Vermont Department of Mental Health Commissioner Paul Dupre announced that NASW member Frank Reed has been appointed deputy commissioner for the department. Reed has been with DMH since 1999, serving most recently as interim deputy and commissioner for the department.

Reed is a licensed clinical social worker who has served as president of the NASW Vermont Chapter and as a behavioral health surveyor for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, a national accrediting organization for mental health treatment services.

A statement from DMH said Reed’s extensive knowledge of Vermont’s designated hospital and community services programs spanning more than 30 years, as well as his familiarity with departmental operations and the department’s statutory responsibilities, made him a clear choice to be deputy commissioner.

Social worker Doua Thor has been selected for the 2013-14 Class of Health and Aging Policy Fellows. The program is an opportunity for professionals in health and aging to receive the experience and skills necessary to make a positive contribution to the development and implementation of health policies that affect older Americans.

Thor is a senior fellow with the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, and she recently served as the executive director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center.

The Health and Aging Policy Fellows program is directed by Harold Alan Pincus, M.D., a professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University, in collaboration with the American Political Science Association Congressional Fellowship Program. It is made possible with support of the Atlantic Philanthropies.