Bios

DR. CHERYLL BOWERS-STEPHENS                                                                           

President and CEO
The Schopenhauer Group

Dr. Cheryll Bowers-Stephens is a licensed medical doctor and a board certified adult, child and adolescent psychiatrist who is the President and Chief Executive Officer of The Schopenhauer Group, a consulting firm specializing in community and organizational development, public policy research and executive coaching. In addition, she serves as the Principal Investigator for the State of Louisiana’s Children’s Mental Health Initiative (9.7 million dollars) and Early Childhood Supports and Services Program (3.75 million dollars).

As the former Commissioner of Mental Health in Louisiana she led the states mental health preplanning, response and immediate recovery from Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita. In this position, she laid the foundation for the transformation of Louisiana’s public mental health system in line with the objectives of the President’s New Freedom Commission and Governor Blanco’s Health Care Reform Plan.

Dr. Bowers-Stephens has extensive background and experience in strategic management fund development, public administration, program planning/implementation and treatment of special populations, such as infants and individuals with co-occurring mental illness and developmental disabilities. She previously served as the Medical Director of Infant, Children and Adolescent Services and the Developmental Neuropsychiatry Program in Louisiana.

On the national level, she currently serves as a member of President Bush’s Advisory Council on HIV-AIDS.

Appointed by former United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, she also now serves on the national Advisory Board to the Center for Mental Health Services for Mental Health and Substance Abuse Administration.

In addition, she was recently re-elected to the national board of directors for the American Academy of Community Psychiatrists.

She is clinical assistant professor at Tulane University Medical Center in the Department of Psychiatry and is also an adjunct assistant professor in management at the University of New Orleans.