START Treatment & Recovery Centers’ CEO Lawrence S. Brown, Jr., MD, MPH, FACP, DFASAM, today announced plans to retire after 40 years of service.
The board of the behavioral health organization, which has treated more than 50,000 New Yorkers since it was founded in 1969, has retained Bridge Partners to manage the search for Dr. Brown’s successor.
“Dr. Brown has been a dedicated and exemplary leader, and we are very grateful that he has committed to assisting the board and his successor to ensure a smooth transition,” said START Board Chair Felicia Ivey-Toure in announcing the search. “This is an opportunity for us to build on Dr. Brown’s legacy and expand on START’s well-established role in providing behavioral health and opioid treatment services to New York City’s disenfranchised, economically challenged, minority communities.”
As one of the nation’s largest minority, non-profit community-based agencies, START provides substance use treatment, primary medical care, and HIV/AIDS services to adults in seven opioid treatment programs in socially and economically challenged communities in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and mental health services to adolescents. START also conducts cutting-edge clinical and behavioral health research in the areas of hepatitis C, substance use, and HIV/AIDS.
The new CEO will be responsible for the direction, vision, leadership, management, and motivation of the organization, its staff, and patients, leading an organization with a $30 million operating budget, over $60 million in total assets, and approximately 240 employees serving more than 3,000 patients on an annual basis.
The new CEO will be responsible for the direction, vision, leadership, management, and motivation of the organization, its staff, and patients, leading an organization with a $30 million operating budget, over $60 million in total assets, and approximately 240 employees serving more than 3,000 patients on an annual basis.
In addition to implementing START’s mission and leading its programs, services, and financial oversight, the CEO will manage and direct all aspects of day-to-day operations, including supervision of staff, development of management systems and procedures, and fiscal responsibility.
As the chief spokesperson, representative, and fundraiser of START, the CEO will also be responsible for marketing the organization, and communicating with its various constituencies and funding sources (both private and public), other public health organizations, patients, and the general public.
“It’s been a great honor to serve as START’s Chief Executive Officer, but the time has come for me to pass the baton,” said Dr. Brown. “While I will be retiring, I will never tire of supporting the principles under which START was founded, its mission, and vision.”
Dr. Brown’s fight is personal. He’s seen addiction and incarceration destroy many of his contemporaries in Brownsville, Brooklyn, where he was the first in his family to graduate from college.
After serving in Vietnam and receiving his medical degree, in 1979, he joined what was then the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation (ARTC).
During his tenure, Dr. Brown has played a pivotal role in the development and success of START Treatment & Recovery Centers, always dedicated to ensuring that its patients–so many of whom are disenfranchised and marginalized–have access to behavioral health and opioid addiction services.
Most recently, he masterfully led START through the COVID pandemic, finding creative ways to continue providing care though teletherapy and medication delivery.
For a full description of the position or to apply, visit https://bit.ly/3tKL26n.
START Treatment and Recovery Centers:
START has treated over 50,000 New Yorkers throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan since it was founded in 1969. Its goal is to provide the highest quality of compassionate, comprehensive, evidence-based healthcare and social services; education of the public concerning maintenance of healthy lifestyles; and cutting-edge behavioral, biomedical and healthcare services research.
Its community-based treatment programs for adults and adolescents use individual and group counseling with medical and behavioral health professionals to treat patients; some of its clinics offer short-term, outpatient detoxification and a drug-free chemical dependency program for other non-opiate addictions.
Its outpatient services and programs for people seeking quality treatment for drug addiction and rehabilitation include comprehensive medical care and specialized HIV services; behavioral health and vocational services; and medical case management. For more information, visit www.startny.org.
Photo credit: START Treatment & Recovery Centers.
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