Press Releases
03/30/2015
Gov. Malloy Selects Dr. Miriam Delphin-Rittmon to Head State’s Mental Health and Addiction Services Department
(HARTFORD, CT) - Governor Dannel P. Malloy today announced that he is nominating Dr. Miriam E. Delphin-Rittmon of Meriden to serve as Commissioner of the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (DMHAS).
Dr. Delphin-Rittmon currently serves as Deputy Commissioner of the state agency, where she also previously held the titles of Senior Policy Advisor and Director of the department's Office of Multicultural Healthcare Equity. She has been serving as Acting Commissioner of DMHAS since earlier this month, following the departure of Patricia Rehmer from the position.
"Dr. Delphin-Rittmon has a significant amount of professional experience concerning psychiatric and substance use conditions, receiving national recognition for advancing policy development in these areas. She has already helped serve the State of Connecticut at DMHAS for years and will continue providing support for Connecticut's most vulnerable populations," Governor Malloy said. "Her leadership will benefit the state, and I'm glad that she will bring this experience to ensure that these services are provided to the people of Connecticut."
In May 2014, Dr. Delphin-Rittmon completed a two-year White House appointment working as a Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While at SAMHSA, she worked on a range of policy initiatives addressing behavioral health equity, workforce development, and healthcare reform.
"I would like to thank Governor Malloy and Lt. Governor Wyman for the appointment as Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, and the opportunity to serve the State of Connecticut" said Dr. Delphin-Rittmon. "Our state is widely recognized as a national leader because of the quality behavioral health system we have. It is an honor to be selected to lead a system that promotes many pathways to recovery, integration of behavioral and physiological health, and works to eliminate the discrimination of those we serve."
Dr. Delphin-Rittmon has served as an Assistant Professor with the Yale School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry. In this role, her professional and research interests have included system-level strategic planning and policy development geared towards eliminating health disparities and promoting recovery oriented care; and individual, organizational, and system level cultural competence including training, program design and evaluation.
She received her B.A. in Social Science from Hofstra University, her M.S. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical community psychology at Yale University.
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