. Phyllis Harrison-Ross has had a diverse career as a Hospital Clinical Administrator, Researcher, Academician, Public Health Consultant, Forensic and Child Psychiatrist, and Public Educator. Trained as an Adult and Child Psychiatrist as well as a Pediatrician, she continues to lend her administrative and clinical talents to serving the diverse, hard-to-reach and underserved populations of Greater New York City.
From start-up in 1973 to its present 200-bed/two satellite clinic facility, Dr. Harrison-Ross was at the helm of the Metropolitan Hospital Community Mental Health Center as its Director and Chief of Psychiatry. In addition she was the Associate Medical Director of Metropolitan Hospital and President of the Medical Board.
She led a multi-disciplinary staff of 600, including physicians, nurses, psychologists, teachers, mental hygiene therapy aids, vocational rehabilitation counselors and occupational therapists. This municipal Psychiatric Center serves a population of 1 million persons in the Midtown, Upper East Side and Harlem areas of Manhattan and provides adult and child mental health services in in-patient, ambulatory,clinic, and community settings. Additional programs under her jurisdiction included Drug, Alcoholism and AIDS Treatment; Psychiatric Community Support Services; Education and Consultation Services for Police, Court and Prison personnel; and multiculturally focused Medical Education, Training and Research. She oversaw the transition from a traditional fee-for-service hospital based program to a managed care ready program.
As an outgrowth of her directorship responsibilities, in 1975, she helped form the New York City Federation of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Alcoholism Services whose mission was to plan and develop a range of citywide policies and programs for populations at high risk. Within this umbrella organization, Dr. Harrison-Ross held various roles as Citywide Chairperson; Chairperson of NYC Directors of Psychiatry in Municipal Hospitals (1986-1992); Chairperson of Minority Advisory Committee of NYS Office of Mental Health (1979-1988) and currently is an Honorary Director of NYS Alliance for Mentally Ill (1993-present).
As former Psychiatric Director of the Therapeutic Nursery School/Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Clinic at Rose F. Kennedy Center for Mental Retardation & Human Development (Albert Einstein College of Medicine), she pioneered rehabilitative and therapeutic programs which enabled children with severe physical, emotional and developmental disabilities to be mainstreamed into public school classes. The positive results of her work came to the attention of State officials, thus launching her career in public service. In 1968 she was commissioned to implement educational projects similar to her pilot program on a Statewide basis and was also appointed by Governor Rockefeller to the NYS Fleischmann Commission to study Quality, Cost and Financing of Primary and Secondary Education, especially programs for Children with Special Needs. The latter project took Dr. Harrison-Ross to Special School sites throughout the U.S. and Europe where she extrapolated observations and developed research leading to recommendations for New York State Policy on Children with Special Educational needs.
At about the same time President Richard Nixon appointed her to the President's Advisory Council on Drug Abuse Prevention where she helped set national policy.
From there on consulting positions abounded. In the 1970's for example, she served as an advisor to the Boards of Education of De Kalb County, Georgia, and Jacksonville, Florida. She was a Consultant to the National Institute of Mental Health regarding Community Disaster Assessment and Treatment following the murders of Black children in Atlanta, Georgia. More than 10 years and several public advisory commission positions later, Dr. Phyllis Harrison-Ross, once again was summoned to the NIMH when, in 1987, she was among three nationwide Finalists recommended to President Regean for the position of Director by the nationally convened search committee.
In 1976, Dr. Harrison-Ross was appointed by Governor Rockfeller to serve as a Forensic Psychiatrist on the Medical Review board of the New York State Commission of Corrections. She was reappointed by subsequent Governors - in 2000 by New York Governor George Pataki - and continues her work today, tracking/trending medical issues and causes of deaths, making recommendations for improving the delivery of health care to confined, pre-trial detainees and sentenced offenders, and developing training programs and initiatives for correctional officials and prison health care providers. She is also responsible for following through on complaints and grievances relating to health care in the prison system; monitoring and studying the demographics of AIDS and mental illnesses in the New York prisons; and advocating for and developing minimum health standards in the system. She has written several textbook chapters and articles on prison health, most recently regarding the fastest growing and most inadequately treated incarcerated group, i.e. women prisoners.
Of the numerous public educational and teaching projects Dr. Phyllis Harrison-Ross has been involved in, she has said that she is proudest of her role as Principal Investigator for MERTI (Multicultural Education, Research and Training Institute of the New York Medical College at Metropolitan Hospital Center. Funded by the NYS Office of Mental Health , the institute, under her direction, published articles, monographs, literature searches and training videos and provided training programs statewide and nationally. No stranger to the Media, Dr. Harrison-Ross, was Moderator of her own parent-education television series "All About Parents" in the early 1970s. She was also Executive Producer of a TV/Crosswalks program called "The Delivery of Mental Health Services in the General Health Care Sector."
She is the author of two books: The Black Child (1978) and Getting it Together (1973).
The recipient of numerous awards and citations, she is a Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, is a former president of the Black Psychiatrists of America, and also served as an elected member of the Governing Council of the American Hospital Association until 1998.
Dr. Harrison-Ross is Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health Services at the New York Medical College having previously held academic positions at Columbia University School of Social Work, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, and Cornell Medical College. She has also serviced on the Boards of Children's Television Workshop (Producers of Sesame Street, etc.), the Dance Theatre of Harlem and its Detroit Residency Committee, the Editorial Board of the New York Amsterdam News, Caraco Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., the Medical Health and Research Association of New York, and is on the board of the New York Society for Ethical Culture. Somehow, she finds time for a private practice in psychiatry.
