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Executive Director

"The woeful failure to provide appropriate treatment and ongoing follow-up care has sent many individuals spinning through an endless revolving door of hospital admissions and readmissions, jails and public shelters," said Mary Zdanowicz, director of the Treatment Advocacy Center.
- Washington Post article, "Mentally Ill Need Care, Find Prison Without Treatment, Many Cycle In and Out of Jail"

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Mary Zdanowicz serves as founding executive director of the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC), a national nonprofit organization working to eliminate legal and clinical barriers to timely and humane treatment for millions of Americans with severe brain disorders. TAC works on the national, state, and local levels to educate civic, legal, criminal justice, and legislative communities on the benefits of assisted treatment in an effort to decrease homelessness, jailings, suicide, violence, and other devastating consequences caused by lack of treatment.

Ms. Zdanowicz has a sister and brother with schizophrenia and as a result, understands well the many inadequacies in today's mental health system. Prior to joining TAC in June 1998, Ms. Zdanowicz was an attorney in private practice in her home state of New Jersey. In addition to her litigation responsibilities with a leading law firm there, Ms. Zdanowicz devoted much of her time to advocating improved care and services for persons suffering from severe brain disorders.

Seeking appropriate care and treatment for those with severe psychiatric illnesses has, in fact, long been a priority for Ms. Zdanowicz. In 1995, for example, she challenged the government's right to close a statutorily mandated institution and brought suit against the state of New Jersey when the Governor and the Commissioner of Human Services announced the closure of the state's largest psychiatric hospital where her sister was then a patient.

She also has held numerous volunteer positions with diverse organizations, including vice president of the Mental Health Association of Monmouth County, New Jersey, a member of the Board of Trustees of NAMI New Jersey (formerly National Alliance of the Mentally Ill), and chairperson of the Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital Family Advisory Association where she established a partnership program in which family members regularly toured and monitored conditions at the hospital.

During this time, Ms. Zdanowicz was appointed to serve on the New Jersey Senate Accountability Monitoring Board for Quality Mental Health Treatment where she advised policymakers on issues impacting people with serious brain disorders. She also organized forums featuring mental illness experts and prominent media professionals.

Ms. Zdanowicz continues to regularly tour a state psychiatric hospital in New Jersey to monitor patient care and volunteer at a clubhouse program for individuals with severe brain disorders in Virginia. She believes it is essential, in her position, to maintain regular contact with individuals who are debilitated by the severest forms of mental illness such as schizophrenia and manic-depression.

MEMBERS OF THE PRESS Contact Alicia Aebersold for more information on interviewing Ms. Zdanowicz.

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