April 18, 2003

ROMNEY NAMES DR. CHILDS MENTAL HEALTH COMMISSIONER

Governor Mitt Romney today announced the appointment of Dr. Elizabeth Childs, the president of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Hospital, as Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) effective July 1.

Dr. Childs’s background in psychiatry is critical to provide sensitive and appropriate services to many of the most vulnerable citizens in the Commonwealth,” Romney said. My Administration and the people we serve are fortunate to have her leading the way.”

Dr. Childs has served as the president of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society since last year and is currently the director and chief of psychiatry at Caritas Carney Hospital in Dorchester.

Dr. Childs thanked Romney for the opportunity to serve in his Administration, saying, I relish the challenge to not only meet the high standards established by the Department, but to elevate our level of care. Even in difficult financial times, our commitment to those with mental illness must and will be unwavering.”

The magna cum laude graduate of Mount Holyoke College graduated from the University of Cincinnati Medical School in 1986. She performed postdoctoral work at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center in both child and adult psychiatry.

Prior to heading up the Carney psychiatry department, Dr. Childs worked as a child psychiatrist for the M.I.T. Health Plan and has also been affiliated with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Children’s Hospital, Gaebler Children’s Center in Waltham, Winthrop Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, New England Deaconess Hospital and the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Dr. Childs has also served as a lecturer at Harvard University Medical School and for the past 11 years has supervised Boston University Medical School students.

Dr. Kenneth Duckworth, who trained with Dr. Childs at Massachusetts Mental Health Center and was formerly the DMH deputy commissioner for clinical and professional services, has served as acting commissioner since January. He will return to a more clinical role after Dr. Childs assumes her new post.

We’re grateful to Dr. Duckworth for his exceptional leadership during this transition and the meaningful contributions he has made toward the reorganization of this secretariat,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Ronald Preston. His work on the DMH mortality study and the creation of environments that relied on clinical creativity rather than coercion have proven invaluable.”

DMH serves about 27,000 adults, adolescents and children through an array of inpatient and community-based services. It also provides services targeted to people with serious mental illness who are homeless. DMH forensic specialists annually perform more than 9,000 evaluations in the adult courts, and provide consultation, evaluation and treatment services for 3,000 children and families involved in the juvenile court system.