2024 APA Treasurer Candidate

Platform

• Transparency and member engagement
  • Served as a conduit between APA members and the Board of Trustees for six years, providing the history of events to members to facilitate understanding and communicate their concerns to the Board.
• Reliability
  • She has integrity and meets deadlines well.
  • She earned APA Special Commendations in 2021 and 2023 for exemplary contributions as an APA Trustee to
    • the Presidential Task Force on Structural Racism,
    • the Joint Reference Committee
    • the APA’s Vision for the Future of Psychiatry
• Continuity of Service
  • As a six-year Trustee, she understands policy and can provide historical context to facilitate the APA’s next CEO/Medical Director’s transition into the leadership position in May 2024.

Issues of interest

Cheryl D. Wills, MD is a board certified general, child and adolescent and forensic psychiatrist who practices community psychiatry in Cleveland, OH. She is serving a second elected term on the APA Board as Trustee of Area 4, the Midwestern U.S. (2018-present). Dr. Wills is known for her strategic approach to governance and her ability to forge consensus among disparate stakeholders. She was awarded APA Special Presidential Commendations in 2021 and 2023 for her exemplary service as a Board member and on the Joint Reference Committee (2018-present). This is a rare achievement, even for APA Board members

In 2020-2021, Dr. Wills chaired the Presidential Task Force on Structural Racism, SRTF, which completed a data-driven systematic review of the APA’s functioning and governance. This resulted in organization-wide reform and an historic 18 actions being approved by the Board. Under her leadership, the SRTF completed its work in seven of the 12 allotted months during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr. Wills was the forensic advisor to two DSM-5 workgroups (2012-2013). She served on the Assembly (2009-2016), Council on Psychiatry and the Law (2009-2013, 2016-2018), and other APA workgroups and committees.

Dr. Wills was appointed by three consecutive APA presidents to serve on the Finance and Budget Committee and was the only trustee invited to participate in financial negotiations to purchase the APA’s $45 million headquarters in Washington, D.C. 

Learning more about corporate governance, financial accountability and leadership has positioned Dr. Wills to meet the long-term needs of the APA. She completed executive education programs at the Weatherhead School of Business and Kellogg School of Business while serving on the APA Board.

She is Scientific Program Chair for the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law (2023-present), is active in the American College of Psychiatrists and serves on several editorial boards. She writes and lectures nationally and internationally about forensic and administrative psychiatry, risk management, professionalism and workplace culture and health equity.

Her skillset makes her an effective advocate for psychiatrists, the profession of psychiatry, patients and the public.

Awards and honors