National Council adds new leadership

The National Council for Behavioral Health will introduce its first medical director, Joseph Parks, MD, and its recently named vice president of addictions and recovery, Tom  Hill, at its annual conference in Seattle in April.

A practicing psychiatrist and state policymaker, Parks has experience translating clinical practices into policy recommendations. He recently contributed a guest blog to BHE, discussing proposed federal policy for Medicaid.

In his home state of Missouri, Parks served as the director of the Missouri Division of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services and as the Missouri Medicaid director, leading development of the nation’s first approved Medicaid plan for health homes for people with serious mental illness. He later expanded the concept to community mental health centers and federally qualified health centers.

Earlier this month, National Council also announced that Tom Hill has joined the organization as its vice president of addictions and recovery.

In recovery for 25 years, Hill is an experienced professional who had a prior role as the acting director of the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment at SAMHSA and as senior advisor to the SAMHSA administrator. Other previous experience includes a role as the director of programs for Faces and Voices of Recovery.