Mitch Rosenthal

MITCH ROSENTHAL

President of the Rosenthal Center for Addiction Studies

Mitchell S. “Mitch” Rosenthal, M.D. is president of the Rosenthal Center for Addiction Studies a nonprofit institution designed to meet the informational needs of healthcare professionals, policy makers, and members of the public confronting issues of drug use and addiction.

A pioneer in the treatment of substance abuse, Dr. Rosenthal was founder of Phoenix House, the nation's leading private, non-profit provider of substance abuse services. He began work in the field in 1965 as a psychiatrist at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, California (1965-1967), where he established the first service-sponsored therapeutic community, successfully treating both alcoholics and drug addicts.  

As a leading advocate for the treatment community, Dr. Rosenthal chaired the New York State Advisory Council on Substance Abuse from 1985 to 1997. He has been a White House advisor on drug abuse and a special consultant to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. A graduate of Lafayette College, Dr. Rosenthal earned his medical degree at the State University of New York's (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center. He served his residencies - in adult, child, and community psychiatry at Kings County Psychiatric Hospital, and the Staten Island Mental Health Society. He is a lecturer in psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and was awarded an honorary degree (Doctor of Humane Letters) by SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 2002.

Mitchell S. Rosenthal participated in Marijuana Legalization with Dr. Mitch Rosenthal and Steve Hawkins, on April 1st 2021. He has one book from 1972, Drugs, Parents, and Children: The Three-way Connection.