AACP Board
Representitive at Large
David A. Pollack, M.D.
I currently am Professor for Public Policy in the departments of Psychiatry, Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and Family Medicine at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU), Portland, Oregon. My activities include teaching, writing, and consulting on policy, systems, and medical leadership issues to various local, state, and national organizations. I also participate in services research on specific grants and as a participant in the Oregon Health Research and Evaluation Collaborative.
I served as Medical Director for the Office of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OMHAS, now AMH) for the Oregon Department of Human Services from 2002-2006, and as Associate Director of the Public Psychiatry Training Program from 1987-2006, and continue to teach medical students, social work students, and residents for that program. I also teach health policy related topics for the OHSU Division of Management’s Health Management MBA and Certificate programs and provide clinical consultation and resident teaching within the Department of Family Medicine’s clinics.
I have worked as a community and public psychiatrist in Oregon for over 37 years. For 11 years I served as Medical Director at Mental Health Services West, a large community mental health center in downtown Portland.
I have written about and done presentations at numerous meetings on various aspects of the following issues:
- Community Psychiatry
- Psychopharmacology
- Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
- Psychosocial Aspects of the Arms Race
- Mental Health Delivery Systems
- Mental Health Care Financing
- Psychiatric Aspects of HIV
- Mental Health Integration with Primary Care
- Disaster Psychiatry
- Behavioral Health Workforce Development, and Behavioral Health Services Research Infrastructure Development
- Evidence-Based Practice
- Health Reform
Since 1989 I have been an active member of the Mental Health and Chemical Dependency Subcommittee of the Oregon Health Services Commission. My work on the Oregon Health Plan helped to shape how mental health services were integrated into that innovative health care reform project. The experiences derived from that work contributed to my subsequent work on health care reform and mental health policy. More recently, I served on two committees for the Oregon Health Authority’s Health Policy Board, one to review the standards for patient-centered primary care homes and the other to develop, implement, and oversee policies related to healthcare workforce development.
In 1997 I co-edited and published Managed Mental Health Care in the Public Sector: A Survival Manual. In 1999, another co-edited book was published addressing the issues of the interface between mental health and primary care, Advancing Mental Health and Primary Care Collaboration in the Public Sector. In 2004, I organized and edited a book on the use of force in psychiatry, Moving from Coercion to Collaboration in Mental Health Services.
In the fall of 1998, I went to Washington, DC, as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, in which capacity I worked in the Health Office of Senator Edward Kennedy. My work in the Kennedy office included the development of health and mental health related legislation, constituent and lobbying activities, speech writing, and interactions with federal regulatory agencies.
I am a member of the American Psychiatric Association and currently serve as a member of the Scientific Program Committee for the annual Psychiatric Services Institute. I served on the APA’s Council for Advocacy and Public Policy from 2001-2006. I previously served as a member of the Committee on Psychiatry and the Community in the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry.
I have been a member of the American Association of Community Psychiatrists (AACP) since its inception and have served on its board since 1990. My work with AACP has included a strong emphasis on health care reform and delivery system issues. I have chaired the Program Committee for many years, maintaining responsibility for identifying and organizing topics and presenters on issues that are current and important to public sector mental health.
When not working at psychiatry, I spend time gardening, cycling, listening to music, going to movies and plays, and occasionally traveling to interesting places with my wife.
David Pollack, M.D.
2120 SW Schaeffer Road
West Linn, OR 97068
Email: dapollack@aol.com