Frank Chopp was a speaker at the UW Medicine Behavioral Health and Learning Center dedication ceremony in 2024, sharing his sister’s story of mental health challenges.
UW Medicine recently dedicated its Center for Behavioral Health and Learning at UW Medical Center–Northwest to Frank Chopp, ’75, honoring the former state lawmaker whose advocacy for mental health care was shaped in part by his sister’s struggle with bipolar disorder.
Chopp, who served as representative for Seattle’s 43rd Legislative District from 1995 to 2019, sponsored the bill that brought the Center for Behavioral Health and Learning to life.
In 2024, at the opening ceremony for what is now the Frank Chopp Center for Behavioral Health and Learning, Chopp spoke emotionally about his own family’s experiences with mental health challenges.
“Years ago, at the UW Medical Center at Montlake, my sister Jo-Anne was a patient a number of times in the psych unit. For decades, she had been seriously challenged by what is called rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. One of our proudest moments, for her and for me, was her testimony to the state Senate Health & Long-Term Care Committee several years ago in favor of legislation mandating mental health parity. She spoke very elegantly that day,” Chopp said through tears. “I was crying in the audience. Imagine that, right?”
Chopp was there that day in 2005 as a legislator. The bill his sister advocated for required that insurance coverage for mental health services be equal to coverage for medical and surgical services.
Chopp spent 30 years in the Washington State Legislature, including 20 years as House speaker—the longest speakership in state history. He died on March 22, 2025, following a cardiac arrest in Seattle.
“There is no family that hasn’t been affected by a brain health, mental health or an addiction problem at some point in their lives,” said Dr. Jürgen Unützer, chair of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the UW, at the building’s dedication ceremony. Chopp’s “longstanding support for mental health treatment has helped many more patients and their families get the help they need.”
In addition to the new building name, the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences is developing the Chopp Scholars Program in Behavioral Health Policy to train future behavioral health policy leaders to help expand access to care across Washington state.