The Wayne Fenton Award for Exceptional Clinical Care was established in 2007 to recognize clinical providers who exemplify Dr Fenton’s commitment to improving the daily lives of individuals with schizophrenia.
Dr Torrey has devoted his professional life to improving the lives of individuals affected with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. For 10 years he was a ward psychiatrist at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital and for 16 years he volunteered twice a month in Washington’s shelters for the homeless. He was the lead author on one of the first studies on the homeless mentally ill; on 2 major studies of mentally ill persons in jails and prisons; and on 3 studies which assessed state services for individuals with severe mental illness. For over 40 years he has publicly advocated for improved services for individuals with serious mental illnesses by numerous articles, op-eds, and letters to the editor in almost all of America’s leading newspapers and by appearances on programs such as “Donahue,” “Oprah,” “60 Minutes,” “Dateline,” “20/20,” and the PBS series on “The Brain.” He has also written 20 books, including Surviving Schizophrenia, which is widely used by families, Nowhere to Go, Out of the Shadows, The Insanity Offense, and most recently, American Psychosis. Dr Torrey was one of the earliest supporters of NAMI and later founded the Treatment Advocacy Center to specifically focus on society’s failure to treat individuals with severe mental illness. He has also carried out research and founded the Stanley Medical Research Institute.
