Edward L. Strickler Jr., M.A., M.P.H.

Edward Strickler, Jr, is Programs Coordinator of the Institute and Managing Editor of Developments in Mental Health Law. He has completed two M.A. degrees at the University of Virginia in the fields of Religious Ethics and Clinical Ethics, and most recently completed the M.P.H. in the University's Department of Public Health Sciences.  He serves on the MPH Program Community Advisory Committee for the Department.

Active in community service, Mr. Strickler helped establish the first network of agencies, professionals and volunteers providing HIV/AIDS education in northwestern Virginia, and is among the founding members of the Virginia HIV Community Planning Committee, which develops the comprehensive plan for HIV prevention services for the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Reflecting this work for more than a decade, he has presented poster sessions, roundtables and workshops at national and regional conferences, on ethical challenges and ethical decision-making in providing HIV prevention services, using community needs assessment to address health disparities, and community-based participatory research.  He has been instrumental in forming numerous coalitions of faith-based and community-based health initiatives, including the development and coordination of an annual retreat for family and community caregivers of persons with HIV/AIDS and other illness.

Mr. Strickler has served as member and officer on advisory boards in health and social services planning for the City of Charlottesville, the County of Albemarle, the Northwestern Virginia Health Systems Agency, and other government and community organizations. His service is notable for assessment of community and consumer needs, assisting community and consumer involvement in planning, and assisting development or resources and training in professional and organizational ethics.  Advocacy for the elderly, for persons with disabilities, and for those who live in rural and other under-served communities have also been hallmarks of his service.

He was born and raised in rural western Virginia, and has lived in the Charlottesville area for more than twenty years, currently residing with his companion of 25 years in the historic James River village of Scottsville.