Saul Levin

Between his qualification as a psychiatrist and his master's degree, Levin worked for the United States Department of Health and Human Services, where he was the coordinator of a program for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. When he finished his master's degree, he founded a healthcare consulting firm,^[2] Access Consulting International,^[1] which he headed for ten years.^[2] He then served as the president and CEO of Medical Education for South African Blacks, a U.S.-based charitable trust that offered scholarships to black South African healthcare students.^[1][2] He also served as the Vice President for Science, Medicine and Public Health in the American Medical Association.^[3]

In July 2012, Vincent C. Gray, then Mayor of the District of Columbia, appointed Levin as interim director of the District of Columbia Department of Health.^[2] A year later, in mid-2013, Levin was named the CEO and medical director of the American Psychiatric Association (APA);^[4] since joining the association in 1987 he had served on several APA committees.^[2]

Levin is openly gay.^[2][5] His appointment as the CEO and medical director of the APA made him the first openly gay person to hold the position,^[5] and possibly the first openly gay person to lead an American national medical specialty society.^[3]