Dr. Williams has worked with JRI for a decade and served as medical director for JRI’s children’s residential programs and oversaw psychiatric care throughout the agency. In her new role, she will work with other senior leaders at JRI to ensure the highest standards of care in psychiatry, nursing and other medical systems.

“I can personally attest to Dr. Williams' willingness to step up and address any clinical or systems challenge, and I am confident that the entire JRI community will benefit from her guidance and support,” said Andy Pond, president and chief executive officer for JRI, a leader in social justice with more than 100 programs helping individuals, families and children in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut.

Dr. Williams specializes in the psychiatric management of traumatic stress and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). She also specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for anxiety, depression, and insomnia. 

In addition to providing supervision and psychiatric consultation to JRI programs and clients, she also provides direct clinical services at the Walden Street School in Concord, a therapeutic residential school specializing in the treatment of adolescent girls experiencing traumatic stress. 

She holds a faculty appointment at the Harvard Medical School as part-time Lecturer, teaching psychiatry residents and child psychiatry fellows enrolled in Harvard training programs.

Dr. Williams completed her medical school training at the Creighton University School of Medicine in Omaha, NE, and her general psychiatry residency at the University of Nebraska (UNMC)/Creighton University joint residency program. She graduated from the child and adolescent fellowship program at Brown University.

She hosts a weekly podcast called “Black Mental Health Matters with Dr. Kerry-Ann” which is available on multiple podcasting platforms and which covers topics including depression, anxiety, attention deficit disorder and other issues of special significance to black people and people of color.

Williams, who was born in Jamaica, moved to Texas as a college freshman at Baylor University, and is a staunch advocate for social justice and making the medical profession more responsive to the needs of people of color.

She was selected as one of the Boston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 for 2020. She also was named one of Boston’s Most Impactful Women in Healthcare and Life Sciences by Get Connected!, a comprehensive multicultural resource guide in Boston.