Gray Named Director of UA’s Brewer-Porch Children’s Center

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Dr. Rick Gray, a health care administrator with more than 20 years of experience in executive positions at health care facilities across the Southeast, has been named executive director of The University of Alabama’s Brewer-Porch Children’s Center.

“Rick Gray has a stellar track record of managing mental and behavioral health institutions,” said Dr. Lisa Dorr, associate dean of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences and chair of the search committee for the position.

“He has extensive experience with grant writing and administration, improving patient outcomes, budget oversight, developing partnerships with community stakeholders, and promoting positive leadership, communication and dialogue within organizations,” Dorr said. “We are very excited to have him on board to lead BPCC.”

Brewer-Porch Children’s Center operates six mental health service programs in Tuscaloosa for children and adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral disorders. Part of Gray’s role will involve fostering collaboration between the center and UA in terms of both teaching and research.

Gray received his doctoral degree in health care administration from the University of Mississippi. His most recent positions include regional hospital administrator at the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities in Atlanta, Georgia; director/administrator of behavioral health services at Horizon Health in Lewisville, Texas; and director of behavioral health services at Diamond Healthcare Corporation in Richmond, Virginia.

During his time at Horizon Health, Gray received the Community Education Program of the Year Award and worked with the University of Georgia to place social work and psychology students to hospitals for clinical training. He has also led health centers in Garden City, Kansas; Jackson, Mississippi; and New Port Richey, Florida.

Brewer-Porch Children’s Center, located near the Tuscaloosa Veteran Affairs Medical Center, was established in 1969 to provide quality mental health and educational services to children and adolescents with emotional and mental disturbances and their families.

It includes a 46-bed residential program as well as day programs. Its staff of 300 is divided into treatment teams, which include consulting psychiatrists, dieticians, social workers, counselors, special education teachers and psychologists.

The center also is a clinical teaching/learning site for undergraduate and graduate students from The University of Alabama and other colleges and universities.

Brewer-Porch Children’s Center is part of the College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Teams.