Institute for Bioethics logo
Institute for Bioethics logo
John S Rozel

Jack Rozel, MD, MSL

Core Faculty

Professional Statement

Dr. Rozel has been working in emergency mental health since 1990 and serves as the Medical Director of resolve Crisis Services and the Clinical Chief of Crisis Services at UPMC Western Behavioral Health. He is also the founder and co-director of the UPMC Systemwide Threat Assessment and Response Team. Dr. Rozel divides his time between emergency psychiatry and violence work and is a past president of the American Association for Emergency Psychiatry.

Dr. Rozel trains and consults with teams across UPMC and the world on projects related to violence and threat management, staff injury prevention, firearm injury prevention, and crisis and emergency psychiatry. He has served as an incident commander for mass shootings and been involved in the behavioral health response to several mass casualty events. He is a member of the Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium at the Rockefeller Institute of Government and has contributed to major policy efforts including the National Council for Mental Wellbeing’s reports on Mass Violence, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline’s violence management guidelines, the AMA et al’s Amici brief for the NYSRPA v Bruen case before the Supreme Court, the FBI / American Hospital Association’s Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Compendium, and ASIS International’s Workplace Violence and Active Shooter standards.

Dr. Rozel serves the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania as a member the Mental Health and Justice Advisory Committee for the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, the Threat Assessment Steering Committee for the Office of Homeland Security, and the Allegheny County Child Death Review Team.

Dr. Rozel is board certified in general, child, and forensic psychiatry. He earned a bachelor’s in Biomedical Ethics and an MD at Brown University and a Master of Studies in Law from the University of Pittsburgh where he also completed his general psychiatry residency and child and forensic psychiatry fellowships at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic of UPMC.

Appointments

  • Clinical Chief of Crisis Services UPMC Western Behavioral Health
  • Medical Director of resolve Crisis Services UPMC Western Behavioral Health
  • Co-director UPMC Systemwide Threat Assessment and Response Team (START)
  • Professor Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine University of Pittsburgh School of Law
  • Past President American Association for Emergency Psychiatry
  • Core Faculty Institute for Bioethics

Education and Training

  • Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2005
  • Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship, University of Pittsburgh, 2004
  • General Psychiatry Residency, University of Pittsburgh, 2002
  • MSL, University of Pittsburgh, 2005
  • MD, Brown University, 1999
  • AB, Brown University, 1995

Professional Interests in Bioethics

Representative Publications

  1. Gibson, Karie A., Jennifer Tillman, Heather M. Koch, et al. 2026. Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management: Prevent and Protect | A Resource Compendium for Further Learning. American Hospital Association and Federal Bureau of Investigation. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2026/02/behavioral-threat-assessment-and-management-prevent-and-protect-btam-resource-compendium.pdf.

    View publication

  2. Gibson, Karie, Jennifer Tillman, Heather M. Koch, et al. 2026. Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management: Prevent and Protect | A Leadership Guide for Preventing Targeted Violence in Health Care Settings. American Hospital Association and Federal Bureau of Investigation. https://www.aha.org/system/files/media/file/2026/02/fbi-behavioral-threat-assessment-and-management-leadership-guide-btam.pdf.

    View publication

  3. Rozel, John S. 2023. “Ethics, Engagement, and Escalating Interventions.” The American Journal of Bioethics 23 (1): 65–67. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2022.2146808.

    View publication

  4. Rozel, John S., and Darcy M. Moschenross. 2022. “Practical Ethics for Practicing Clinicians.” In Textbook of Community Psychiatry: American Association for Community Psychiatry, edited by Wesley E. Sowers, Hunter L. McQuistion, Jules M. Ranz, Jacqueline Maus Feldman, and Patrick S. Runnels. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-10239-4_58.

  5. Soliman, Layla, Omari Baines-Waiz, John S. Rozel, Kelly Blankenship, and James Rachal. 2024. “A Moving Target: Firearm Deaths, Mental Health, and the Role of Physicians.” Current Psychiatry Reports 26 (12): 859–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-024-01569-2.

    View publication

  6. Thrasher, Tony, and John S. Rozel. 2024. “Beyond Tackle and Shackle: Strategies for Addressing Agitation and Workplace Violence in Healthcare.” The Journal of Healthcare Protection Management 40 (2): 25–34.

Recent Funding

  • Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency , PCCD 39898, Integration of Community Outreach with Evidence-Based Treatment for High-Risk Clinically Referred Youth and Their Families - Teen Outreach to Promote Safety (TOPS) program, Consultant , 2023-2026
  • US Department of Homeland Security, Office of Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention , HS-20-TTP-132-00-01, Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention, Project Director / Subject Matter Expert , 2020-2023

Media