Bertram Brown Papers

Dr. Bertram S. Brown was a key figure in the national effort to redefine and expand mental health services during the 1960s and 1970s. Dr. Brown's distinguished federal career at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) helped shape many of the decisions which led to these changes. His tenure at NIMH culminated in his appointment as the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health in 1970. Dr. Brown served under the successive administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Richard M. Nixon. During this period, federal legislation expanded mental health care to more of the mentally ill while at the same time shifted responsibility for care from large state institutions to smaller community facilities with local control.

Dr. Brown's success was preceded by, and in large part the result of, a combination of talents and varied interests as a boy and student growing up in Brooklyn, New York. Dr. Brown was born in 1931 and received his early education at both public and private schools. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School to learn a mechanical trade and studied piano at the Juillard School of Music in New York City. Instead of pursuing a trade or studying music, however, Dr. Brown decided on a medical career. He attended Brooklyn College, tuition-free, in the post-War WWII years and received his B.A. degree in 1952. In 1956, he earned his M.D. from Cornell University Medical College. At Cornell, Dr. Brown became interested in the political and regional issues which affect the delivery of health services and decided to add public health training to his education. Dr. Brown combined the study of medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, and public health from 1956 through 1960, and earned a Masters in Public Health from Harvard University School of Public Health in 1960. After completing an internship at Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics (1956-1957), Dr. Brown became a Resident and Teaching Fellow at the Massachusetts Mental Health Center (1957-1960).

Upon completion of his medical training, Dr. Brown began his federal career as a commissioned officer in the Public Health Service and spent his first year at the Mental Health Study Center, NIMH in Prince George's County, Maryland. In 1961, at the request of President John Kennedy, Dr. Brown was asked to assist with a national effort to combat mental retardation in the Nation. From 1961 through 1963, Dr. Brown helped establish the President's Panel on Mental Retardation and assisted in preparing a report titled A Proposed Program for National Action to Combat Mental Retardation. He also served as the President's Special Assistant for Mental Retardation. Dr. Brown's special expertise and other interests led to other special federal appointments, including Special Assistant to the Secretary of HEW for Drug Abuse Prevention, The President's Commission on the Administration of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, and President's Commission on the Causes and Prevention of Violence.

Dr. Brown served in increasingly responsible positions at NIMH until he was appointed Director in 1970. His positions at NIMH were Special Assistant for Extramural Programs (1961-1963); Special Assistant to the Director (1963-1964); Chief, Community Mental Health Facilities Branch (1964-1966); Associate Director for Mental Health Service Programs (1966); and Deputy Director (1967-1970). As Chief of the Community Mental Health Facilities Branch he spearheaded the effort to build local treatment facilities for the mentally ill from 1964 to 1966. As NIMH's Deputy Director and Director, Dr. Brown became well regarded on the speaker's circuit. He traveled throughout the country speaking to local community groups, research institutions, academia, professional associations, and state governments on the federal role in providing mental health services. At NIMH, Dr. Brown was also significantly involved in implementing the Community Mental Health Act of 1963 and promoting passage of federal legislation to fight drug abuse from 1969 through 1971 while at NIMH.

After Dr. Brown left public service in 1978, his knowledge of the federal role in promoting and expanding mental health services led him to serve in a number of advisory and consulting capacities. From 1978 through 1980, he was a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center, Smithsonian Institution and later a Senior Psychiatrist at the Rand Corporation. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Horizon Health Group, Inc., and was President and Chief Executive Office of Hahnemann University from 1983 through 1987.

Dr. Brown's awards include, among many, the Arthur S. Fleming Award in 1969, Meritorious Service Award from the United States Public Health Service in 1975, and the Maimonides award of the Anti-Defamation League B'nai B'rith in 1986.