The 15th Annual Thomas A. Pitts Memorial Lectureship: 

Pitts Faculty include:

Raymond Anton, MD

Dr. Anton is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, and is the Director of the Center for Drug & Alcohol Programs and the Clinical Neurobiology Laboratories at MUSC. He is also Scientific Director for Clinical Research of the Charleston Alcohol Research Center, and is the Director of Psychopharmacology Research at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Charleston. He has received many awards and honors, and has authored hundreds of papers in the psychiatric and psychopharmacology literature.

Joseph D Bloom, MD

Dr. Bloom is Dean Emeritus of the School of Medicine and Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, Oregon Health & Science University, where he also served as chair of the Department of Psychiatry. He has served as Dean of the Drexel University College of Medicine, and is internationally recognized for his teaching, research and prolific writing in the fields of community and forensic psychiatry. He is a past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law, the American Board of Forensic Psychiatry, the Oregon Neuropsychiatric Association, and the Oregon Psychiatric Association.

Mark J. Cherry, PhD

Professor Cherry is the Dr Patricia A. Hayes Professor in Applied Ethics at St. Edward's University in Austin, Texas, and has been an active contributor to the bioethics literature. He serves as Associate Editor of The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, Associate Editor of Christian Bioethics, and Editor-in-Chief of HealthCare Ethics Committee Forum. He has written many scholarly articles in the field of health care ethics, and is the author of several books, most recently Kidney for Sale by Owner: Human Organs, Transplantation, and the Market.

M Carmela Epright, PhD

Professor Epright is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Furman University, and is a practicing bioethics consultant. Her research interests are in clinical bioethics, ethics, feminist philosophy, and social and political philosophy. Her publications include "Bioethics and Justice: Economics, Care, and Conflict," in Ethical Humanism, Bioethics, and Justice, and "Honoring Feminism's Past, Envisioning an Embodied Future," in "Feminism and The Body." At Furman she teaches courses in philosophy, ethics, medical ethics, and feminist theory.

Rikki Lynn Halavonich, MD

Dr. Halavonich is Assistant Professor in the Adult Psychiatry Division of the Department of Psychiatry at the Medical University of South Carolina, where she is Associate Director of the Fellowship in Forensic Psychiatry. Her special areas of interest are assessing competency to stand trial, criminal responsibility, violence and suicide risk, malingering, disability, and the recidivism risk of sexually violent predators. She has extensive experience in civil commitment evaluations for mental illness and substance dependence.

Robert Kinscherff, PhD, JD

Dr. Kinscherff is Clinical Associate in Psychology in the Department of Psychiatry of Harvard Medical School and Lecturer in Law at the School of Law of Boston University. He is a forensic psychologist and attorney, and currently serves as the Assistant Commissioner for Forensic Mental Health at the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. At the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology, he is the Director of the Forensic Psychology Specialization Track. He has chaired the Ethics Committee and the Legal Issues Committee of the American Psychological Association.

Robert TM Phillips, MD,PhD

Dr. Phillips is Medical Director of Forensic Consultation Associates, Inc., specializing in psychiatric consultations in civil and criminal litigation. He has extensive experience in civil and criminal cases including capital sentencing proceedings at the trial and appellate level, class action litigation, employment law and medical malpractice litigation. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a recent President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, and a member of the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association.

Jefferey A Schaler, PhD

Professor Schaler is Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice, Law and Society at American University's School of Public Affairs in Washington, D.C. His special interest is in how research in the behavioral sciences is interpreted and applied in public, social, and legal policy arenas, and writes and speaks extensively on the relationship between liberty and responsibility. He is Series Editor of the "Under Fire" series of Open Court Publishers in Chicago. He is the author of Addiction is a Choice, and his most recent edited book is Szasz Under Fire: The Psychiatric Abolitionist Faces His Critics.”

Howard Zonana, MD

Howard V. Zonana is Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University and Clinical Professor (Adjunct) of Law at Yale Law School. He is a forensic psychiatrist, and his many professional positions include Chair of the Bioethics Committee at New Haven Hospital, Director, Medical Director and President of the Medical Staff of the Connecticut Mental Health Center, Yale, and Medical Director of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. He is a past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law.

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