Dr. John “Jack” Rozel MD, MSL, DFAPA
Professor of Psychiatry & Law, University of Pittsburgh; Medical Director, Resolve Crisis Services, UPMC
2022, 2024, 2025
Dr. Rozel has been working in emergency mental health since 1990 and has been the medical director of resolve Crisis Services of UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital since 2010. He is the immediate Past President of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry, the leading national organization dedicated to the improvement of compassionate, evidence-based care for people with psychiatric emergencies. As the medical director of resolve Crisis Services, he leads a team of more than 100 crisis professionals who deliver 125,000 services every year to the residents of Allegheny County through phone, text, mobile, walk-in and overnight programs delivered through a person centered, recovery-oriented model.
Dr. Rozel trains and consults with teams across UPMC and the country on projects related to violence and threat management, staff injury prevention, firearm injury prevention, and crisis and emergency psychiatry. Dr. Rozel is board certified in general, child, and forensic psychiatry. He earned a bachelor’s in Biomedical Ethics and an MD at Brown University. He received a Master of Studies in Law from the University of Pittsburgh. He completed his general psychiatry residency and child and forensic psychiatry fellowships at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC.
Dr. Rozel has served as an incident commander for mass shootings and been involved in the behavioral health response to several mass casualty events. He has contributed to major policy and practice efforts including the National Council for Behavioral Health’s 2019 report on Mass Violence, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s violence management guidelines, the Pennsylvania Governor’s Special Council on Gun Violence report, and the AMA et al’s Amici brief for the Supreme Court NYSRPA v Bruen case. Dr. Rozel is a member of the Mental Health and Justice Advisory Committee for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency. In conjunction with the PCCD, he is receiving funding from the US Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs & Partnerships to develop regional threat management partnerships in Western Pennsylvania.
Dr. Rozel is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and an Honorary Member of the American College of Emergency Physicians. He has been recognized with the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness, the Behavioral Healthcare Professional of the Year from CIT International, and the Ralph C. Wilde Leadership Award from the Allegheny County Medical Society.
Dr. Rozel regularly provides clinical and didactic training to medical students, residents, and fellows at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine; mentors graduate students through the Center for Bioethics and Health Law; and co-teaches Mental Health Law at the School of Law. Dr. Rozel has been a CIT trainer for more than 10 years and provides training on violence and behavioral emergencies to a variety of regional and federal law enforcement professionals.
At the Summit
The effort to eradicate hate requires the active participation of every component of our society, to include governments, the private sector, communities of faith and indeed every aspect of civil society. There is no more urgent task in front of us. The organizers of the Eradicate Hate Global Summit are doing the United States and the world an enormous service by tackling hatred and extremism with a focus on honest dialogue and conversation, genuine learning and practical solutions. This will not happen overnight, but the Pittsburgh community’s leadership in this effort is genuinely inspiring and motivating.
