Danna Mauch, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Massachusetts Association for Mental Health (MAMH)
Recipient of the Rep. Byron Rushing Commitment to Housing Award
Danna Mauch, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Massachusetts Association for Mental Health (MAMH) to be Honored with the Rep. Byron Rushing Commitment to Housing Award
The Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance is pleased to announce the recipient of Rep. Byron Rushing Commitment to Housing Award: Danna Mauch, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Massachusetts Association for Mental Health (MAMH).
Danna Mauch’s advocacy has provided housing resources for people with serious mental illness, resulting in fewer people falling into homelessness, Safe Havens for persons experiencing homelessness, and support of the best practices in housing being implemented to end homelessness. For these and many more reasons we award her the Rep. Byron Rushing Commitment to Housing Award
The Rep. Byron Rushing Commitment to Housing Award is granted to people and organizations that work hands-on to provide innovative alternatives to homelessness. It recognizes those who provide time and resources toward ending homelessness instead of merely managing it. They recognize the humanity of each person experiencing homelessness, the systems that cause it, and lead others to do something about it.
Dr. Mauch brings organizational leadership, operations management, evaluation research, and strategic consulting experience gained in private and public sector enterprises to inform her public policy, knowledge dissemination, and legislative advocacy work for MAMH. She is dedicated to the MAMH mission – eliminating stigma and discrimination to ensure full social, economic, and political inclusion for people at risk for or living with behavioral health conditions. Throughout her career, her work has focused on providing community housing and services support to people who are otherwise at risk of homelessness, incarceration, and institutionalization.
Her prior service in the private sector includes ten years as Senior Fellow/Principal at Abt Associates, Inc. Dr. Mauch was Chief Administrative Officer for Comprehensive NeuroScience, Founding President and Chief Executive Officer for Magellan Public Solutions, Founder and President of Integrated Health Strategies, Homelessness Policy Project Director at MAMH; and Executive Director of Cambridge Somerville Community Residences. Dr. Mauch served government and private insurers, and health foundations, providing specialty health plan services or policy, evaluation, and implementation assistance in multiple states across the US. Work addressed insurance, service delivery, housing affordability, and financing reforms targeted to individuals with complex health risks and conditions, including publications addressing integration of behavioral health and primary care in government insurance markets and integration of low demand housing and behavioral/health services in solving chronic homelessness. Skilled in linking large data sets to advance accountability, clinical and cost improvements, she contributed to designing system solutions for government and private sector clients’ compliance with legal and regulatory reforms to address complex health and human service needs.
Dr. Mauch has a lengthy career in public service. She presently serves as Court Monitor for the U.S. District Court of Western Washington, addressing forensic, health, and housing services reforms at the intersection of the health, disability, and criminal legal systems. Dr. Mauch’s prior service includes Special Master for the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia; Executive Director of the Rhode Island Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals; Assistant Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, overseeing the Divisions of Mental Health, Drug Rehabilitation, and Forensic Medicine; and Policy Expert on Homelessness for NIMH and SAMHSA.
Dr. Mauch is a published author of government and foundation reports, book chapters and journal articles on the organization, financing and delivery of healthcare and housing to vulnerable populations. She has served as a volunteer officer of several governing boards and state and legislative commissions on health promotion, behavioral health and criminal justice, homelessness, health policy, and health care reform initiatives. She is a member of the CEO Alliance for Behavioral Health Reform. Dr. Mauch holds a Ph.D. in Social Policy from the Heller School at Brandeis University.