Mark R. Munetz, M.D., Distinguished Fellow

Mark R. Munetz, M.D., is a Distinguished Fellow with Peg’s Foundation and Professor and Chair Emeritus of Psychiatry at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED). Prior to his retirement on Dec. 31, 2019, he served for 13 years as Professor and The Margaret Clark Morgan Chair of Psychiatry at NEOMED. 

He previously directed community psychiatry training at NEOMED and served as medical director for the County of Summit Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health (ADM) Services Board from 1992- 2012. Dr. Munetz oversaw the Ohio Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence, the Ohio Program for Campus Safety and Mental Health and the Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment (BeST) Center, all at NEOMED. He has held faculty positions at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Massachusetts and Case Western Reserve University. In his role with the Summit County ADM Board, Dr. Munetz helped develop and sustain an outpatient civil commitment program, one of the first in Ohio. Dr. Munetz also helped plan, implement and study jail diversion programs for individuals with serious mental disorders, including the Crisis Intervention Team program and mental health courts. 

Dr. Munetz is the co-developer of the Sequential Intercept Model (SIM), a framework to help communities reduce criminal justice involvement of individuals with serious mental disorders. The SIM has been widely adopted throughout the U.S. and is the basis for work supported by the Bureau of Justice Assistance and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Dr. Munetz also helped plan and support implementation of coordinated specialty care programs, known as FIRST programs, for individuals experiencing their first episode of psychosis, throughout Ohio.