Stanley P. Mayers Endowed Lecture
28th Annual Stanley P. Mayers Endowed Lecture
Breaking the Stigma of Mental Health in the Modern World
Tuesday, April 7 | 6-7 p.m. | Hintz Family Alumni Center
Kevin Lynch, founder and chief executive officer, The Quell Foundation
The 28th Annual Stanley P. Mayers Endowed Lecture will take place on April 7, 2026, at the Hintz Family Alumni Center at Penn State University Park.
About the speaker
Kevin Lynch is the founder and CEO of The Quell Foundation. Created in 2015, the Quell Foundation's mission is to reduce the number of suicides, overdoses, and the incarceration of people living with mental health illness. Lynch has made Quell a nationally acclaimed mental health organization known for turning advocacy into statistical change through his prestigious scholarship program and educational documentary series. In this role, Lynch has distributed $2.6m to students in all 50 states across 480 universities.
Prior to his not-for-profit work, Lynch spent 17 years with HCA Healthcare as a member of senior management teams in their South Florida Division. Lynch began his career in the United States Navy, serving from 1983 to 1995 as a member of the elite U.S. Submarine Force. Over his twelve-year military career, Lynch served on board several nuclear-powered vessels, completing multiple long-term deployments in support of our nation’s defense strategy.
In 2016, Lynch spoke at the White House during the “Making Health Care Better” speakers’ series on mental health, and in 2020, he received the Mental Health America Media Award for his documentary, Portraits of Life with Mental Illness. Lynch holds a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Lynn University and a Master of Health Administration from Penn State.
About the Stanley P. Mayers Endowed Lecture
The Stanley P. Mayers Endowed Lecture is regularly conducted each Spring. The late Stanley P. Mayers, Jr. M.D., co-founded the Penn State undergraduate program in the Department of Health Policy and Administration. He was a member of the Mount Nittany Society, the University’s highest donor-recognition group, and gave his own personal resources to support outstanding students in the College of Health and Human Development. In honor of his late wife, he established the Virginia L. Mayers Memorial Scholarship Endowment in 1992.
HPA faculty members, staff, and alumni are committed to enlarging the endowment and have unanimously supported the initiative with their own private contributions. The fund enhances the education of students and expertise of faculty members in areas that continue to honor Dr. Mayers’ contributions as a professor, administrator and philanthropist. Today, the principal challenge for HPA is to stay abreast of changes in the industry while continuing to serve the public interest.
The endowment provides funds to enrich the department’s outreach activities, examples include: creating a public lecture series, enhancing field-based professional development for faculty members, and acquiring health care-specific teaching materials. Established as an endowment, the fund will provide income for the HPA department in perpetuity.
- Past lectures
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The Health Policy and Administration department aims to accomplish its mission of developing leaders and knowledge to improve health and health care.
Past speakers:
- 2025: Devon Trolley, Executive Director, Pennie
- 2024: Alison Beam, Senior Vice President and Chief Government Affairs Officer, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
- 2023: Dr. Ala Stanford, Region III Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- 2022: Kevin Frick, professor, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School
- 2021: Elena Hung, co-founder and executive director, Little Lobbyists
- 2019: Elisabeth Rosenthal, MD, editor-in-chief, Kaiser Health News
- 2018: David Nash, founding dean, Jefferson College of Population Health,
- 2017: Maureen Bisogano, president emerita and senior fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement
- 2016: Sorrel King, co--founder, Josie King Foundation
- 2015: Eugene A. Woods, president and chief operation officer, CHRISTUS Health
- 2014: James Kevin Stoller, MD, chairman of Education Institute at the Cleveland Clinic
- 2013: Mary Naylor, professor, Gerontology, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing
- 2012: David Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, founding director, Yale University Prevention Research Center
- 2011: Craig Hillemeier, retired CEO, Penn State Health; E. Eugene Marsh, senior associate dean, Penn State college of Medicine; Alan Zuckerman, president, Health Strategies & Soluations, Inc.
- 2010: David Nash, MD, MBA, Professor, health policy and medicine, Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University
- 2009: Bruce Bagley, MD, medical director for quality improvement, American Academy of Family Physicians
- 2008: Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, director, Center to Advance Palliative Care
- 2007: Albert Wu, MD, MPH, professor, health policy and management, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- 2006: Carolyn Clancy, MD, director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Department of Health and Human Services
- 2005: Fitzhugh Mullan, MD, clinical professor, George Washington University
- 2004: William W. Sage, MD, JD, professor of law, Columbia University
- 2003: David Leach, MD, executive director, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
- 2002: Bruce R. Korf, MD, Ph.D., medical director, Harvard-Partners Center for Genetics and Genomics
- 2001: Peter A. Ubel, MD, associate professor of medicine, University of Michigan
- 2000: Douglas L. Mayers, MD, division head, Henry Ford Hospital
- 1999: John M. Esienberg, MD, administrator, Agency for Health Care Policy Research
- 1998: Stanley P. Mayers Jr., MD, professor emeritus, health policy and administration, Penn State
