Elyn R. Saks, JD, was awarded a Presidential Citation for her tireless advocacy on behalf of individuals with serious mental illness, her courageous efforts to fight stigma, her eloquence in communicating her personal struggles with psychosis and her living example of hope that recovery is possible.
Orrin B. Evans professor of Law, Psychology and Psychiatry, and the Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law; adjunct professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego, School of Medicine; and faculty at the New Center for Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles, Saks has written five books and over 40 articles on mental health law and ethics. Her academic writings have played key roles in litigation to stop the abusive use of mechanical restraints in psychiatric hospitals and have deepened our understanding of what respecting the autonomy of individuals with serious mental illness truly means. Her memoir, "The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness" powerfully describes her struggles with schizophrenia and has won widespread acclaim. Saks is a 2009 recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. Since winning the MacArthur “Genius Award,” she has created an institute for the study of mental health law, policy and ethics at the University of Southern California.