Our Team

Executive Chief of Staff

Programs & Research Manager

Vice President, Strategic Relationships & Development

Associate Director of Programs & Knowledge

Chief Executive Officer

Senior Director of Strategic Communications

Portfolio Manager

Associate Manager of Communications

Vice President, Programs & Knowledge

Operations & Projects Manager

Chief Operations & Growth Officer

Carter Barnhart serves as co-founder and CEO of Charlie Health. After struggling with mental health challenges following a sexual assault in her early teen years, Barnhart was admitted to Newport Academy, a teen residential treatment program. After healing from the aftermath of her trauma, Barnhart went on to join the company as one of its first employees, serving as Chief of Staff to Newport’s founder and CEO. Over the next 11 years, Barnhart developed the referral relations department, Newport's largest patient acquisition channel. In 2018, she took on the role of Chief Experience Officer, serving as the youngest-ever female member of a Carlyle portfolio company C-suite.

Barnhart founded Charlie Health in 2020 as a way to ensure that youth and families everywhere can access and experience high-quality, evidence-based treatment. Charlie Health is the first and only virtual intensive outpatient program for high acuity youth in the United States.

Barnhart grew up outside of Philadelphia and received a BA from New York University in 2014. She serves as Co-founder of the Inspiration Foundation and frequently speaks at schools, conferences, and hospitals on issues related to adolescent mental health.

Dr. Birnbaum is the Medical Director of OnTrackNY at The New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI). In this role, he oversees the implementation of coordinated specialty care for early psychosis across ~30 licensed mental health clinics throughout New York State. Dr. Birnbaum received his BS in Psychology and Doctor of Medicine from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec. He then went on to complete his Child and Adolescent psychiatry fellowship in the Department of Psychiatry at Mt. Sinai West.

Dr. Birnbaum’s research focuses on the intersection between social media, the Internet, and early intervention. He is currently exploring the role of social media and the internet in pathways to care for adolescents and young adults with emerging psychiatric symptom. Additionally, Dr. Birnbaum is exploring the utility of social media and the internet as a vehicle for timely identification, outreach, engagement and care of youth with mental illness.

Obi Felten is the founder and CEO of Flourish Labs, a startup combining cutting edge mental health science and technology to foster flourishing and good mental health. Previously, Obi was head of getting moonshots ready for contact with the real world at X (formerly Google X), led consumer marketing for Google in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and set up e-commerce businesses.

Obi is an independent board director of Springer Nature, a global academic and educational publisher, and Marathon Health, a primary care provider for employees. She is also an advisor for the UK NHS Best For You youth mental health initiative. She is an advocate for women and other underrepresented groups in tech.

Obi grew up in Berlin, has a BA in Philosophy and Psychology from Oxford University and lives in California with her husband and children.

Liz Hilton is a mental health advocate living in Seattle. She is committed to promoting prevention and early intervention strategies for youth.

Liz has helped launch and fund various initiatives in the Pacific Northwest in response to COVID-19 and its impact on the well-being of adolescents of color. Examples include integrating a greater focus on mental health in service organizations like Teach For America WA and developing a digital mental health curriculum for use in K-12 schools. She serves on the board of Gap Year Association. Liz holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from University of California, Davis.

Tom lnsel, MD, a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, has been a national leader in mental health research, policy, and technology. From 2002 - 2015, Dr. Insel served as Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). More recently, he led the Mental Health Team at Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences) in South San Francisco, CA. In 2017 he co-founded Mindstrong Health, a Silicon Valley start-up building tools for people with serious mental illness. In 2019, Dr. Insel served as a special advisor to California Governor Gavin Newsom, helping on behavioral health issues. In 2020, he co-founded Humanest Care, a therapeutic online community for recovery. He is currently Chair of the Board of the Steinberg Institute and serves on the boards of Fountain House, Foundation for NIH, and the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy as well as being an advisor to several mental health start-ups. He is the author of the forthcoming book Healing: Our Path from Mental Illness to Mental Health, to be published by Penguin Random House in February 2022. With journalist co-founders, he recently launched MindSite News (www.mindsitenews.org), a non-profit digital publication focused on mental health issues. Dr. Insel is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and has received numerous national and international awards including honorary degrees in the U.S. and Europe.

Samantha has over 15 years’ experience in designing evidenced-based strategies for philanthropies, nonprofits, and corporations in the health sector. She focuses on the social determinants of health and aims to center communities’ needs and aspirations in the creation of more equitable and inclusive systems. She is eager to leverage her background to improve mental healthcare at both the individual and system levels.

Samantha recently joined the Program Innovation team at Share Our Strength, where she runs a portfolio of innovation projects based on human-centered design principles. Samantha was a Director at FSG, a social impact consultancy, where she managed projects across sectors, geographies, and issues. Samantha spent time in India with FSG where she led a team researching innovations that brought about major shifts in the way market systems operate. She has an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced international Studies (SAIS) and B.A. in foreign affairs and economics from the University of Virginia.

Kathy Langlois, MPA, works toward providing opportunities for leadership development and rapid knowledge exchange in mental health, addictions and disability through her work as the North America Regional Lead for the International Initiative for Mental Health Leadership (IIMHL) and the International Initiative for Disability Leadership (IIDL).

Kathy is passionate about improving mental health, addictions and suicide prevention outcomes, including working in partnership with Indigenous peoples. Kathy has a background of 35 years in public service at the federal and provincial government levels in Canada. Since 2014, she has been consulting on mental health and addictions leadership and policy, including internationally.

Kathy co-leads IIMHL’s Philanthropy Collaborative, which convenes grant making organizations as part of a global initiative to share funding opportunities and learnings.

Jackie St. Louis is the founder of Tender Tongues Counseling and principal of D-Fine Concepts Consulting. Jackie’s history in behavioral health includes working with youth in the Public School system, as a forensic evaluator in corrections and as a co-occurring therapist. As the Director of Unsheltered Crisis response, Jackie led the city of Seattle’s homelessness response. Jackie is passionate about seeing communities thrive and has deep affiliations with marginalized groups, including people of African descent, other persons of color, immigrants, and refugees. In his private counseling practice, Jackie employs a holistic, outcomes-based approach that focuses on helping individuals attain and embrace the best versions of themselves through a process of reflection, perspective-making, reconciliation, and acceptance. Jackie’s work as a consultant exists at the intersection of racial equity, behavioral health, social issues, and public policy. Jackie is a community engagement innovator who works as a partner and ally to elevate and amplify voices of those with lived experience in change-making initiatives.

Vikram Patel, MBBS, PhD is The Pershing Square Professor of Global Health in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an adjunct professor and joint director of the Centre for Chronic Conditions and Injuries at the Public Health Foundation of India, honorary professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (where he co-founded the Centre for Global Mental Health in 2008), and is a co-founder of Sangath, an Indian NGO which won the MacArthur Foundation’s International Prize for Creative and Effective Institutions in 2008 and the WHO Public Health Champion of India award in 2016.

He is a fellow of the UK’s Academy of Medical Sciences and has served on several WHO Expert and Government of India committees. His work on the burden of mental disorders, their association with poverty and social disadvantage, and the use of community resources for the delivery of interventions for their prevention and treatment has been recognized by the Chalmers Medal (Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, UK), the Sarnat Medal (US National Academy of Medicine), an honorary doctorate from Georgetown University, the Pardes Humanitarian Prize (the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation), an honorary OBE from the UK Government and the Posey Leadership Award (Austin College).

Dr. Pike is Professor of Psychology at Columbia University, where she is Director of the Columbia-WHO Center for Global Mental Health; Deputy Director of the Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program, and Director of the Mental Health and Work Design Lab.

Dr. Pike has pioneered initiatives on the global stage advocating for expanded mental health services and translating research into practice in under-resourced communities, schools and workplaces. Her scholarship focuses on eating disorders, culture and psychopathology, global mental health, and mental health at work. She is the recipient of multiple honors, including the 2021 American Psychological Association Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology.

Julie comes to Mindful Philanthropy as a mental health practitioner, philanthropist and investor. As a therapist, her work focuses on crisis intervention and trauma related issues who is currently working with young adults navigating the impacts of COVID-19. After launching and selling a sports data analytics company, Julie has re-focused her attention on expanding awareness, access and funding for mental health issues. As an investor, she is invested in early stage behavioral health and wellness technologies. Julie holds a Master’s in Psychology and a Bachelor’s of Arts in History and Asian Studies from Tufts University.

On faculty at Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry, Linda is a Strategic Advisor to the Office of CEO, an Operating Partner and Advisor to Empactful Capital, and a Senior Advisor to Health Management Associates. Linda was President and CEO of the National Council for Mental Wellbeing from 2004 until her retirement in 2019. She increased membership to 3300+ organizations, and collaborating with government, philanthropy, and the behavioral health industry grew annual revenue 30x. Her leadership helped pass parity; created the SAMHSA Integration of Primary and Behavioral Health Care grants; established Behavioral Health Homes in Medicaid; developed Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs); introduced and brought Mental Health First Aid to scale, securing annual Congressional MHFA grants to communities; created the National Council Medical Director Institute to generate independent recommendations on the delivery of behavioral health care; and positioned the National Council as the premier convening of behavioral health stakeholders.

Prior to joining the National Council, Linda was New York State’s Senior Deputy Commissioner for Mental Health where she had oversight of the state’s inpatient and outpatient treatment, residential, forensic, and rehabilitation services. During her tenure she developed the first pre-release unit for state prisoners with mental illnesses; opened New York’s first Mental Health Court; implemented Kendra’s Law (Assisted Outpatient Treatment); and more. Earlier in her career, Linda established and operated mental health and addictions programs, ranging from hospitals and crisis centers to housing and mental health centers. Linda serves on the boards of Cohen Veterans Network, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, and Centerstone Institute and is an independent company board member of Netsmart Technologies, Triad Behavioral Health, and Pyramid Healthcare. A health and behavioral health speaker, Linda offers a nuanced understanding of the behavioral health capacity and effectiveness crisis, challenges conventional sentiments, and puts forward pragmatic solutions grounded in experience and a history of success.

Nia West-Bey is a senior policy analyst with CLASP’s Youth Policy team. Her work is focused on youth and young adult mental health, strategies to support young, low-income parents of color as well as girls and young women of color. She is a community psychologist with expertise in youth development, qualitative and quantitative data interpretation and analysis, and the intersection of psychology, social policy, and program evaluation. Prior to joining CLASP, Dr. West-Bey co-founded and spent 10 years as executive director of a community-based nonprofit organization offering youth development programming to young people in foster care in Washington, D.C. Through this work, she had the opportunity to learn and experience how national and local policy impacts disconnected youth. Dr. West-Bey earned an M.A. and a Ph.D. in community psychology from New York University and completed her undergraduate degree at Swarthmore College.