Dr. Ann Marie Sullivan is currently the Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health. As commissioner, she is responsible for a multi-faceted mental health system that serves more than 700,000 individuals each year. The Office of Mental Health (OMH) operates psychiatric centers across the state, and oversees more than 4,500 community based programs. As commissioner, she has guided the transformation of the state hospital system in its emphasis on recovery and expansion of community based treatment, reinvesting over 90 million dollars in community services, implemented the incorporation of critical recovery services for the seriously mentally ill in the Medicaid benefit plan, and expanded services for the mentally ill in the criminal justice system and in community reentry.

Previously, she was the Senior Vice President for the Queens Health Network of the New York City Health and Hospitals, responsible for Elmhurst and Queens Hospital Centers, two public hospitals which serve a community of over two million New York City residents. She has also served as Associate Director of Psychiatry and Medical Director of Ambulatory Care at the Gouverneur Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Manhattan, NYC.

Dr. Sullivan grew up in Queens, New York City. She graduated from NYU and its School of Medicine and completed her psychiatric residency at New York University / Bellevue Hospital in 1978. Dr. Sullivan, is a distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and has served as the Speaker of the American Psychiatric Association’s Assembly. She is a clinical professor at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and a member of the American College of Psychiatrists.

Dr. Sullivan is an active advocate for her patients and her profession, and has published and lectured on best practices in community psychiatry. Her maternal great-grandparents were born in Ireland. They settled in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City.

“My mom and my grandmother were strong Irish women who were role models for my sister and me. My mom always encouraged us to follow our dreams and made sure we had strong family values and a good education. Mom had never been to Ireland, so my sister and I went with her when she was eighty years old. While we didn’t know any family there, all who we met made us feel like family! Mom treasured that trip!” ♦