Sarah Vinson

Dr. Sarah Vinson is a triple board-certified psychiatric physician and an expert on how our brains collectively produce the human experience. Her featured talks include “Adultism,” defined as the normalization and legitimization of historical, cultural, institutional, and interpersonal dynamics that routinely advantage adults while producing cumulative and chronic adverse outcomes for young people. Dr. Vinson is an entrepreneur and academic well-versed in the intersections of leadership and mental health. As a forensic psychiatrist, she is also able to speak to the intricacies of the criminal justice system, mental health, and race.

Dr. Vinson is the Founder and Principal Consultant of Lorio Forensics, an MBE-certified mental health forensics firm with national distinction. She is also the Founder of Lorio Psych Group, a private practice for children and adults. She is a Triple Board-Certified physician with national certifications in Child & Adolescent, Adult, and Forensic Psychiatry. A proud alum of Florida A & M University, she earned her Medical Degree from the University of Florida College of Medicine with Research Honors and as an Inductee in the Chapman Humanism Honors Society. She then completed her general psychiatry residency at Harvard Medical School, where she also received specialized training in trauma through Dr. Judith Herman’s Victims of Violence Program. This was followed by her two fellowships in Child & Adolescent, and Forensics at Emory School of Medicine. Dr. Vinson is Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Morehouse School of Medicine and also holds an adjunct appointment at Emory School of Medicine.

Dr. Vinson received an appointment from the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to the Interdepartmental Serious Mental Illness Coordinating Committee and two appointments from the Governor of Georgia to state commissions. Dr. Vinson's forensic work is informed by a diversity of clinical and scholarly experiences. As a mental health forensics expert, Dr. Vinson has testified and been admitted as an expert in state, federal, criminal, and family courts. She has spoken at numerous regional and national legal conferences, including but not limited to the National Conference of State Chief Justices and the National Bar Association – Young Lawyer Division Conference and Retreat. Furthermore, Dr. Vinson has been tapped as a plenary speaker at multiple national psychiatry meetings, such as the American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting.

As a practitioner, Dr. Vinson has served as the Medical Director of a jail-based competency restoration program; as a psychiatric physician on an Assertive Community Treatment team at a large public hospital serving many patients with legal histories; as the Interim Medical Director of a community agency that provides mental health services as well as foster care and housing services to children and families; and in a juvenile justice facility providing direct patient care to incarcerated youth. She has practiced in both public and private settings, serving children, adolescents, and adults throughout her career. She is the co-editor of the text Social (In)Justice and Mental Health, and she has several peer-reviewed articles in journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine and the Lancet Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

Dr. Vinson has been featured extensively in media, including national outlets such as the New York Times, USA Today, and the Washington Post. She has been featured as a topical expert on shows including CBS Sunday Morning, PBS NewsHour, and others. Dr. Vinson was featured in the Ken Burns film, Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness.