© Andrew Testa/Panos Pictures for the Open Society Institute

Judith Klein

Judith E. Klein, JD, has been the director of the Open Society Institute Mental Health Initiative (MHI) since 2000, and has worked for OSI on mental disability since 1995. MHI works in 13 countries of Central Eastern Europe and the Newly Independent States. Throughout the region, MHI aims to ensure that people with mental disabilities are able to live as equal citizens in the community and to actively participate in society with full respect for their human rights. The focus of MHI’s activities is to end the unjustified and inappropriate institutionalization of people with mental disabilities in CEE/fSU by advocating for the closure of institutions and the development of community-based alternatives.

Prior to working at OSI, Klein, who is a member of the State Bars of Florida and Michigan, represented people with mental disabilities in guardianship and involuntary detention hearings in the United States.