Robert A. Mays Jr. PhD’85

Robert A. Mays, Jr. was a Colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Service Corps. He studied and treated the effects of stress, trauma, substance use, family violence, natural disasters and incarceration. Mays used his training to influence policy on the delivery of mental health services during critical events and significant circumstances of organizational change.

He was deputy director of administration for the Office for Research on Disparities and Global Mental Health and chief for the Office of Rural Mental Health Research, both for the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). Mays served on the National Advisory Mental Health Council at NIMH, conducting second level review of research grant applications, and prepared numerous reports addressing research education, training and the translation of mental health research into practice.

Mays was department chief at Landsthul Army Regional Medical Center, Germany and Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington D.C., and also served as director of the Behavioral Science Division at Walter Reed. While on continuous active duty as a behavioral science officer, he practiced as a licensed clinical social worker, licensed marriage and family therapist, board certified diplomate in clinical social work, researcher and academician on assignments in Vietnam, Panama, Germany and Thailand.

His experience as a mental health first responder in combat, police operations and correctional settings led to an appointment by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to serve as a civilian medical expert in mental health to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Mays was a member of the Federal Interagency Health Equity Team where he served as co-chair of the leadership subcommittee of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities.