MEET THE AUTHOR

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Sherman Gillums Jr. has spent more than thirty years operating within and examining leadership formation inside high-pressure institutions.

A retired U.S. Marine Corps officer, Dr. Gillums sustained a cervical spine injury while preparing to deploy after 9/11—an experience that shaped a career in public policy, mental health, and disability rights. He rose to Executive Director at Paralyzed Veterans of America, leading a 300-person, $100 million organization and representing its positions before the White House, Congress, and federal agencies. He later held senior roles at AMVETS, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and Coordination, and the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation.

Dr. Gillums has testified before Congress, advised U.S. Presidents and Cabinet-level appointees on VA reform, and served on numerous federal advisory bodies. His work spans mental health, trauma, suicide prevention, disaster response, and clinical research. Since 2024, he has served as adjunct faculty at the University of Maryland Global Campus. He holds a Doctor of Education from the University of Dayton, a Master of Science from the University of San Diego, and a graduate certificate from Harvard Business School.

Across military service, public leadership, scholarship, and advocacy, his work centers on a single conviction: pain is rarely the problem; the greater challenge is whether systems are willing to see it clearly and respond with dignity. THE STREET brings that conviction into expository narrative form, examining how pain shapes identity, how survival becomes a discipline, and how the person trained to endure must eventually learn how to live.