Josette Marie Mondanaro (May 21, 1945 – December 25, 2002) was an American physician. As an expert on addiction, she served as head of the Division of Substance Abuse, part of the California Department of Health, during the Jerry Brown administration in the mid-1970s.
Early life and education Mondanaro was born in New York City and raised in Blue Point, New York, the daughter of Anthony Mondanaro and Alice Celentano Mondanaro. Her father was a butcher, and her mother worked in a department store.Bathen, Sigrid. "Fired Doctor: Was She a Millstone?" The Sacramento Bee (December 4, 1977): A1, A20, A22. She graduated from Syracuse University in 1967, with a bachelor's degree in zoology, and gained her medical training at Upstate Medical College in 1971. She completed a residency at Children's Hospital of San Francisco.
Career In 1976, Mondanaro was appointed head of the Division of Substance Abuse in the California Department of Health. Despite strong performance, she was fired from this position in late 1977, when she used explicit language in a personal letter written on official state letterhead.Bathen, Sigrid. "Dr. Josette Mondanaro: Story Behind Angry Letter is Complex One" The Sacramento Bee (December 8, 1977): B6 , B7. Mondanaro and others appealed the decision, based on her belief that she was fired because she was a lesbian, and because some state officials considered that a political liability."Brown May Testify for Lesbian" Lesbian Tide (January/February 1978): 22; via Internet Archive.Bathen, Sigrid. "Watergate Legacy? Mondanaro Accuses Governor of Coverup" The Sacramento Bee (December 10, 1977). Jerry Brown denied that her sexuality was a factor in the decision, in unprecedented testimony before the Personnel Board. She was ordered reinstated after hearings, and continued working for the State of California for a time, as a maternal and child health consultant in the Health Services Department.Bathen, Sigrid. "Mondanaro: Ex-Drug Abuse Chief Still with State" The Sacramento Bee (July 23, 1978): A3, A4.
After leaving state government, Mondanaro ran a medical clinic in Santa Cruz, treated women with drug dependencies, and taught at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1984, she spoke about her work as a guest on The Phil Donahue Show. In 1985, she planned a move to Laguna Beach, to open a treatment program for teens. She also became involved in HIV/AIDS prevention work among women at risk. In 1989, she won the CSAM Vernelle Fox Award from the California Society for Addiction Medicine.
Publications "Nutritional status of low income pregnant teen-agers" (1971, with H. J. Osofsky, P. T. Rizk, and M. Fox) "Therapy and Lesbians" (1975)Mondanaro, Josette. "Therapy and Lesbians" Issues in Radical Therapy 3(3)(Summer 1975): 3-7. "Women: Pregnancy, Children and Addiction" (1977) Treatment Services for Drug Dependent Women (1981, edited with George M. Beschner and Beth Glover Reed) "Strategies for AIDS Prevention: Motivating Health Behavior in Drug Dependent Women" (1987) Chemically Dependent Women: Assessment and Treatment (1989) "Community-based AIDS prevention interventions: Special issues of women intravenous drug users" (1990)Mondanaro, J. (1990). "Community-based AIDS prevention interventions: Special issues of women intravenous drug users" , in C. G. Leukefeld, R. J. Battjes, & Z. Amsel, eds., AIDS and intravenous drug use: Future directions for community-based prevention research (pp. 68–82). National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Personal life Mondanaro adopted a son, Eden. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor at age 41, and she died in 2002, at the age of 57, in Florida.
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