Sheila A. Schuster, PhD

Sheila A. Schuster, Ph.D. is a licensed clinical psychologist with graduate degrees from Purdue University and the University of Louisville. After twenty-seven years of practice as a child psychologist, Dr. Schuster now devotes her full-time work to public policy advocacy on mental health and disabilities, health care and social justice issues.

In 1982, Dr. Schuster helped establish and now leads the Kentucky Mental Health Coalition, composed of 80+ organizations representing consumers, families, advocates and providers. She was the first Executive Director of the Kentucky Psychological Association, serving from 1989-2000, and continues to represent that organization as federal and state legislative liaison. Dr. Schuster currently heads the Advocacy Action Network (AAN), an umbrella organization which includes a number of advocacy groups addressing health care, mental health, social justice and disability issues. AAN has coordinated the advocacy activities of Kentucky Voices for Health, whose goal is to increase health coverage and access to quality health care across the Commonwealth. Dr. Schuster currently serves as Chair of the Board of Directors of this 250-member coalition.

Because of her leadership role in the 1990’s in representing consumers’ concerns around health care issues, Dr. Schuster was appointed by Governor Patton as the first consumer representative on the KY Department of Insurance’s Health Advisory Council. She was one of the incorporators of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and completed two terms as its Chair.

Dr. Schuster is a member of the KY Institute of Medicine and a graduate of Leadership Louisville. She has been honored by numerous organizations for her advocacy efforts to improve the availability and quality of health and mental health care in the Commonwealth and to assure that individuals with mental illness and other disabilities, children, and those without access have the services and supports they need to realize their potential.

Sheila Schuster left St. Louis, MO after high school to attend The Catholic University of America, where she completed her undergraduate degree in psychology. After earning a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Purdue University, she worked in New York City at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine before moving to Louisville in 1970 to complete her graduate studies. She has a son and a daughter, both of whom live in Louisville with their families. Dr. Schuster is quick to say that while advocacy is her passion, her five grandchildren are her joy!