David L. Shern, Ph.D.
David L. Shern, Ph.D. is the president and CEO of Mental Health America. With more than 30 years of distinguished service in mental health services research and system reform, Dr. Shern is one of the nation’s leading mental health experts. During his career, he has helped reengineer mental health care systems in Colorado, New York and Florida as well as participated in several national reform and research demonstration efforts.
Prior to joining Mental Health America in 2006, Dr. Shern served as dean of the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute (FMHI) at the University of South Florida. With an annual budget of nearly $45 million, FMHI’s 500 faculty and staff work closely with all parts of the human services system to better identify, treat and prevent behavioral health problems.
Home to five national research and training centers, FMHI conducts hundreds of community based studies each year in close collaboration with consumers, family members, providers and government partners throughout the United States.
Dr. Shern was the founding director of the National Center for the Study of Issues in Public Mental Health – a National Institute of Mental Health-funded services research center located in the New York State Office of Mental Heath (OMH) where he also directed the OMH’s Evaluation and Services Research efforts. In Colorado, Dr. Shern led the sponsored research program in the state mental health office, and evaluation and needs assessment efforts in the Denver mental health system. In all of these settings he focused principally on studying system reform efforts for adults with severe mental illnesses.
Dr. Shern has been the principal or co-principal investigator on research projects funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services Administration, Florida Agency for Health Care Administration, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the National Alliance on Mental Illness, among others, with support totaling more than $20 million.
His research has included studies on the need for community services; the effects of differing organizational, financing and service delivery strategies on continuity of care and client outcome for adults with severe mental illnesses; and the use of alternative service delivery strategies such as peer counseling and self help on the outcomes of care. Along with his colleagues, he is completing a multi-year evaluation of Florida’s Medicaid managed behavioral health care initiatives with emphasis on access, cost and quality of services as well as on the outcomes experienced by consumers and their families.
He has authored more than 100 publications including papers in Health Affairs, Psychiatric Services, Medical Care, Health Services Research, Behavioral Health Services Research and Administration and the American Journal of Public Health.
In 2000, Governor Jeb Bush appointed Dr. Shern to the Florida Commission on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. He was elected Chair of the Commission by his fellow Commissioners and spearheaded an effort to develop a new statewide focus on and governance model for behavioral health across all human service agencies and settings.
Dr. Shern currently serves on the advisory board for several national organizations devoted to mental health services research and development. In addition, he has served as chair of the Mental Health Section and a member of the Governing Council of the American Public Health Association which honored him with its Mental Health Section Award in 1995. In 2006 he will receive the Carl Taube award from the APHA recognizing his distinguished career contributions in mental health services research.
Dr. Shern has held academic positions at the University of South Florida, State University of New York at Albany, New York University and the University of Colorado. He received his Bachelors of Science, Masters and Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
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