Keynote Speakers

DAY 1: Sherry Glied, Ph.D., Professor and Chair in the Department of Health Policy and Management of Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Dr. Glied holds a B.A. in economics from Yale University, an M.A. in economics from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. in economics from Harvard University. In 1992-1993, Dr. Glied served as a Senior Economist for health care and labor market policy to the President's Council of Economic Advisers, under President Bush and President Clinton. She was a participant in President Clinton's Health Care Task Force and headed work groups on global budgets and on the economic impacts of the health plan. Her work in mental health policy has focused on the problems of women and children. She is a member of the MacArthur Foundation’s Network on Mental Health Policy. She is co-author (with Richard Frank) of Better but Not Well: Mental Health Policy in the US Since 1950, published by Johns Hopkins University Press in July 2006. Dr. Glied is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a research associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research.

DAY 2: Victoria Maxwell, BFA, Mental Health Educator, Consultant, Actor and Writer. Victoria Maxwell is a highly regarded educator and consultant on the “lived experience” of mental illness and recovery, early detection of depression, reducing stigma and creating corporate mental health strategies. After her diagnosis of bipolar disorder and psychosis, she became extremely proactive in her recovery process. She combines her theatre background, personal experience of psychiatric illness and professional knowledge as a group facilitator and mental health worker, to give a unique and powerful “insiders” perspective on dealing with depression and other mental illnesses. Her critically acclaimed one-woman show Crazy For Life, her true-life story about accepting and living with a psychiatric disorder, tours internationally.