Thomas F. Anders, M.D., AACAP President, interviews Mary Jane England, M.D.
Friday, October 26
11:15 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Mary Jane England, M.D., is President of Regis College, Weston, Massachusetts, her own alma mater (class of 1959). Taking her medical degree from Boston University in 1964, she launched a national and international career as a child psychiatrist, the first commissioner of the Department of Social Services in Massachusetts (1979-83), associate dean and director of the Lucius N. Littauer Master in Public Administration Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1983-87), president of the American Psychiatric Association (1995-96) and the American Women’s Medical Association (1986-87), and corporate CEO (Prudential, 1987-90,Washington Business Group on Health, 1990-2001). During this time Dr. England also started a family, and she is the mother of three (two daughters and a son) and grandmother of two.
In March 2002, Dr. England was sought out to become a member of the blue-ribbon taskforce of professional experts in the new Commission for the Protection of Children in the troubled Archdiocese of Boston. During 2003, she received an Action for Boston Community Development award in Boston for her community service and outstanding contributions to protecting at-risk children and families. Early in 2004, she received both the annual Elizabeth Blackwell Award for a distinguished American woman physician from the American Women’s Medical Association and also the Saul Feldman Award at the Summit of the American College of Mental Health Administration. During 2004-2005, Dr. England chaired the IOM (Institute of Medicine) committee that produced the “Crossing the Quality Chasm” report on adaptation to mental health and substance use in the autumn of 2005. Currently, Dr. England continues to serve on the Board of Visitors of the Boston University School of Medicine, Mrs. Rosalynn Carter’s Task Force on Mental Health, and the National Academies/IOM Board on Children and Families. This past year, as the nation explores the needs of higher education in this century, Dr. England has begun a term on the Commission on Effective Leadership (2006-2009) in the American Council on Education.
Under her leadership at Regis College, she has adopted a “case for growth” that includes going co-ed on the undergraduate level, developing a two-school model, expanding graduate programs to serve the needs of the healthcare industry, and reimagining the curriculum for students of the 21st century. In the wake of the Virginia Tech tragedy in the spring of 2007, Dr. England’s Op-Ed, written from the perspective of both a college president and a psychiatrist and published in The Boston Herald, confirmed her leadership role with other Massachusetts educators addressing issues of campus safety.
