Mitchell S. Rosenthal, M.D. is a pioneer in the field of substance abuse treatment, who introduced treatment methods at Phoenix House that have become standard throughout the field. For more than 35 years, he has been engaged in building Phoenix House into the nation's leading private, non-profit substance abuse services agency.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Dr. Rosenthal earned his B.A. from Lafayette College in 1956 and his M.D. from the State University of New York's Downstate Medical Center in 1960. After completing residencies in adult psychiatry at Kings County Psychiatric Hospital and child and community psychiatry at the Staten Island Mental Health Society, he was commissioned lieutenant commander and assigned as staff psychiatrist to the U.S. Naval Hospital in Oakland, California in 1965.

Dr. Rosenthal's work with substance abusers began at the Oakland Naval Hospital, where he established the armed service's first therapeutic community for the treatment of alcoholism, drug addiction, and character disorders. He left the Navy in 1967 to become deputy commissioner for rehabilitation of New York City's newly created Addiction Services Agency, where he built Phoenix House into a city-wide network of residential treatment facilities and storefront centers.

When New York City's growing fiscal problems forced the Addiction Services Agency to curtail support for this treatment network in 1970, Dr. Rosenthal resigned his government post to head the non-profit Phoenix House Foundation that took over operation of the system. Since that time, Phoenix House has grown in size and scope, developed a broad array of services and expanded operations beyond New York City and to seven additional states. Long a leading authority and spokesman for the treatment field, 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, a special consultant to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, and a special consultant to the New York State Assembly's Standing Committee on Mental Health.

Dr. Rosenthal was among the first to recognize the vital role families play in arresting drug abuse. His 1972 book, Drugs, Parents, and Children: The Three-Way Connection, is considered the seminal work on this subject, and he has regularly appeared on NBC's Today Show to discuss issues of childhood and adolescence.

A lecturer in psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, he has served as president of the American Association of Psychoanalytic Physicians and chaired the New York Regional Chapter of Therapeutic Communities of America.

Dr. Rosenthal is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He received the George Washington Kidd Award in 1972 from Lafayette College and was honored by the New York Regional Chapter of Therapeutic Communities of America in 1976. In 1995, the Federal Bureau of Investigation presented him with the Director's Community Leadership Award, and in 1998, The Bridge honored him with their Special Recognition Award. In 2002, he was awarded an honorable degree (Doctor of Humane Letters) by the State University of New York's Downstate Medical Center.

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