|
Research Interests
Cornelia M. Beck, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.
Positions:
Professor of Geriatrics, Psychiatry, and Nursing
Vice-Chair of the Geriatrics Department
Director of the Alzheimer's Disease Center (ADC)
Dr. Beck has devoted her research career to clinical and services interventions aimed at improving care at the provider/patient interface. Her most recent project is attempting to isolate the triggers for problematic vocalizations in nursing home residents with dementia. Along with two related studies at the University of Michigan (on wandering and aggression), it should provide researchers and providers with a better insight on how patient needs and (stable and dynamic) environmental factors impact dementia compromised behavior.
Dr. Beck has published more than 100 articles, served on a number of NIH study sections and councils, and lectured extensively throughout the world. In 2003 she received the National Gerontological Nursing Association Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2004 the Barry Reisberg Recognition Award (from the Hearthstone Alzheimer's Family Foundation).
Contact Information
Assistant: Becka Howard
Phone: (501) 526-6500
Fax: (501) 526-5760
Warren K. Bickel, Ph.D.
Positions:
Director, Center for Addiction Research (CAR)
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Wilbur D. Mills Chair of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Prevention - College of Medicine
Director of the Interdisciplinary Tobacco Program - College of Public Health
Dr. Bickel was recruited from the University of Vermont in Burlington where he was a professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, interim chair of the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Chittenden Center, an addictions treatment program. Dr. Bickel is a fellow of the American Psychological Association, a fellow and past president of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence (CPDD) and former editor-in-chief of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology. Dr. Bickel has experience in examining the behavioral processes that underlie drug dependence in humans and has conducted research that examines novel cost-effective ways to deliver treatment.
Contact Information
Assistant: Lisa Smith
Phone: (501) 526-7802
FAX: (501) 526-7816
Dean Blevins, Ph.D.
Positions:
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Program Evaluator, Central Arkansas MIRECC
Independent Consultant (in patient outcomes assessment and program evaluation)
Dr. Blevins came to DHSR in 2002 after receiving his doctorate in psychology from the University of Akron. Here, he has continued to pursue his interest in end-of-life issues, dementia, long-term care, and mental health policy; his newest research projects are End-of-Life Care for Persons with Alzheimer's Disease and Improving End-of-Life Care for Veterans in Skilled Nursing Facilities.
Dr. Blevins has published numerous manuscripts and book chapters (in addition to one book) on death and dying, aging, public policy, and mental healthcare. He is on the executive committees of the American Society on Aging and the Gerontological Society of America, and he serves on the advisory counsel for the Arkansas CMS Nursing Home Quality Improvement Initiative.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 257-1102
FAX: (501) 257-1749
Patti A. Bokony, Ph.D.
Positions:
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Adjunct Instructor, Department of Education, UALR
Dr. Bokony served as the Children's Program Director and Clinical Program Director of Arkansas CARES (a non-residential prevention and treatment program for mothers who are affected by substance abuse) for 9 years, before coming to DHSR in 2002. Her work here has very much been an extension of her interest in children and families; fusing research with real-world experience. Dr. Bokony’s research interests are increasing the capacity of early childhood providers and parents to prevent the onset of psychological disorders through improved adult-child interactions. .
Contact Information
Assistant: Jamie Henry
Phone: (501) 660-7500
FAX: (501) 660-7542
Brenda M. Booth, Ph.D.
Positions:
Director, DHSR
Professor of Psychiatry and Biostatistics
Dr. Booth has been responsible for the scientific and administrative organization of DHSR since 2001, when the previous Director, G. Richard Smith, became the Chair of the Department of Psychiatry. In addition to filling her role as the Director of DHSR, Dr. Booth:
* serves on the College of Medicine Promotion and Tenure Committee,
* acts as a supervising mentor for the junior faculty at DHSR,
* provides biostatistical consultation to DHSR faculty (and other faculty members in the UAMS Department of Psychiatry), and
* continues with her own research...
Dr. Booth is a nationally recognized expert in substance abuse and co-morbid mental illness. She was PI on the Rural Alcohol Study (RAS), and her currently funded research includes:
* a longitudinal study of patients with cocaine use who present to the Emergency Department with chest pain and
* a multi-state grant that examines stimulant use, including cocaine and methamphetamine use, in rural counties of Arkansas and Kentucky.
Contact Information
Assistant: Jamie Rankins
Phone: (501) 660-7503
FAX: (501) 660-7542
Alan Budney, Ph.D.
Positions:
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Research Interests:
- Behavioral Treatment Development for Substance Abuse – Adults and Adolescents
- current focus, Marijuana
- mechanisms of action
- role of parents
- Characterization and clinical importance of marijuana withdrawal; relation to pharmacotherapies
Funding Sources: NIH
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 686-5207
FAX: (501) 686-6356
Geoffrey M. Curran, Ph.D.
Positions:
Director, VA HSR&D Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, CeMHOR
Associate Director, T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
Associate Director, Mental Health QUERI Coordinating Center
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry (effective July 1, '05)
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Dr. Curran is a trained sociologist with a strong background in behavior change theory and methods. He directs the postdoctoral program that brought him here in 1997, and he is the Associate Director of the Mental Health QUERI Coordinating Center.
Dr. Curran is currently the PI on: Technology Transfer of Depression Management in Substance Use Treatment (SUT) - a NIDA funded project seeking to develop, implement, and evaluate a "technology transfer" intervention and move evidenced-based pharmacotherapy practice (for managing comorbid depressive disorders) to community SUT programs.
and Co- PI on: Patterns of Health Services Use Associated with Substance Use Treatment - a project looking at how the VA's diversification of services is effecting SUT utilization and cost.
Contact Information
Assistant: Jennifer Stephens
Phone: (501) 257-1084
FAX: (501) 257-1844
Mark J. Edlund, M.D., Ph.D.
Positions:
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Psychiatrist, Central Arkansas VA
The overarching theme of Dr. Edlund’s work is improving treatment of mental health disorders in individuals with co-morbid pain and/or co-morbid substance use. He approaches this problem both through health services interventions and secondary data analysis.
Dr. Edlund obtained an MA in Economics, a PhD in Health Services Organization and Policy, and an MD from the University of Michigan, where he was a fellow in the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP). In his dissertation, Dr. Edlund worked with Ron Kessler, PhD, using data from the National Comorbidity Study. His dissertation focused on dropout from mental health treatment in the U.S. and Canada.
Dr. Edlund completed psychiatry residency and a one year research fellowship at UCLA under the direction of Kenneth Wells, MD, MPH. Before leaving UCLA and coming to DHSR in 2002, Dr. Edlund a received grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for his project: Geographic Variation in Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services Utilization: What is the Role of Physician Practice Patterns? He is currently principal investigator for the VA HSR&D grant How Patients Overcome Barriers to Depression Treatment Adherence, which investigates treatment adherence and beliefs among VA primary care interventions. He’s a Co-PI on CALM, a large, multi-site NIMH grant to improve outcomes for primary care anxiety treatment.
Dr. Edlund’s other recent publications include work on the use of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain in patients with mental illness; the interface of religious involvement and mental illness treatment; racial and ethnic differences in the use of mental health care; and the self-medication hypothesis of substance abuse.
Contact Information
Assistant: Ashley McDaniel
Phone: (501) 257-1223
FAX: (501) 257-1718
Ellen P. Fischer, Ph.D., M.P.A.
Positions:
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Chair pro tem and Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Dr. Fischer is nationally recognized for her research on improving care for patients with schizophrenia. Her most recent project: Stakeholder Perspectives on Sustaining Involvement in Schizophrenia Care, combines qualitative and quantitative strategies to better understand the relationships among factors associated with long-term involvement in care for schizophrenia under usual clinical conditions. Associations are being explored from the perspectives of both consumers and their family members/friends. Information from the project should help inform future research and improve the quality of care that most outpatients with schizophrenia experience. Dr. Fischer is also a Co-Investigator on a related project (Determinants of Treatment Retention for Veterans with Psychoses), an analysis of VA National Psychosis Registry data to explore patterns of service use among veterans with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder (Frederic Blow, PhD, PI).
In addition to her research on improving care, Dr. Fischer has focused heavily on development of instruments to assessing the outcomes of care for schizophrenia. She is responsible for validation and revision of the Schizophrenia Outcomes Module.
Contact Information
Assistant: Michele Whitworth
Phone: (501) 526-6685
FAX: (501) 660-7542
John C. Fortney, Ph.D.
Positions:
Associate Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Health Policy & Management
Dr. Fortney is recognized as a national leader in research to improve treatment of depression in rural areas. His previous publications include a paper in Psychiatric Services which found that the cost for treatment of major depression for Arkansans is generally offset by the reduction in lost workdays due to depression. His research has included a grant that studied the impact of managed care on rural access to substance abuse facilities as well as a grant that probed the cost-effectiveness and overall effectiveness of the VA's Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs), a program designed to shift the focus of VA mental health care from an inpatient setting to an outpatient setting.
Along with substance abuse, depressive disorders, geographic access, utilization, and managed care, Dr. Fortney's other research interests include telemedicine and the role of primary care in mental health.
Contact Information
Assistant: Amanda Davis
Phone: (501) 257-1806
FAX: (501) 257-1749
Teresa J. Hudson, Pharm.D.
Positions:
Assistant Director, Psychopharmacology Research, Education and Clinical
Enhancement Program, MIRECC
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
A past president of the Arkansas Association of Health-System Pharmacists, Dr. Hudson is now the associate director for the VA's South Central Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center (MIRECC). At MIRECC she is currently serving as Associate Director, along with Director Henry Nasrallah, of the Psychopharmacology Research and Clinical Enhancement Program (PRECEP), which is conducting trials on the use of psychotropic medications in veterans diagnosed with schizophrenia, PTSD, and substance abuse disorders in VA facilities in five states. The results of these trials will be used to publish a pocket booklet for clinicians with recommendations concerning antipsychotic prescription and monitoring. She has previously published A Guide to Psychotropic Drugs in the Elderly, the result of a project
funded by the state of Arkansas. In addition, Dr. Hudson serves on the Arkansas Medicaid Retrospective Drug Utilization Review Committee.
Interests: Medication adherence in schizophrenia, quality measurement, health disparities, pharmacoepidemiology
Contact Information
Assistant: Kristi Nelms
Phone: (501) 257-1717
FAX: (501) 257-1707
Justin Hunt, M.D.
Positions:
NIMH Post Doc
Dr. Hunt is an NIMH Post Doc fellow with a focus in Adolescent Psychiatry. His research is part time and currently integrated with his adult outpatient psychiatry residency training. In addition to his research and clinical obligations, he also is serving as the Chief Resident for the UAMS General Psychiatry Program and as the Area 5 (South) representative to the national APA Committee of Residents and Fellows.
Dr. Hunt obtained an MD from the University of Arkansas in May, 2002. In July, 2005, he participated in the Graduate Summer Session in Epidemiology at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 686-5803
Timothy Kimbrell, M.D.
Positions:
Assistant Professor, Central Arkansas VA
Dr. Kimbrell's interests are in the neurobiology of emotion and affective disorders. He is using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and gaze direction bias measures to examine hemispheric laterality contributions to processing emotional stimuli in healthy populations and populations with anxiety and depressive disorders. Our lab has recently found that subjects with PTSD respond more slowly to pictures of angry faces (though more quickly to combat scenes) than matched healthy controls.
By examining the neurophsiology of emotional processing, we will learn the brain circuits that mediate specific symptoms of psychiatric disorders and better target pharmacologic and psychological therapies.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 257-3468
JoAnn E. Kirchner, M.D.
Positions:
Associate Director for Clinical Care, VA South Central MIRECC
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Assistant Professor, Department of Maternal and Child Health
Staff Physician, Central Arkansas VA
Dr. Kirchner's research focuses on organizational influences on access to and quality of mental health and substance abuse care in primary care settings. Recently this work has concentrated on developing a better understanding of multiple stakeholder (administrators, clinical managers, providers, and patients) values, costs and their relationship to the implementation of evidenced-based care. She is currently the principal investigator for a project called Cost and Value of Evidence-based Solutions for Depression Study (COVES), which investigates stakeholder perceptions and actual program costs of implementing collaborative care models in six large outpatient programs in three Veterans Integrated Services Networks (VISNs).
She is also PI on a project focusing on sustainability of collaborative care interventions which uses an evidence-based quality improvement model to sustain and spread collaborative care for depression in several regionally diverse early adopter VA VISNs as a preparatory step toward national implementation. This project will develop and implement sustainable collaborative care administration methods, and test methods for spreading the established model to new sites. As the South Central MIRECC Associate Director, she serves as the MIRECC liaison on the VISN 16 Mental Health Advisory Council (MH PLAC) as well as the leader of Clinical Initiatives. Dr. Kirchner has also worked on statewide programs to educate public school teachers regarding detection and treatment of common mental disorders in children and adolescents.
Contact Information
Assistant: Penny White
Phone: (501) 257-1797
FAX: (501) 257-1718
Benjamin P. Kowal, Ph.D.
Positions:
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Dr. Kowal has focused his career on the investigation of the experimental analysis of behavior and decision making processes related to the consumption of addictive drugs. His recent efforts attempt to determine the reinforcing properties of drugs which contribute to addiction. This should provide researchers and treatment providers with insight into the development of environmental and pharmacological substitutes that can be used break the cycle of addiction. Dr. Kowal has published 10 articles, served as a peer-reviewer, and presented data at several conferences. He has previously received rewards for research from the Western Psychological Association and The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. As a graduate student two of his students were awarded grants for their research.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 686-5117
Teresa L. Kramer, Ph.D.
Positions:
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Kramer's research interests cover methods to validate performance measures for depression treatment, the variability of and factors influencing treatment for depressed veterans in mental health and primary care settings, and testing interventions to improve the quality of care. She is currently studying the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of an evidence-based intervention (EBI) for adolescent depression treatment in community mental health settings. She is also working with Dr. Terri Miller to form "Partners for Mental Health Outreach: Promoting Mental Health Services in Diverse Communities," which will examine the barriers/facilitators to a large-scale intervention in the African-American community.
Past research has included a project with Dr. Joanne Kirchner to study the effectiveness of mental health education programs for K-12 schoolteachers, as well as a project with Dr. Richard Owen that explored evidence-based components of care for depressed adults.
Contact Information
Assistant: Sheila Romes
Phone: (501) 660-7550
FAX: (501) 660-7542
Michael Mancino, M.D.
Positions:
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Staff Physician, Central Arkansas VA
Program Director, Substance Abuse Treatment Clinic
Director, Buprenorphine Treatment Program CAVHS
Director, Resident Research Committee
Dr. Mancino completed an NIMH Health Services Research Fellowship. His present area of research interest is in the area of medications development for the treatment of psychostimulant addiction. Dr. Mancino has recently gathering data for a pilot protocol which is examining withdrawal in patients with methamphetamine dependence. He has also been working with Dr. Alison Oliveto on a project examining the efficacy of disulfiram on cocaine dependence in methadone maintained patients receiving Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. He recently submitted a K-award in conjunction with Drs. Oliveto and Garcia-Rill with the intent of studying and understanding the effects of abused psychostimulants on neurobiological systems and behavior. Dr. Mancino's long-term goal is to develop evidence-based pharmacotherapies for psychostimulant abuse. Dr. Mancino applied for and was accepted as an associate member of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 257-3131
FAX: (501) 257-3164
Pager: VA 1506
Rhonda Mattox, MD
Positions:
NIMH PostDoc
No short bio available.
Dinesh Mittal, M.D.
Positions:
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Staff Physician, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
Dinesh Mittal, MD, is recipient of a Research Career Development Award from the South Central VA Health Care Network. As part of the Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research at the Little Rock VA, he is conducting research on psychosocial interventions in older patients with psychotic disorders to improve medication adherence and quality of life.
He was on sabbatical in 2004 from the VA and the University of Mississippi School of Medicine, working with older patients with schizophrenia at the NIMH-funded Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research, University of California, San Diego. Other recent research has focused on improving understanding of the research informed consent among patients with Alzheimers Disease, impact of comorbid anxiety on quality of life in depressed patients, referral patterns of delirium to psychiatry, neuroleptic treatment of delirium, and the safety and effectiveness of risperidone in patients with delirium.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 257-1238
FAX: (501) 257-1749
Dan-Vy Mui, M.D.
Positions:
Director, UAMS Psychiatry Consultation-Liaison Service Director, Behavioral Science Course
Dr. Mui currently conducts research on medical student education. She is also involved in a study of an integrated model for treatment of anxiety disorders in a primary care setting.
Contact information
Phone: (501) 686-6971
Pager: (501) 405-4821
Snigdha Mukherjee, Ph.D.
Positions:
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Evaluator, MIRECC
Dr. Mukherjee has extensive experience in evaluation research using qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods. As Co-Investigator on an NIH Fogarty training grant for India and Zambia, she trained collaborators in program evaluation, survey research methodology, and qualitative methodologies such as in-depth interviews, observation, and focus group discussion. She recently published a paper coauthored by Dr. Greer Sullivan and others entitled How Mental Health Providers Spend their Time: A Survey of 10 Veterans Health Administration Mental Health Services. Her other projects have involved conducting focus group sessions and panel discussions with Women Infant and Children (WIC) participants and providers statewide in Alabama stratified by different ethnic groups; designing qualitative process evaluation group sessions with the peer group of high risk adolescents; designing and conducting focus group sessions with the peer group of high risk adolescents in India. Another area of interest for Dr. Mukherjee is in the area of ageing and issues related to the stress of caregivers of the elderly. She has co-authored three papers in this area.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 257-1082
FAX: (501) 257-1718
Alison Oliveto, Ph.D.
Positions:
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Vice-Chair for Research, Department of Psychiatry
Senior Scientist, Center for Addiction Research (CAR)
Dr. Oliveto’s laboratory research has focused on the human behavioral pharmacology of abused drugs, including cocaine and GHB, as well as improving pharmacological treatments for opioid withdrawal. Her clinical trials research has focused on combining pharmacological and behavioral interventions for comorbid cocaine/opioid dependence as well as depression/cocaine dependence. In the course of these studies, she is exploring the pharmacogenetics of treatment response. Dr. Oliveto is also exploring aspects of methamphetamine dependence.
Dr. Oliveto has published more than 60 articles and chapters, served on a number of NIDA and CSAT study sections, and is currently serving on the Board of Directors for the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 686-8969 or 686-5801(Faye Smith)
FAX: (501) 526-7816
Richard R. Owen, M.D.
Positions:
Director, CeMHOR
Director, Mental Health QUERI Coordinating Center
Research Coordinator, Mental Health QUERI
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Associate Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Dr. Owen is a nationally-recognized expert in research on the quality and outcomes of care for schizophrenia, and on the implementation of evidence-based practices into routine clinical practice. Currently Dr. Owen is conducting A Study of Strategies to Improve Schizophrenia Treatment, which will examine variance in antipsychotic prescription across the VA and evaluate strategies to increase guideline-concordant medication management. Dr. Owen's other research includes a project with Dr. Teresa Hudson and others to develop evidence-based recommendations to help psychiatrists monitor adverse medical complications of atypical antipsychotics as well as a project led by principal investigator Dr. Geoffrey Curran to develop a treatment algorithm to improve recognition of depression in the VA setting. His other activities have included conducting training programs for opinion leaders; developing informatics tools; and developing methods for performance feedback reporting.
Contact Information
Assistant: Samatha Tidd
Phone: (501) 257-1706
FAX: (501) 257-1707
Jeffrey Pyne, M.D.
Positions:
Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Staff Physician, Central Arkansas VA
Dr. Pyne is known for his expertise in assessment of health-related quality of life, patient preferences, utilities, and cost-effectiveness analyses but his research has covered a broad range of topics. This year, Dr. Pyne is working on the following projects:
* as PI on a collaborative care intervention for depression in HIV patients funded by VA
* as PI on a cost-effectiveness analysis of a substance use disorder intervention funded by NIDA
* as PI on a medication adherence intervention for patients with schizophrenia funded be VA
* as PI on a psychophysiological project for combat PTSD using virtual reality technology funded by VA
* as Co-PI with Dr. Fortney on a collaborative care intervention for depression in community health centers funded by NIMH
* as Co-Investigator on other collaborative care and virtual reality projects funded be VA and DoD
Contact Information
Assistant: Jennifer Stephens
Phone: (501) 257-1084
FAX: (501) 257-1844
Kathleen C. Richards, R.N., Ph.D.
Positions:
Professor, Department of Nursing Science
Director, Center for Research on Tailored Biobehavioral Interventions
Dr. Richard's research covers interventions to improve sleep, circadian rhythm disturbances, and the quality of life of persons with dementia. She is the recipient of a VA Advanced Research Career Development Award (ARCDA) for her proposal Individualized Respite for Persons With Dementia. The addition of a VA HSR&D grant (Sleep and Behavioral Disturbances in Dementia) as well as a NIH grant (Effect of Activities and Exercise on Sleep in Dementia) have allowed her to devote considerable resources to designing, testing, and implementing effective interventions for persons with sleep disorders. She is particularly interested in nonpharmacological methods such as activities, exercise, and other lifestyle changes to improve sleep patterns in veterans.
Dr. Richards is the director of the National Institute of Nursing Research funded Center for Research on Tailored Biobehavioral Interventions. The center will focus on testing the efficacy of tailored evidence-based biobehavioral interventions.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 245-2044 -or- (501) 686-7021
G. Richard Smith, M.D.
Positions:
Marie Wilson Howells Professor and Chair, Department of Psychiatry
Professor, Department of Health Policy & Management
Dr. Smith is a graduate of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, where he completed an internship and residency in psychiatry. After finishing a fellowship in psychiatry and internal medicine at the University of Rochester in New York, Dr. Smith returned to UAMS in 1981. He founded the Division of Health Services Research (formerly the Center for Mental Healthcare Research) in 1989 and developed it into one of the largest, most comprehensive mental health services research groups in the nation.
Now the Marie Wilson Howells Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Smith is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in services and outcomes assessment research.
Interests: Outcomes, quality of care, value of care, accountability
Contact Information
Assistant: Christina Clark
Phone: (501) 686-5486
FAX: (501) 686-8154
Jeffrey L. Smith, PhD Candidate
Positions:
Implementation Research Coordinator, VA Mental Health Quality Enhancement
Research Initiative (MH QUERI)
Investigator, Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research (CeMHOR)
Instructor, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, College of Medicine,
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences;
Mr. Smith has over 15 years of experience in research focused on the implementation of evidence-based practices into routine mental healthcare delivery, and has published numerous articles related to mental health quality improvement. As Implementation Research Coordinator for MH QUERI, he plays a leadership role in the design, implementation and evaluation of research projects to improve the quality of care, outcomes and health-related quality of life for veterans with depression and schizophrenia. His current research is focused on determining the differential effectiveness of team-based versus opinion leader strategies to implement evidence-based antipsychotic prescribing practices in VA mental healthcare settings, evaluating a team-based strategy to disseminate collaborative care for depression in VA healthcare settings, and assessing barriers/facilitators to initiation of evidence-based psychosocial rehabilitation programs for patients with serious mental illness. Previously, he served as the Associate Director of Translational Research at the Center for Research Strategies in Denver, Colorado, where his work focused on the implementation of evidence-based practices for health improvement to healthcare organizations and public health agencies in the community. He has been funded as an investigator in research supported by a wide range of sponsors, including the Veterans Health Administration, National Institutes of Health, private foundations, state agencies, and others.
Contact Information
Assistant: Ann Adams
Phone: (501) 257-1066
FAX: (501) 257-1707
John J. Spollen, III, M.D.
Positions:
Vice Chair for Education, Department of Psychiatry
Chief, Mental Health Clinic, Central Arkansas Veterans Health System
Dr. Spollen is currently involved in several educational research projects including: the effectiveness of workshop training for Motivational Interviewing on knowledge, attitudes and skills in MI and patient-centered interviewing; the effects of specific interventions, including web-based curriculum, on NBME and PRITE scores; and on the effect of oral board preparation interventions on performance.
Contact information
Phone: (501) 257-3160
Pager: (501) 688-6679
Catherine Stanger, Ph.D.
Positions:
Associate Professor of Psychiatry
Dr. Stanger is the Principal Investigator of a NIDA-funded research grant: Preventing Problems among Children of Substance Abusers. This project will test a parenting intervention for substance abusing mothers. Dr. Stanger also collaborates with Dr. Alan Budney on the Behavioral Treatment of Adolescent Marijuana Abuse project, testing a family based contingency management intervention for adolescent substance abuse.
Interests: Parenting interventions, substance abusing families, and adolescent substance abuse.
Contact Information
Assistant: Cindy Martin
phone: 501-686-5204
FAX: 501-686-6356
email: cstanger@uams.edu
Tracy Stecker, PhD
Positions:
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Stecker, a clinical psychologist, is conducting research on ways to improve engagement into mental health treatments. Mental health problems, such as depression and PTSD, are targeted in two populations including OIF veterans returning from the war in Iraq and individuals diagnosed with depression in primary care settings. Beliefs about treatments are targeted in a CBT-based intervention designed to change engagement behavior in individuals diagnosed with mental health problems.
Contact Information
Assistant: Francis Hamilton
Phone: (501)257-1970
Fax: (501)257-1749
Diane E. Steffick, Ph.D.
Positions:
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Dr. Steffick is a labor and health economist working on projects concerning the effect of mental illness on individuals' work life and economic functioning as well as studying state mental health policy in Arkansas.
During graduate school, she was the mental health specialist for the Health and Retirement Study, a large longitudinal survey-based study of Americans aged 50 and older, funded primarily by the National Institute on Aging. The NIA also funded Dr. Steffick's pre-doctoral training fellowship at the Population Studies Center, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Prior to graduate school, she worked as a policy analyst for the Urban Institute working with income support programs, including Administration and Congressional proposals for welfare reform in 1994. Another research endeavor of hers resulted in a 2001 paper, Inequality in life expectancy, functional status, and active life expectancy across selected black and white populations in the United States, in Demography.
Contact Information
Assistant: Kristi Nelms
Phone: (501) 257-1069
FAX: (501) 257-1749
J. Greer Sullivan, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Positions:
Director, South Central MIRECC - VISN 16
Professor, Department of Psychiatry
Visiting Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Neurology, Tulane University
Dr. Sullivan has extensive experience studying sub-populations of the seriously mentally ill, including those living in rural areas, the homeless, those involved in the criminal justice system, and those who are HIV positive. She is very familiar with the public mental health system and has expertise in a number of projects requiring consensus development. After completing her psychiatry residency at UCLA, Dr. Sullivan received additional training in health services research as an UCLA Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and a National Center for Health Services Researcher (NCHSR) fellow at RAND. She was a senior scientist at RAND for 12 years. AT UCLA, she was Co-Director of the Faculty Scholars Program, she has subsequently served as a design and methods consultant for a number of services research projects. While treatment of mental disorders in primary care settings has not been Dr. Sullivan's primary research area, she trained under Ken Wells, MD, MPH, at UCLA and is very familiar with Dr. Well's work as well as the work of Unutzer and Katon.
Contact Information
Assistant: Melonie Shelton
Phone: (501) 257-1971
FAX: (501) 257-1718
Purushottam B. Thapa, M.D.
Positions:
Assistant Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Epidemiology
Staff Psychiatrist, Arkansas State Hospital (ASH)
Director of Research, Arkansas Mental Health Research & Training
Institute (AMHRTI)
Dr. Thapa is:
* an active clinician at Arkansas' principal public mental health inpatient facility, the Arkansas State Hospital,
* the Director of Research at the state's Research and Training Institute, AMHRTI,
* the course director for medical students' required Behavioral Health Science course at UAMS, and
* a practiced pharmacoepidemiologist with extensive experience conducting large epidemiologic studies.
He is currently Co-Principal Investigator on Planning Improved Medication Management for Arkansas Serious Mental Illness (SMI) - a project designed to improve medication management for persons with schizophrenia in Arkansas, and, through it, achieve a consensus on priority problem areas.
Contact Information
Assistant: Katherine Lincourt
Phone: (501) 660-7533
FAX: (501) 660-7542
D. Keith Williams, Ph.D.
Positions:
Assistant Professor, Division of Biometry
Dr. Williams is an Assistant Professor in the UAMS Department of Biometry. Since 1988, he has been an instructor at UAMS, teaching courses in Biometrical Methods, Data Management and Analysis, Advanced Linear Models and Multivariate Analysis. He is sought out by UAMS researchers for his statistical opinions and is often asked to collaborate on grant proposals. he currently is working on extramural grants totaling in excess of $17 million. His roles in these projects include co-investigator, biostatistician, and mentor.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 296-1556
Eve J. Wiseman, M.D.
Positions:
Associate Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Pharmacology
Staff Physician, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
Eve J. Wiseman, MD, is recipient of a Clinical Demonstration Project award from the South Central Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center. Dr. Wiseman’s project utilizes contingency management techniques to improve patient adherence with outpatient substance abuse treatment. As a co-investigator with Drs. Mancino and Slater, Dr. Wiseman also has funding from a Department of Veterans Affairs Request for Proposals to establish a buprenorphine detoxification and maintenance clinic at the Central Arkansas Veterans Health Care System. Other recent research has focused on risk factors for pancreatitis and cirrhosis in substance-abusing patients, in collaboration with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Public Health.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 257-3202
FAX: (501) 257-2835
Richard Yi, Ph.D.
Positions:
Instructor, Department of Psychiatry
Research Scientist, Center for Addiction Research
Dr. Yi received his doctorate degree in Experimental Psychology from Stony Brook University in New York. He joined the department of Psychiatry in 2004, where he began as a Post-Doctoral Fellow and is now Instructor of Psychiatry and a research scientist in the Center for Addiction Research. His general interest is in the basic behavioral processes involved in drug dependence. Much of his current research examines temporal and probability discounting in drug dependent populations. Other interests include the relationship between intertemporal and interpersonal choice, modeling of social dilemmas, and laboratory models of impulsiveness.
Contact Information
Phone: (501) 526-7882
FAX: (501) 526-7816
UAMS Department of Psychiatry
4301 W. Markham # 554
Little Rock, AR 72205
501-526-8100
501-526-8199 (fax)
Notice of Privacy Practices
|
