"I’ve written about L.A.’s mental illness crisis for almost 20 years. We have to do better"
Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez interviewed Dr. Imelda Padilla-Frausto and Dr. Ninez Ponce about building a better mental healthcare system.
![Unhoused individual wrapped in blankets](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/hero/public/2022-08/2022.02.19_Padilla-Frausto_Ponce_LAT_Masthead.png?itok=xrEerNEk)
Seventeen years ago this month, I met a musician who slept on L.A.'s skid row and talked about trying to get back on track and join an orchestra. Like many homeless people, he fought a daily battle with mental illness that, for him, first surfaced 35 years earlier, when he was a student at Juilliard.
As I got to know Mr. Ayers, I was shocked by how many other castoffs were struggling to survive on the streets, suffering without hope. I began writing about this shameful American reality, thinking that shining a light might spark a collective response to what is, without question, a fixable tragedy.
But nearly two decades in, little has changed.
Faculty Referenced by this Article
![Cameron Brandt de Flores](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-11/CBheadshot-sq.jpg?itok=jEnIh824)
![Erin Bresnahan](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-02/Bresnahan%2C%20Erin_500x500.jpg?itok=MYWPYgGz)
![Laura Lliguin](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/Laura%20Lliguin-sq.jpg?itok=MhDbQISV)
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![James Macinko](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-07/Macinko%2C%20J_500x500_10.jpg?itok=bsG1e-s6)
Professor of Community Health Sciences & Health Policy and Management, and Associate Dean for Research
![Dr. Candace Tsai](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/___Candace%20Tsai-sq.jpg?itok=8tcJnDo3)
Associate Professor for Industrial Hygiene and Environmental Health Sciences
![Faculty/staff profile placeholder image](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-07/person-placeholder.jpg?itok=Yj28CoTl)
EMPH Academic Program Director with expertise in healthcare marketing, finance, and reproductive health policy, teaching in the EMPH, MPH, MHA program
![Faculty/staff profile placeholder image](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-07/person-placeholder.jpg?itok=Yj28CoTl)
Dr. Ron Andersen is the Wasserman Professor Emeritus in the UCLA Departments of Health Policy and Management.
![Mellisa Mulia](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/Mellisa%20Mulia-W-cropped.jpg?itok=VlWrYTGi)
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![Zheyu Jiang](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/___ZHEYU_JIANG-8sq.jpg?itok=8pPYDMs2)
![Porchia Toussaint](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-02/IMG_4608.jpeg?itok=r6403kQB)
Assistant Director, MPH for Health Professionals Program
![Michelle Keller](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-07/keller-michelle_500x500.jpg?itok=uJryn-xx)
Dr. Michelle S. Keller is a health services researcher whose research focuses on the use and prescribing of high-risk medications.
![Jason H. Moore, Ph.D.](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/Untitled.jpg?itok=9a2cFtM_)
Automated and accessible artificial intelligence methods and software for biomedical data science.
![Mikaela Larecy](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-05/Mikaela%20Larecy_headshot%20500x500.png?itok=uFWJ0nq7)
Nationally recognized health services researcher and sociomedical scientist with 25+ years' experience in effectiveness and implementation research.
![Bose, Bijetri](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-02/Bose%2C%20Bijetri_500x500.jpg?itok=iSyZndIQ)
![Dr. Shane Que Hee](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/___Shane%20Que%20Hee_-4-sq.jpg?itok=yOWX8FOO)
Industrial Hygiene & Analytical Chemistry
![Denise Moore](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/DeniseEntrance_sq.jpg?itok=6Or9qyiM)
![Cathy Lang](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/___Cathy%20_Lang-sq.jpg?itok=rgSJoTSR)
Assistant Dean for Research & Adjunct Associate Professor of Community Health Sciences
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![Janet Hung](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/JanetHung.jpg?itok=gw3HQT32)
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![Andrew Juhnke](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/juhnke_andrew.png?itok=gj7SzRCa)
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![Kyle Sullivan](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/___Kyle_Sullivan-sq.jpg?itok=O4VnOp95)
Director, Executive Programs in Health Policy and Management
![silhoette](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-10/person-placeholder.jpg?itok=pZbj71ST)
![Arlecia Powell-Halley](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/___Arlecia%20Powell%20Halley-sq.jpg?itok=iQE5IsTE)
![Carolina Cormack Orellana](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-01/CarolinaCormackOrellana_500x500.png?itok=D0rehdO_)
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![silhoette](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-10/person-placeholder.jpg?itok=pZbj71ST)
![Dr. Oliver Hankinson](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-11/___Oliver_Hankinson-sq.jpg?itok=q7cj47-I)
Dr. Hankinson is a Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and of EHS, and Chair of the Molecular Toxicology IDP
![Sarah Blenner](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/Sarah%20Blenner-sq.jpg?itok=8H4H3-qk)
Director of Field Studies and Applied Professional Training
![Michelle Garcia-Navarro](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2023-01/_Michelle_Garcia.jpg?itok=xunKqfS2)
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![Julienne Jose-Chen](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-12/___Julienne%20Jose-Chen-sq.jpg?itok=LWcpkWzQ)
![Robert Kim-Farley](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-11/___Robert_Kim-Farley-sq.jpg?itok=2D4uW5pC)
Robert J. Kim-Farley, MD, MPH, is a Professor-in-Residence with joint appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Community Health Sciences
![Dr. Dvora Joseph Davey](https://ph.ucla.edu/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/2022-09/Dvora%20Joseph%20Davey%20headshot%20Feb%202019.jpg?itok=F2RZIQRF)
Dr. Joseph Davey is an infectious disease epidemiologist with over 20 years' experience leading research on HIV/STI services for women and children.
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Academic Personnel Coordinator/Assistant to the Chair
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