Phyllis Vine's book, Families in Pain (Pantheon, 1982), was the first book to discuss family relationships of the mentally ill. As a tenured professor of American history at Sarah Lawrence College until 1989, she included courses in the History of Heath Care. In 2007 she founded MIWatch.org, an aggregate of information on mental illness, including archival materials, interviews with activists, researchers, professionals, and politicians, as well as edited guest editorials, produced podcasts and online videos, and wrote her own column. Vine was a founding member of NAMI-New York State and served on the Carter Center's annual Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Symposium. Presently she is the President of the Board of Directors of Gould Farm, the oldest farm-based residential treatment program for people with mental illness in the US. She also the author of One Man's Castle: Clarence Darrow in Defense of the American Dream (HarperCollins, 2004).