Behavioral Health Services
2026 Judge Stephen S. Goss Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Judge
Steve
Leifman
served
as
associate
administrative
judge
of
the
Miami-Dade
County
Court
Criminal
Division
from
2000
until
his
retirement
in
2024
and
is
a
national
leader
in
reforming
how
the
justice
system
responds
to
mental
illness.
In
2000,
he
...
founded
the
11th
Judicial
Circuit
Criminal
Mental
Health
Project,
which
diverts
people
with
serious
mental
illnesses
from
the
criminal
justice
system
into
treatment,
and
chaired
it
for
24
years.
As
special
advisor
on
criminal
justice
and
mental
health
to
the
Supreme
Court
of
Florida,
he
chaired
the
subcommittee
that
authored
"Transforming
Florida’s
Mental
Health
System,"
a
nationally
recognized
blueprint
for
reducing
unnecessary
justice
involvement.
He
co-chairs
the
American
Bar
Association
Criminal
Justice
Mental
Health
Committee
and
JPLI.
His
honors
include
the
2015
William
H.
Rehnquist
Award
for
Judicial
Excellence
and
the
2023
Papal
Medal
Benemerenti,
bestowed
by
Pope
Francis
for
his
work
on
behalf
of
people
with
mental
illnesses.
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2026 Judge Stephen S. Goss Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Justice
Kathryn
E.
Zenoff
serves
on
the
Illinois
Appellate
Court,
Fourth
District,
and
is
co-chair
of
JPLI.
Since
2010,
she
has
chaired
the
Special
Supreme
Court
Advisory
Committee
on
Justice
and
Mental
Health
Planning,
guiding
efforts
to
improve
how
Illinois
...
courts
respond
to
people
with
mental
illness.
As
a
trial
judge
in
the
17th
Judicial
Circuit,
Justice
Zenoff
presided
over
the
criminal
division
and
was
elected
chief
judge
in
2003
before
her
assignment
to
the
Second
District
Appellate
Court
in
2007.
She
later
served
as
presiding
justice.
She
was
instrumental
in
starting
the
17th
Circuit’s
mental
health
court
in
2005,
presiding
over
that
court
as
part
of
her
duties,
and
has
served
on
the
Illinois
Mental
Health
Task
Force
and
the
National
Judicial
Task
Force
to
Examine
State
Courts’
Response
to
Mental
Illness.
Justice
Zenoff
is
the
recipient
of
the
2017
Illinois
Association
of
Problem-Solving
Court
Leadership
and
Justice
Award.
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2026 Judge Stephen S. Goss Award Recipient
Judge
Marina
L.
Sabett
is
an
associate
judge
for
the
District
Court
of
Maryland
in
Montgomery
County
and
the
Maryland
Judiciary’s
coordinating
judge
for
behavioral
health.
She
helped
create
and
implement
the
Montgomery
County
Mental
Health
Court,
where
she
has
...
presided
since
2017
and
served
as
the
coordinating
judge
from
2017.
Her
work
earned
her
the
National
Alliance
on
Mental
Illness’s
2017
Wayne
Fenton
Memorial
Award.
Statewide,
Judge
Sabett
serves
as
executive
director
of
Maryland’s
Statewide
Steering
Committee
on
Behavioral
Health
and
the
Justice
System
and
chairs
the
Judicial
Council’s
Behavioral
Health
Subcommittee.
Before
joining
the
bench,
she
was
a
partner
at
Venable
LLP
and
an
administrative
law
judge
for
the
Maryland
Office
of
Administrative
Hearings.
In
2024,
the
Bar
Association
of
Montgomery
County
named
her
Jurist
of
the
Year.
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2026 Judge Stephen S. Goss Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient
Dr.
Altha
J.
Stewart
is
the
senior
associate
dean
for
community
health
engagement
at
the
University
of
Tennessee
Health
Science
Center
in
Memphis
and
the
founding
director
of
its
Center
for
Youth
Advocacy
and
Well-Being.
A
nationally
and
internationally
recognized
...
expert
in
trauma-informed
care
and
health
disparities,
she
led
public
mental
health
systems
in
3
states
over
a
nearly
40-year
career.
In
2017,
she
made
history
as
the
first
African
American
elected
president
of
the
American
Psychiatric
Association.
Under
Dr.
Stewart’s
leadership,
the
center
established
the
first
Youth
Assessment
Center
in
Memphis
and
is
developing
the
city’s
first
youth
reentry
program
with
the
Memphis
and
Shelby
County
Juvenile
Court.
She
serves
on
Tennessee’s
Court
Improvement
Program
Statewide
Multidisciplinary
Taskforce
and
has
represented
JPLI
at
the
World
Congress
of
Psychiatry,
presenting
on
the
topic,
“Mental
Illness
Is
Not
a
Crime.”
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2026 Judge Stephen S. Goss Award Recipient
Dr.
Cynthia
Garza
is
a
staff
psychiatrist
and
the
program
director
of
Project
Vida
Health
Center’s
community-based
psychiatry
residency
program
in
El
Paso,
Texas.
Trained
in
both
law
and
medicine,
she
has
dedicated
her
career
to
expanding
access
to
mental
...
health
care
along
the
Texas–Mexico
border.
Before
entering
medicine,
Dr.
Garza
worked
in
the
Federal
Public
Defender’s
Office
in
Corpus
Christi,
Texas,
and
later
managed
a
cardiology
practice,
opening
three
medical
offices
while
completing
her
premedical
studies.
A
member
of
the
inaugural
class
of
the
Paul
L.
Foster
School
of
Medicine,
she
completed
her
psychiatry
residency
and
child
and
adolescent
psychiatry
fellowship
at
Texas
Tech
University
Health
Sciences
Center
El
Paso.
Today,
Dr.
Garza
is
building
a
culturally
responsive
psychiatric
workforce,
training
psychiatrists
to
serve
El
Paso
and
surrounding
underserved
communities,
and
strengthening
community-based
systems
of
care.
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