Expanding access to effective mental health care
Jürgen is an internationally recognized psychiatrist and researcher whose work has improved access to evidence-based mental health care in primary care settings. Given the high prevalence of conditions such as depression, anxiety, alcohol and substance use, Jürgen understood that relying only on psychiatrists and other mental health specialists to provide care could never meet the need. In response, he founded the AIMS Center at UW, which since 2007 has trained more than 6,000 clinicians in a model of collaborative care that has proven effective in more than 80 randomized controlled trials around the world, including low-resource countries.
Jürgen is working to improve access and quality of mental health care for underserved rural and urban communities and to ‘move mental health care upstream’ by promoting perinatal mental health services for high risk families. In addition to mentoring graduate and postdoctoral students, Jürgen has served as an advisor to local, national and international agencies, including the World Health Organization and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Affiliations: Professor and Chair, Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, UW School of Medicine; Adjunct Professor, Global Health and Health Services, UW Schools of Public Health and Medicine; Founder, Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions (AIMS) Center; Director, Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions