Annelle B. Primm, M.D., M.P.H.

Dr. Primm is a physician executive and nationally recognized expert in community psychiatry and cultural psychiatry. She has held leadership roles in a clinical academic setting at Johns Hopkins Hospital and in organized medicine at the American Psychiatric Association (APA). She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in biology in 1976. Despite taking off the second semester of her junior year to help care for her mother, who was dying of cancer, she graduated with her class. In 1980, Primm earned her medical degree from Howard University. After completing her residency in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, she earned her MPH degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1985.

She has lectured and written widely and is a co-editor of two recent books, Disparities in Psychiatric Care and Women in Psychiatry: Personal Perspectives, which have led collaborations among health care practitioners and community health advocates across the nation to eliminate disparities in health, mental health, and substance use disorder care. and co-author of Mental Health, Racism, and Contemporary Challenges of Being Black in America. In addition, Dr. Primm is the convener of the All Healers Mental Health Alliance (AHMHA), a multi-disciplinary organization that facilitates culturally appropriate responses to the mental health needs of diverse and underserved communities affected by disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy.

Dr. Primm served as the Director of Minority and National Affairs for the APA from 2004–2015. She also maintains a small private practice and is a psychiatric consultant for On Our Own, a drop-in center for adults with mental illness. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the APA and the recipient of numerous awards for her work in community psychiatry.