Commissioner

New York State Office of Mental Health

Dr. Sullivan has served as Commissioner for the New York State Office of Mental Health since 2014. She is responsible for implementing Governor Kathy Hochul's landmark plan to transform the state's mental health system and expand access to care for all New Yorkers. To date, this initiative has invested more than $2 billion into dramatically expanding services, supports, and capacity across the state.

Under Dr. Sullivan's leadership, the mental health system in New York serves over 800,000 individuals each year and provides over 53,000 units of supportive housing for individuals living with mental illness. She has expanded preventive services for youth and families, increased the availability of treatment services across the lifespan and provided individuals living with serious mental illness the intensive supports and treatment needed to thrive in their communities.

Dr. Sullivan has focused on ensuring integrated care throughout the mental health system, addressing the stigma around mental health, fostering equity and inclusion and incorporating the presence of peers with lived experience throughout the service system. A few major initiatives during her tenure include the implementation of 988 and expansion of crisis services across the state, a focus on school based mental health services for our youth and a comprehensive engagement and housing program for individuals with serious mental illness living unsheltered in the community.

Dr. Sullivan previously served as senior vice president for the Queens Health Network of New York City Health and Hospitals, and Director of Psychiatry at Elmhurst and Queens Hospitals where she developed a comprehensive inpatient and ambulatory psychiatric service system, youth programs, substance use services, mobile outreach, and school-based programs.

A native of Queens, Dr. Sullivan graduated from New York University's Washington Square College and it's School of Medicine. She completed her Psychiatric Residency at New York University/Bellevue Hospital. She has taught, lectured, and published on best practices in community care and is an active advocate for her patients and her profession.

She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and has served as the speaker of the American Psychiatric Association's Assembly and on its Board of Trustees. She is a clinical professor at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and a member of the American College of Psychiatrists.