FSPH professor wins national award for improving mental health in underserved communities
Dr. Kenneth Wells, professor-in-residence of health policy and management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the David Weil Professor of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, is the recipient of the 2018 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health, given by the National Academy of Medicine.
The honor salutes decades of work that has focused on improving mental health by clarifying the importance of behavioral health, identifying gaps in quality and access to care and improving the quality of mental health services, especially in primary care settings. In recent years, Wells has focused on creating innovative approaches to improving mental health care through partnerships across communities.
Wells, who is also director of the Center for Health Services and Society at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, was recognized for his leadership in developing and evaluating new models for the delivery of services and community partnership in mental health, with a major focus on under-resourced communities.