Scholarly Expertise: Randomized controlled trial
Katherine Hoerster
Personal Statement
My research focuses on understanding and addressing the contextual factors like social support and policy that affect health and health behavior. I completed a VA Health Systems Research (HSR) Career Development Award focused on developing a behavioral weight management program for Veterans with PTSD called MOVE!+UP (2015-2020). We are currently testing MOVE!+UP in a VA HSR Merit-funded study using a hybrid effectiveness and implementation RCT design. I recently led another VA HSR Merit-funded study as Principal Investigator (PI) to test a self-directed behavioral weight management intervention among 500 Veterans with obesity; the findings were published in JAMA: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2799407. I am Co-PI for two additional VA HSR Merit-funded studies, both RCTs testing behavioral interventions that harness the power of social support. Last, I am Co-PI for a VA operations-funded project called MOVED By LOVE, a multi-method study that is partnering with Black Veterans to enhance how weight management care in VA serves Black Veterans. The first findings from the study were recently published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-024-08628-7. I am fortunate to work with Veterans with PTSD as a staff psychologist in the VA Puget Sound-Seattle PTSD Outpatient Clinic. Lastly, I have an interest in maximizing research impact by communicating about science with Veterans, the public, institutions, and policymakers.
Kevin Hallgren
Personal Statement
I am a clinical psychologist with research interests in the treatment of alcohol and substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health conditions. My research focuses on understanding how to improve access to evidence-based treatments and understanding why and how patients benefit from treatment. I am particularly interested in research measurement-based care — i.e., the use of standardized measures to monitor treatment progress and inform clinical decision-making. Broad areas of interest include:- Alcohol and drug use disorder treatment, including the effectiveness of digital and behavioral interventions, mechanisms of behavioral change, and social and environmental determinants of change.
- Technology to support behavioral change, including patient- and clinician-facing tools that support clinical decision-making, treatment adherence, and treatment progress monitoring.
- Applied statistical analysis, including methods for analyzing longitudinal data, clinical trials data, multilevel data, missing data, psychometric analysis, and data visualization.
John Fortney
Personal Statement
I am a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and the Director of the Division of Population Health. I am also a Core Investigator at the HSR&D Center for Innovation for Veteran-Centered and Value-Driven Care at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System, and the Director of the VA Virtual Care QUERI Program. For the last 35 years, my research has focused on access to care. I have published a framework for conceptualizing access to care in the digital age that incorporates virtual care technologies. I have conducted clinical trials to test the effectiveness of virtual care technologies to facilitate the delivery of evidence-based mental health services in rural primary care clinics. I have also conducted implementation trials to test the effectiveness of strategies to promote the uptake of virtual care technologies by primary care patients and providers. My research has been supported by NIMH, NIAAA, PCORI, and VA HSR/QUERI.
Jesse Fann
Personal Statement
I am a consultation-liaison psychiatrist and health services researcher in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Rehabilitation Medicine and Epidemiology. I am also Medical Director of the Department of Psychosocial Oncology at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. My research interests are in psychiatric epidemiology, health services research, psychiatric oncology, and neuropsychiatry. In my clinical practice, I use a comprehensive, multifaceted approach that may include medications or counseling to help patients achieve their goals. My primary interest is helping people who are coping with medical illness. I am particularly interested in developing better approaches to delivering person-centered psychiatric care to these populations.
Amelia Dubovsky
Personal Statement
I am a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. I received my MD from New York University and completed my adult residency at the Harvard Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Hospital program where I was chief resident. I then went on to complete a fellowship in psychosomatic medicine at the University of Washington. I am currently on faculty at Harborview Medical Center on the inpatient psychiatry consult service. I have a longstanding interest in the intersection between medicine and psychiatry, and am the author of numerous published articles on topics ranging from the neuropsychiatric effects of steroids to managing borderline personality disorder in the primary care setting. I have a particular interest in the use of electroconvulsive therapy, including in the treatment of catatonia. I am currently involved in research projects in conjunction with the division of nephrology and the neurosurgery department. In addition to my clinical and research interests, I am also an associate program director for the UW Adult Psychiatry Residency at Harborview Medical Center.
Greg Reger
I am a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and I work as the Deputy Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. I am a licensed clinical psychologist. My research is focused on studying mental health technologies to support Veterans, Service Members, their families, and the health care staff that treat them. I research mobile applications, virtual reality, virtual standardized patients, and other innovative approaches to improve mental health education and services. I have conducted DoD and VA funded research and focus on applied interventions that may have promise to make a difference in the lives of those we serve. I am an Army Veteran and current behavioral health officer in the Washington State Army National Guard.
Katherine Anne (Kate) Comtois
Personal Statement
My career goal is to give suicidal clients and their clinicians the best chance to succeed. I have been working in the area of health services, treatment development, and clinical trials research to prevent suicide for over 30 years. My graduate training was in community/clinical psychology and focused on achieving clinical ends through prevention and other systemic interventions in socio-culturally diverse populations. I have brought these perspectives into health services research. I have developed or adapted interventions to improve care and clinician willingness to work with suicidal patients including Caring Contacts, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS), and Preventing Addiction Related Suicide (PARS). I have developed an adaptation of DBT Next Steps, a program to assist psychiatrically disabled individuals find and maintain living wage employment. My research has been funded by NIMH, NIDA, the Department of Defense, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and the State of Washington.
I am the director of the Center for Suicide Prevention and Recovery (CSPAR) whose mission is to promote the recovery of suicidal individuals and the effectiveness and well-being the clinicians and families who care for them by conducting rigorous and ecologically valid research, developing innovative interventions, improving policies, systems and environments of care, and providing expert training and consultation. CSPAR faculty and staff seek a deep understanding of the cultures and settings in which we work that leads to meaningful and effective interventions ready for implementation.
I also direct the Suicide Care Research Center, an NIMH P50 funded research center focused on using Human Centered Design and MOST optimization methodology to improve the care of adolescents and young adults (age 13-30 years) in outpatient medical settings. We are conducting one fully powered trial, three R34s, and 4 pilot studies within UW Medicine and Seattle Children’s hospital to develop innovative interventions to support primary care, Collaborative Care, and specialty medical clinics care for patients experiencing suicidal thoughts and behavior. The center supports effort of over 20 faculty and 16 staff as well as 11 emerging and advanced collaborating scholars and funds 2 annual pilot grants (each $100,000 over two years).
In addition to clinical research, I founded the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) focused on disseminating and implementing innovative, evidence-based interventions in the systems that need them. Beyond my research, I directed the Harborview Dialectical Behavior Therapy program at Harborview Medical Center 1996-2019, co-lead the UWAnnual Comprehensive DBT Training Program and Suicide Care in Healthcare Systems: We Can Do Better Serving our Patients and Caring for our Clinicians, both of which meet the Washington State requirement for suicide prevention training. I have a long history of training and mentoring junior faculty, post-doctoral scholars, psychiatry residents, pre-doctoral psychology interns, undergraduate students, and post-baccalaureate trainees. I provide psychotherapy and consultation at the UWMC Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic.
Mark Stein
Personal Statement
I am clinical psychologist and a Professor of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, and a clinical researcher specializing in ADHD throughout the lifespan. I direct the PEARL Clinic (Program to enhance attention, regulation, and learning) at Seattle Children’s. The PEARL Clinic is based on a multidisciplinary and collaborative care model which works closely with PCP’s who refer families to PEARL for evaluation and access to our behavioral group treatment programs and treatment recommendations. The PEARL clinic also provided multidisciplinary training for psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, family medicine physicians, and medical students. The majority of my clinical work involves diagnostic evaluations and consultations for the parents, referring physician, and schools. My research emphasis is on personalizing ADHD treatment, and determining how best to combine and sequence interventions throughout the lifespan for individuals with ADHD. I have assisted in the development of several stimulant and non stimulant medications, and participated in many clinical trials. Currently, we are conducting a study for parents with ADHD who have young children with ADHD symptoms where we are treating the parent with medication and behavioral parent training or behavior parent training. I am also investigating the relationship between genetic factors and ADHD treatment response. Other areas of interest include sleep problems and overlap with ADHD, and novel treatments such as Trigeminal Nerve Stimulation (TNS) and augmentation strategies such as mindfulness and physical exercise or activity level.
Eric J. Bruns
Personal Statement
I am a clinical psychologist and mental health services researcher. My overarching research aim is to produce and promote use of research, evaluation, and continuous quality improvement that aids high-quality implementation of effective models of care in real world service settings, such as in schools, public mental health systems, and family-and youth-run organizations. My research can be summarized as falling into three categories: (1) Care coordination models for youth with the most complex behavioral health needs; (2) school mental health; and (3) public sector implementation of research-based practices. In each area, I co-direct national training and TA centers. For example the National Wraparound Implementation Center (www.nwic.org), provides support to dozens of states and localities internationally on Wraparound. The National Wraparound Initiative (www.pdx.edu) serves to mobilize our research and policy activities. Our Wraparound fidelity tools and data systems can be found at www.wrapinfo.org. With respect to school mental health, our interdisciplinary UW School Mental Health Assessment, Research, and Training (SMART) Center — www.smartcenter.uw.edu — currently has over a dozen federal grants as well as state, local, and foundation funding focused on how best to ensure that evidence for effective mental health intervention and prevention is translated into effective programming in schools. The SMART Center also hosts the school mental health supplement of the UW Department of Psychiatry’s SAMHSA-funded Northwest Mental Health Training and Technical Assistance Center (MHTTC). Check out our extraordinary array of resources at https://mhttcnetwork.org/centers/northwest-mhttc/northwest-mhttc-school-mental-health.
