There is no health care without mental health care. Mental health care is a right and not a privilege.
Dr. Binder is a Professor of Psychiatry and the founder and director of UCSF's Psychiatry and Law Program. In 2003, Binder served as a Congressional Health Policy Fellow in the US Senate. She received her MD degree (1973) from UCSF and completed her internship and residency at Mount Zion. Her past awards include the UCSF's Royer Award for excellence in academic psychiatry, the American Academy of Psychiatry's Seymour Pollack Award recognizing distinguished contributions to the field of forensic psychiatry. She served as interim Chair of the Department of Psychiatry from (2008–2011) and has been Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the School of Medicine since 2004.
She was the past president of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law (1997–1998). She has served APA in several capacities, including appointment as the Area 6 Representative and Deputy Representative to the Assembly, chair of the Commission/Committee on Judicial Action, and chair of the Council on Psychiatry and Law. She is a senior examiner for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and serves on the ABPN Forensic Psychiatry Subspecialty Steering Committee.