Dr. Sampat Shivangi of Ridgeland has been named Chair of the Board & Stewart Rutledge of Oxford has been named the Vice Chair.
On Wednesday, the Mississippi Board of Mental Health announced new leadership roles for the Fiscal Year that began on July 1, 2022. The board is composed of nine members appointed by the Governor of Mississippi and confirmed by the State Senate.
The nine-member board is composed of a physician, a psychiatrist, a clinical psychologist, a social worker with experience in the field of mental health, and one citizen representative from each of Mississippi’s five congressional districts as existed in 1974.
Dr. Sampat Shivangi of Ridgeland has been named Chair of the Board and Stewart Rutledge of Oxford has been named the Vice Chair.
Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves said that Dr. Shivangi and Mr. Rutledge have done an excellent job serving the state’s residents through their work on the Mississippi Board of Mental Health.
“Their years of experience on the Board makes them the right choice for Chair and Vice Chair,” Governor Reeve said. “I commend them on their dedicated service to our state and look forward to continuing to serve Mississippians together.”
Dr. Sampat Shivangi was first appointed to the Board in 2009 by Governor Haley Barbour and reappointed in 2016 by Governor Phil Bryant. Dr. Shivangi currently serves on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Center for Mental Health Services National Advisory Council.
During his time on the Board of Mental Health, he previously served as Chair and served on the Patient Care Subcommittee.
“He has taken an active role in efforts to promote suicide awareness and prevention, particularly those efforts related to postpartum
depression awareness and treatment,” the DMH said in a release.
In addition to his time on the Board of Mental Health, Shivangi previously served on the Mississippi State Board of Health.
“From 2005 to 2008, he served as Advisor to the US Secretary
of Health and Human Services in the President George W. Bush administration. He is the
founding president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin in Mississippi
and is the past president and chair of the India Association of Mississippi,” DMH continued.
Shivangi represents the physician category on the Board of Mental Health.
Stewart Rutledge represents the First Congressional District and was appointed to the board in 2017.
Rutledge is a licensed attorney, but his primary work is in real estate development, with a focus on developing affordable housing. Prior to his focus on real estate development, he served as corporate counsel to Sta-Home Healthcare, Mississippi’s largest home health provider.
“He earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Mississippi, enrolled in the University of Mississippi Medical School, but instead decided to attend the University of
Mississippi Law School, from which he graduated with honors,” the DMH said.
In addition to his service on the Board of Mental Health, Rutledge previously served as:
- Chairman of the Mississippi Juvenile Justice Advisory Committee, and he served on the
Mississippi Supreme Court’s Commission on Juveniles. - Mississippi’s representative on the Federal Advisory Committee on Juvenile Justice in Washington, D.C.
- Board member and general counsel for the Mississippi Freedom 50th, advising Congressman Bennie Thompson and former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice
Reuben Anderson in efforts to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Freedom Riders.
