Dr. English was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was educated at St. Joseph’s Preparatory School and College (A.B. 1954) and received his M.D. from Jefferson Medical College in 1958. He interned at Jefferson Medical College, took two years of residency at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia, and finished his residency training as a research fellow at the National Institute of Mental Health (1962). He served in the U.S. Public Health Service as a Commissioned Officer (1963–64), serving as Chief Psychiatrist for the Peace Corps and later as Director of Health Affairs in the Office of Economic Opportunity. In 1968, Dr. English was Administrator of the Health and Mental Health Administration of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.
In 1970, he left Washington for New York to become the first President of the New York City Health and Hospital Corporation, leaving this post in 1973 to become Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry of St. Vincent’s Hospital and its related hospitals, and subsequently to affiliate with the New York Medical College.
Dr. English has been on the teaching staff at George Washington Medical School and Cornell and a lecturer at Harvard and Yale Medical Schools. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science, New York; the Academy of Medicine, American Medical Association; and the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.
Among Dr. English’s awards are the Meritorious Award for Public Administration from the William A. Jump Foundation and the Federal Arthur S. Flemming Award (1968). He has contributed to the psychiatric and administrative literature, especially based on his years of public service.
During his APA Presidency, Dr. English led a psychiatry group to visit Pope John Paul II to seek help to combat stigma.
Dr. English served as President of the American Psychiatric Association from 1992-93.