Don Mordecai, MD

Don Mordecai, MD, is the national leader for mental health and addiction care at Kaiser Permanente.

In this role, he leads national initiatives for Kaiser Permanente in the areas of care delivery, stigma reduction, and the use of technology to improve outcomes in mental health and addiction care. A practicing child and adolescent psychiatrist, Dr. Mordecai works across the organization to identify and deliver innovative ways to improve the mental health and wellness of individuals and the larger Kaiser Permanente community. Throughout his career, he has also highlighted the importance of destigmatizing and providing treatment for substance use disorders.

Dr. Mordecai has worked to develop Kaiser Permanente’s mental health digital ecosystem. He leveraged his adolescent psychiatry background to help develop the Presence of Mind initiative. Kaiser Permanente partnered with an esports organization to develop Presence of Mind to connect 14- to 25-year-old gamers with mental health resources. The third-party research for the initiative was published in NEJM Catalyst in May 2022.

Prior to his current role, Dr. Mordecai was director of mental health and addiction medicine for The Permanente Medical Group, and chief of psychiatry and chief of health promotion for the Kaiser Permanente San Jose Medical Center. His clinical work is focused on patients with developmental disorders, ADHD, and a range of general psychiatry issues.

He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention, the nation’s public-private partnership for suicide prevention. He also serves on the board of directors for Ploughshares, the largest nonprofit organization dedicated solely to reducing the risks from nuclear weapons.

Dr. Mordecai holds a doctoral degree from Stanford University School of Medicine, where he trained in child, adolescent, and adult psychiatry and currently serves at the university as an adjunct clinical professor of psychiatry. Dr. Mordecai is board certified in psychiatry with the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.