Psychiatric Diagnosis and Misdiagnosis: Persisting Racial Disparity

William B. Lawson, MD, PhD, DFAPA, is professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Howard University since 2000. He is a world-renowned expert in minority mental health issues. His distinguished career spans nearly 25 years of education, research, and psychiatric practice in universities and colleges of medicine, state, and federal mental health facilities. He also served as chief of psychiatry at the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Administration Medical Center in Indianapolis and chief medical officer in the Department of Mental Health for the State of Tennessee. Dr. Lawson is recipient of numerous awards and honors. These include serving as president for Washington Psychiatric Association and Black Psychiatrist of America, being listed twice by Black Enterprise magazine as one of the nation¿s leading physicians, the American Psychiatric Association¿s first annual Jeanne M. Spurlock Minority Fellowship Achievement Award, and the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill outstanding psychiatrist award.