Sidney Hankerson, MD, MBA is Director of Mental Health Equity in the Institute for Health Equity Research at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. On March 21, 2024, he was honored with the 2024 Presidential Lifetime Achievement Service Award. Dr. Hankerson was recognized for his commitment to innovative mental health services in under-resourced communities. The award was presented to Dr. Hankerson by Rawle Andrews Jr., Esq., Executive Director of the American Psychiatric Association Foundation and 135th President of the Bar Association of the District of Columbia. The honor was established by President George H.W. Bush. Dr. Hankerson was selected under then-President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Dr. Hankerson spoke with the Amsterdam News for a Q&A about the award, his work in under-resourced communities, and his research around depression and suicide. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
AmNews: Can you tell us about your background?
I grew up in Virginia, went to the University of Virginia, then went to Emory for Medical School, and stayed at Emory for residency, fell in love with Psychiatry, and while at Emory got a dual MD/MBA degree. [I] initially wanted to go into hospital administration, but then, kind of, was struck by the inequities in care that patients at Grady Hospital receive which is the public hospital in Atlanta, compared to the private hospital at Emory so that led me to pursue research and I did health disparities research at Columbia and came to Mt. Sinai in 2022 in my current role.
AmNews: Can you talk about some of the research you’ve done?
My research focus is depression. I became interested in studying depression in black adults for several reasons. One, black adults with depression are sicker for a longer period of time and have more severe symptoms as compared to white Americans. Two, Black Americans have much lower rates of treatment for depression compared to white adults and three, related to that ,Black adults with depression are more likely to be hospitalized compared to their white adult counterparts. So those are some of the barriers with depression that I sought to pursue. Then I said where are people in our community naturally congregating?
I started with the Black church. So we conducted the first ever church based screening study, and found very high rates of depression, and then I collaborated with Dr. Olajide Williams when we were both co-directors of Columbia’s Wellness Center at the time, and that led to the TRIUMPH study where we’re using community health workers to screen people for depression and get them connected to care.
Now we’re also trying to address the rise of Black youth suicide and we have grants from foundations to implement evidence-based suicide programs for Black and Latino boys and YMCA baskeball leagues and boys and girls clubs. So really, meeting kids where they are through sports.
AmNews: Can you please tell our readers about your Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award?
I was honored to receive the 2024 Presidents’ Lifetime Achievement Award that was signed by President Biden. It was awarded in recognition of community service and so the cohort that I was inducted with included leaders like the executive director of the Executive Leadership Council, WWII Veterans, CEOs from nonprofits, lawyers, and other psychiatrists. It was really a function of my approach on addressing disparities — meeting people at trusted community settings and partnering with their community centers.