On June 17, 1983 Governor Mario M. Cuomo of New York State nominated Steven E. Katz, M.D. to be Commissioner of Mental Health. Dr. Katz, who is currently the Vice Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at New York University Medical Center and the Medical Director of Bellevue Psychiatric Hospital, has had a distinguished academic and clinical career. A graduate of Cornell University, he received his medical education at Hahnemann University and served his basic psychiatric residency at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is a graduate of the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center and has maintained a private practice in psychiatry and psychoanalysis since completion of his residency. He is a certified member of the American Psychoanalytic Association and holds faculty appointments at both the Columbia University Psychoanalytic Center and the Psychoanalytic Institute of New York University School of Medicine. He has been an active teacher in both institutes for a decade and maintains a strong commitment to psychoanalysis.

Dr. Katz, who was supported by virtually every organized constituency in mental health, is looked to for strong leadership with emphasis on clinical care; He takes the helm of the largest agency of its kind in the United States, with a $2 billion annual budget and 37,000 employees. The Office of Mental Health administers thirty child and adult psychiatric hospitals and two research institutes as well as regulating all psychiatric facilities in New York, which function under the jurisdiction of an operating certificate issued by the state.