Donna M. Norris, M.D.

Dr. Norris earned her M.D. from Ohio State University School of Medicine in 1969 and completed a one-year rotating internship in 1970. She is a past president of the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society, serves on the medical staffs at Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, is part of the Psychiatry & the Law Program, and holds a clinical faculty position at Harvard Medical School.

Within the American Psychiatric Association (APA), Dr. Norris broke barriers as the first woman and first African American woman to serve as Speaker of the Assembly (1998–1999). She also served as Area 1 Trustee (2003–2006), Secretary-Treasurer (2006–2008), chair of the Membership Committee, and vice chair of the Joint Commission on Government Relations. A Distinguished Life Fellow of the APA, she has received the Special Presidential Commendation in 2002, 2008, and 2019, and was honored with the Solomon Carter Fuller Award in 2010.