Shad Meshad
Shad Meshad, Founder & President of the National Veterans Foundation, has been a fearless advocate and counselor to our nation’s veterans for 45 years. Since 1985 the National Veterans Foundation (NVF), has helped over 400,000 veterans and their families with crisis and information services through a national crisis hotline. As a U.S. Army Captain and Medical Service Officer in Vietnam in 1970, Shad pioneered treatment techniques for what would later become known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In 1977 Shad worked under the Carter Administration with VA Secretary Max Cleland, to create the “Vet Center” program. These Vet Centers were modeled on Shad’s treatment programs for Veterans with combat related PTSD, offering community-based readjustment counseling. Today, there are more than 300 Vet Centers throughout the country that continue to operate under the model that Shad authored.
