Altha Stewart, MD, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC), is the new president-elect of the American Psychiatric Association (APA).

She is the first African American to lead the more than 37,000-member organization, which sets policy, establishes practice guidelines, and represents the field of psychiatry nationally and internationally.

Stewart, who is also chief of Social and Community Psychiatry at UTHSC, will serve as president-elect beginning in May, and will assume the role of president in May 2018.

A native Memphian, Stewart grew up in South Memphis, graduated from public and parochial schools, and was among the first class of women admitted to what is now Christian Brothers University. She received her medical degree from Temple University Medical School in Philadelphia, and did her residency at Hahnemann University Hospital there.