Thomas Bornemann
Ed.D.
Director, Mental Health Program, The Carter Center
Dr. Thomas H. Bornemann became the Director of the Mental Health Program at The Carter Center under the leadership of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter on August 1, 2002. Prior to that he served as Senior Adviser for Mental Health in the Department of Mental Health and Substance Dependence of the World Health Organization. While at the World Health Organization, Dr. Bornemann worked on the development of the World Health Report which focused on Mental Health.
Dr. Bornemann has spent his entire career in public mental health working in all aspects including: clinical practice, research, research management, policy development and administration at the national level. Early in his career, Dr. Bornemann served in a psychiatric emergency clinic in San Francisco, CA. He has designed and developed a series of inpatient and outpatient services for a variety of populations including refugees at the National Institute of Mental Health. He was one of the leaders in developing a national mental health program for refugees. Dr. Bornemann served in the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of International Health as the Chief of Refugee Health Programs.
In 1994, Dr. Bornemann was appointed the Deputy Director of the Federal Center for Mental Health Services in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In that capacity, he had day-to-day responsibility for administering a national program which serves as the Federal focal point for mental health services. He was responsible for providing direction of a program of support to States and communities in service delivery, and in promoting knowledge development and application of best practices. During his tenure at the Center, Dr. Bornemann provided leadership in the development of the first ever Surgeon General’s Report on Mental Health.
Among his areas of interest, Dr. Bornemann has expertise in humanitarian assistance in refugee and disaster situations and has published and lectured extensively in these areas. He has an overarching interest in overcoming the barriers to the application of research findings to practice settings and the integration of mental health into the larger public health arena. He has consulted extensively domestically and internationally. He formerly held an academic appointment in the Department of International Health, Division of Health Systems in the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He received his doctorate in Counseling from the University of San Francisco. A career Public Health Officer, Dr. Bornemann retired at the rank of Assistant Surgeon General. Currently he holds an appointment in the Department of Health, Policy and Management in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.