APRIL 2, 2013

Graduate School of Social Work Associate Professor Marylou Sudders has been appointed by Massachusetts House Speaker Robert DeLeo to a special advisory panel that will study and recommend possible legislative solutions to address gun violence.

The panel, which is comprised of legislators and experts in mental health, law enforcement and other related areas, is chaired by Northeastern University Associate Dean Jack McDevitt. Other members include Natick Police Chief James Hicks, Massachusetts General Hospital Associate Chief of Psychiatry John Herman, Revere Public Schools Superintendent Paul Dakin and attorney Raffi Yessayan, former chief of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Gang Unit.

Sudders, a former Massachusetts Commissioner of Mental Health, chairs the GSSW Health and Mental Health Concentration and focuses her teaching and research on mental health policy, children's mental health, mental health planning, and child abuse and neglect.  

"I appreciate that, with the creation of this panel, we are trying to have a thoughtful conversation about guns and mental illness, instead of reacting viscerally to events," said Sudders. "I am honored to play any part I can in aiding this dialogue."

Read more from the Boston College Chronicle »