Dr. Robert Ronis is the Douglas Danford Bond Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and the Psychiatrist-in-Chief for University Hospitals Health System..

A native of Cleveland and 1982 graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Dr. Ronis completed his Residency in Psychiatry at University Hospitals of Cleveland.  As a National Health Services Corps volunteer he was the first full-time psychiatrist in southeastern Ohio, establishing an inpatient psychiatric unit, community mental health service and private practice in Marietta before returning to University Hospitals as Director of Public Psychiatry in 1990.  Dr. Ronis served as Residency Training Director and Vice Chair for Education for the Department of Psychiatry from 1996 – 2004, and as Interim Chairman from 1999-2000 and 2005 - 2007.

Dr. Ronis was the founder of the Public Academic Liaison (“PAL”) Program between the Department of Psychiatry and the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board.  Since 1990 PAL has provided more than 300,000 hours of clinical services, in-service training and educational services, while developing comprehensive and model curricula for undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate medical education in community mental health services.  Among Dr. Ronis’ other innovations are the All-Ohio Institute on Community Psychiatry, a statewide interdisciplinary celebration of community mental health services drawing more than 500 participants each year since 1994; and the Mental Health Executive Leadership Program, a joint leadership development program of the Department of Psychiatry, the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve and the Ohio Department of Mental Health in operation since 1995.  He helped to develop and co-directs the Ohio Substance Abuse/Mental Illness Coordinating Center of Excellence at Case Western Reserve University, one of the founding Centers developed by the Ohio Department of Mental Health to promote and disseminate specific Evidence-Based Practices (EBP’s) in community mental health services in Ohio.  Along with more recently developed Coordinating Centers of Excellent for Supported Employment (SE) and Tobacco Recovery (TRAC) these projects are now collectively called the “Center for Evidence Based Practices at CWRU,” a collaboration between the Department of Psychiatry and the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences   providing training and technical assistance to more than ninety programs and agencies across the state.

Dr. Ronis received his Masters in Public Health from the Ohio State University in 1995, and completed a NIDA/NIAAA/OSAP Faculty Development Program on Alcoholism and Other Substance Use Disorders, also in 1995.   He is a 1990 diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, with Added Qualifications in Addiction Psychiatry in 1994 and has served as a Senior Examiner for the Part II examinations since 1995.  He is a Past President of the Cleveland Psychiatric Society and the Ohio Psychiatric Association, and currently serves on the Assembly of the American Psychiatric Association and on the Board of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists.  He is the immediate past Chairman of the NAMI Greater Cleveland Medical Advisory Board, and serves on the Boards of the Woodruff Foundation and the Positive Education Program here in Cleveland.

Dr. Ronis was named a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association in 1996.  His PAL Program was honored as the Mental Health Program of the Year by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill / Metro Cleveland in 1998, and by the Centers for Families and Children in 2005.  He was awarded the Kathleen Burton Memorial Award from the Cuyahoga County Community Mental Health Board in 2000, and was named as an Exemplary Practitioner by the National Alliance on Mental Illness in 2002.    In 2003  Dr. Ronis was named the first “L. Douglas Lenkoski Professor of Psychiatry” at Case Western Reserve University, in honor of his contributions to community psychiatry and public academic collaboration. In 2006 he received the Woodruff Foundation Award for his contributions to the community mental health community. He was again named Interim Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at University Hospitals/Case Medical Center in 2005, and became the permanent Chairman and was named the “Douglas Danford Bond Professor of Psychiatry” in September 2007.  In 2009 he was named “Psychiatrist-In-Chief” for University Hospitals Health System, and in January 2010 he was named a Psychiatry Director for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology Inc., a member organization of the American Board of Medical Specialties.  Dr. Ronis continues to practice, write and speak about treating serious and persistent psychiatric disorders, addiction psychiatry, co-occurring mental and substance use disorders, and community mental health issues on a local and national level.