Michael D. Knox

Michael D. Knox (born 1946, in Wyandotte, Michigan), is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Distinguished University Professor, author, Research Center Director, and Founder and CEO of the US Peace Memorial Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity. He is currently a tenured Distinguished Professor in the Department of Mental Health Law and Policy at the University of South Florida (USF), College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, as well as a Distinguished Professor of Medicine,Global Health, Psychology, and Aging Studies.

• Ph.D.
  The University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, 1974
• M.A.
  The University of Michigan, Department of Psychology, 1973
• M.S.W.
  The University of Michigan, School of Social Work, 1971
• B.A.
  Eastern Michigan University, Biology Major, Chemistry and Psychology Minors, 1968

In 2007, Knox was awarded the Anthony J. Marsella Prize for the Psychology of Peace and Social Justice at the 115th Annual Meeting of the American Psychological Association. The award is presented annually by Psychologists for Social Responsibility and recognized him for more than four decades of outstanding contributions to peace and humanitarian assistance.

Additionally, Knox is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the Association for Psychological Science. Fellow status in both organizations is granted in recognition of outstanding and distinguished contributions to the science and profession of psychology. In 2005 he was inducted into Sigma Xi, the international honor society of research scientists and engineers.

His biography is included in the latest editions of Who’s Who in the World, Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, and Who’s Who in American Education.

Knox’s career has spanned the fields and topics of death and dying, community mental health, ethics, the prevention of HIV/AIDS, and peace. Much of his academic work has been accomplished at the University of South Florida, where he has been a faculty member since 1986. At USF, Knox has been responsible for more than $35 million in grants and other external funding to the university. He has developed grant-funded collaborations with the USF Departments of Internal Medicine, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Criminology and with the USF College of Public Health. He has developed grant-funded consortia with the University of California at San Francisco, University of Florida, University of Miami, University of Puerto Rico, University of the Virgin Islands, Florida A&M University, and Emory University.

As a tenured professor, he continues to serve on dissertation committees and has taught courses including "Honors Seminar in Applied Ethics", "Death and Dying", and "HIV and Mental Health". He has published and presented widely, primarily on the topics of HIV/AIDS, peace, community mental health, and planning for death. In 1995, he co-authored LAST WISHES: A Handbook to Guide Your Survivors. The book has been favorably reviewed by JAMA - The Journal of the American Medical Association, the British medical journal The Lancet, and The Saturday Evening Post, as well as newspapers nationwide. His work has been featured on the front covers of the journal AIDS Patient Care and NIH News & Features, a publication of the National Institutes of Health. He is the senior editor and contributor to HIV and Community Mental Healthcare, a book published in 1998 by The Johns Hopkins University Press and favorably reviewed by JAMA.

Mental health

Before his tenure at the University of South Florida, Knox was Director of the Western Tidewater Mental Health Center in Virginia (1978–1986). He also served on the faculty of the Eastern Virginia Medical School and on the Board of Directors of the Eastern Virginia Health Systems Agency. He has held a variety of leadership positions in national and state professional organizations and has been honored many times for his work.

Michael Knox joined the USF faculty in 1986. For nine years, until 1995, Knox headed the only academic department of community mental health in the United States. As Department Chair, he directed an 80-member staff and oversaw an annual budget of $2.3 million. In 1995, and again in 1996, he was elected President of the USF Faculty Senate. With over 46,000 students and 2,000 faculty, USF is the 9th largest university in the nation. He was elected Chair of the Advisory Council of Faculty Senates for 1997/1998. This organization represented all ten state universities and provided consultation to the Chancellor and Florida Board of Regents regarding academic issues. Since 1997 he has held the title of Distinguished University Professor at USF. In 1999 he served as a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford in England as part of a sabbatical assignment related to end-of-life care. His work is characterized by long-standing leadership positions in the field of community mental health, including service on the Board of Directors of the National Council of Community Mental Health Centers and advisory positions to the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals. In addition, he chaired the first Steering Committee for the National Registry of Community Mental Health Services and has conducted site reviews nationwide for the federal Center for Mental Health Services.

HIV/AIDS

As founder and director of the USF Center for HIV Education and Research, Knox oversees an annual budget of well over $3 million. Since 1988, the USF Center has provided continuing education to more than 300,000 health and mental healthcare professionals and students. Knox is currently the recipient of a National AIDS Education and Training Center (AETC) Grant from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

As the Principal Investigator, Knox directs the Florida/Caribbean AETC, which is one of several centers based at leading universities around the country. The F/C AETC’s mission is to ensure that physicians, nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dentists, pharmacists, and other health professionals in Florida, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands receive state-of-the-art information, training, and consultation on the prevention and treatments of HIV and AIDS. Knox supervises the work of over 80 expert faculty in the field of HIV/AIDS as the Center works collaboratively with the University of South Florida, the University of Puerto Rico, the University of Florida, the University of Miami, the University of the Virgin Islands and Florida A&M University to provide faculty and clinical training sites throughout the region.

Knox traveled to India in 2003 to speak and to dedicate two new educational programs associated with USF. He was Co-Chair of the American Foundation for AIDS Research's (amfAR) 16th National HIV/AIDS Update Conference held in March 2004 and delivered an opening plenary which argued against current US wars in favor of more government support for prevention,.

The long-standing antiwar activities of Michael Knox began in 1965 in opposition to the war in Vietnam. As a delegate to the 20th National Student Congress, he introduced a successful resolution to hold an anti-war demonstration in August 1967 in front of the White House. In 1970, Knox co-founded a draft counseling center and, in 1971, he blew the whistle on classified research at the University of Michigan on weapon systems used by the military. Since then, he has continued to engage in speeches, debates, interviews and other actions regarding peace. He most recently published anti-war commentary in Time, USA Today, and the Journal of HIV and Social Services.

US Peace Memorial Foundation

In 2005, Knox founded the US Peace Memorial Foundation which seeks to demonstrate that advocating for peaceful solutions to international problems is an honorable and socially acceptable activity. This 501(c)(3) public charity will build the US Peace Memorial in Washington DC to honor Americans who have opposed war(s) and/or proposed peaceful alternatives to war. He is editor of the US Peace Registry, a publication which recognizes role models and documents a broad range of anti-war behavior. He presents widely on the topic of recognizing peace leadership and has been an invited speaker at the Annual Conference of the Peace and Justice Studies Association in 2006 and 2007 and at the Annual Meetings of the APA in 2007 and 2008. Knox's work promotes cultural change, raising our awareness of past efforts towards peace and increasing future opportunities to challenge the promotion of war. The US Peace Memorial Foundation is a grassroots campaign that is gaining much momentum and a broad range of individual and organizational support,.