William Lawson, M.D., Ph.D, D.L.F.A.P.A is the Medical Director of the Urgent Care Clinic of the DC Superior Court, a component of Pathways to Housing, Director of Psychiatric Research for the Emerson Clinical Research Institute and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is emeritus professor of psychiatry, at the Dell Medical School, University of Texas, Austin, and emeritus professor and formerly chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Howard University. He received a PhD in Psychology from the University of New Hampshire and MD from the Pritzker School of Medicine University of Chicago, did his residency at Stanford University and a fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health. He is and has held faculty positions at the University of Illinois, Urbana, University of California, Irvine, Vanderbilt University, University of Arkansas, and Howard University. He has held numerous senior positions and received national recognition including past President of the DC chapter of Mental Health America, Past President of the Washington Psychiatric Society, past Chair of the Section of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences of the National Medical Association, and past president of the Black Psychiatrists of America.