By TSD Newsroom

Dr. Altha Stewart, the first African-American named president-elect of the 37,000-member American Psychiatric Association, will be among the panelists featured during an upcoming discussion at The LeMoyne-Owen College about “black-on-black” crime.

The Black on Black Crime in Memphis Forum is set for 6 p.m. on April 6. It will be held in the Little Theatre in the Alma C. Hanson Student Center at the college at 807 Walker Ave.

The special discussion is being presented by The LeMoyne-Owen College Accelerated Studies for Adults and Professional (ASAP) program in criminal justice.

“The purpose of this forum is for individuals from various backgrounds to dialogue and exchange information and ideas,” said ASAP-Criminal Justice Director Bruce Cole said.

“The College is immensely concerned with this issue and desires to be a catalyst for change by bring together some of the best minds our community has to offer to tackle this difficult and destructive issue.”

The panel also will feature Shelby County Division of Corrections Director William Gupton Jr; Harold Collins, vice president of community engagement for the Shelby County Crime Commission, and members of the faith community and local academia.

Stewart is an associate professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Health in Justice Involved Youth at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC). The center aims to reduce the number of young people in the juvenile justice system by addressing the trauma and exposure to violence that often contribute to the behavior that lands them there.

A native Memphian, she 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.

Dr. Stewart is a nationally recognized expert in public sector and minority issues in mental health care, and in the effects of trauma and violence on children. She was recruited to UTHSC in 2015 by David Stern, MD, Robert Kaplan Executive Dean of the College of Medicine, to lead the Center for Health in Justice

The American Psychiatric Association (APA sets policy, establishes practice guidelines and represents the field of psychiatry nationally and internationally.

Dr. 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. She is the fourth woman in a row to head the association.

In September, UTHSC and Dr. Stewart assumed the reins of Defending Childhood Shelby, the community initiative to improve the lives of all children in Shelby County