Ivan Walks

Ivan C.A. Walks, MD, is the chief health officer for the District of Columbia and director of the city's department of health. Walks is responsible for setting health policy, promoting and assessing the health of Washington residents, implementing and administering the city's health insurance programs, and ensuring that a healthy environment and quality health care are available to every resident and visitor, while safeguarding public health within the city.

Walks is a neuropsychiatrist. He received his MD from the University of California at Davis School of Medicine and completed advanced medical training at UCLA. He completed a two-year fellowship in transcultural psychiatry and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Public Health Service Senior Primary Care Policy Fellowship.

Walks served as a member of the executive committee of the American Managed Behavioral Health Care Association and led its Public Policy/Public Sector Committee. He has participated in many government health-policy initiatives and was a facilitator for the White House Conference on Mental Health. He is a member of the federal workgroup that created the Cultural Competency Standards for the Center for Mental Health Standards/Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and is a member of the CMHS national panel of experts that developed the Cultural Competence Performance Measures for Managed Behavioral Health Care Programs.

Walks' contributions as a member of the American Psychiatric Association Board of Trustees resulted in his being selected to represent American psychiatry as a member of the historic International Delegation of Psychiatric Leaders that traveled to the Vatican for an audience with Pope John Paul II. The California Legislature, the California Department of Education, the NAACP, and others have recognized his contribution in the public-policy arena. He was featured presenter at the California Legislature Education Summit and has presented his original research at several national education and healthcare conferences.

Before joining the district's department of health in September 1999, Walks served as vice president and associate national medical director of ValueOptions Inc., a human services managed healthcare program development and operations firm, where he designed and implemented human services systems at national and local levels.

Walks has served as one of the Los Angeles County mental health commissioners and later as medical director for managed care for the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, where he oversaw the successful transition of the department to managed care.