Donna McNelis

Donna N. McNelis, PhD, began her career working clinically with adolescents with serious emotional disturbance. Behavioral health treatment remains a passion, but she realized that program innovation, system change, and leadership were more powerful skills. At Drexel College of Medicine, she served as the Vice-chair of Administration for the Department of Psychiatry as well as the Director of Behavioral Healthcare Education. She has been the recipient of Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services (SAMHSA) grants and has consulted nationally. Dr. McNelis has worked with co-occurring disorders such as mental illness and substance use disorders as well as mental illness and intellectual/developmental disabilities.

She has expertise working with governmental entities and legislators to maintain extra-mural funding for educational programs. Donna has chaired international professional Boards of Directors as well as community advocacy boards. She was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha national medical honor society. Her Drexel positions included the Associate Dean for Professionalism and Continuing Education and the Chief Operating Officer for Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine (ELAM®). She completed her undergraduate and graduate degrees at Rutgers University and her doctorate at Nova Southeastern University.