At its June 28 board meeting, the board of directors of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI)-Dane County unanimously elected Dr. Diane C. Gooding as its chair, replacing outgoing Amanda Pirt Meyer, according to a press release issued Monday.
Gooding previously served on the NAMI-Dane County Board in the late 1990s through early 2000s, as well as the NAMI-Wisconsin board.
“I am excited and honored to assume this special leadership role for the NAMI affiliate where it all began, NAMI-Dane County. I humbly acknowledge the courageous and brilliant women who started the NAMI organization—Harriet Shetler, Bev Young and one of my personal Sheroes, Nancy C. Abraham,” Gooding said in a statement. “I aim to follow the august footsteps of Dr. Bob Beilman, Gail Louise Auerbach, and Dr. Corinda Rainey-Moore, all former NAMI-Dane Presidents and all dear friends of mine. I am grateful to have served as Vice President under my friend and colleague ‘Pirt’ ; I feel ready for this!”
Dr. Gooding, a professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, is a leading figure in the study of markers and predictors of risk for psychotic disorders, particularly schizophrenia. She has recently begun to lend her talents to the study of dementia as well. She has published over 100 papers in scholarly journals, as well as many essays for the lay public and was recently featured on NPR. Throughout the years, she has received teaching and research awards for her efforts to bring both a scientific and humanistic perspective to the study of severe mental illness.
Born in New York City, Diane Gooding earned her undergraduate degree from Harvard University magna cum laude and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. She is an enthusiastic member of The Links, Incorporated, as well as Phi Beta Kappa. One of Dr. Gooding’s overarching goals in her new role as president, according to the press release, is to make NAMI-Dane County more accountable to its members, engage in more outreach to underrepresented communities, and continue advocacy and de-stigmatization work.
