Charles Engel is a senior physician policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. As a psychiatrist and health services researcher, his work focuses on trauma-informed health systems and strategies for improving quality of care for chronic mental and physical health conditions. His research in general medical settings including primary care has covered traumatic injury and trauma syndromes and symptoms including blast injury, polytrauma, mild traumatic brain syndrome, post-concussive syndrome, and Gulf War syndrome, PTSD and depression. Engel uses mixed qualitative and quantitative research methods relating to pragmatic randomized trials, knowledge readiness and impact assessment, program evaluation, and implementation science. He has authored or coauthored more than 130 scholarly articles, including in the New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and the American Journal of Psychiatry. Funding for Engel's research has come from the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Defense and other agencies. Before RAND, Engel was associate chair for research for the Uniformed Services University Department of Psychiatry. Engel has served on the Board of Directors of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, has delivered more than 200 invited presentations in eleven countries, and is a recipient of the Porter Award from the Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S. for contributions to psychiatry in the military. Engel received his M.P.H. from the University of Washington School of Public Health and his M.D. from the University of Washington School of Medicine.
Selected Publications
Engel CC, Jaycox LH, Freed MC, Bray RM, Brambilla D, Zatzick D, Litz B, Tanielian T, Novak LA, Lane ME, Belsher BE, Olmsted KL, Evatt DP, Vandermaas-Peeler R, Unützer J, Katon WJ, "Centrally Assisted Collaborative Telecare for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression Among Military Personnel Attending Primary Care: A Randomized Clinical Trial," JAMA Internal Medicine, 176(7), 2016
Bray RM, Engel CC, Williams J, Jaycox JH, Lane ME, Morgan JK, Unützer J, "Military-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Primary Care Trajectories and Predictors of One-year Prognosis," Journal of Traumatic Stress, 29(4), 2016
Ramchand R, Ayer L, Kotzias V, Engel C, Predmore Z, Ebener P, Kemp JE, Karras E, Haas G., "Suicide Risk among Women Veterans in Distress: Perspectives of Responders on the Veterans Crisis Line," Women's Health Issues, 2016
Engel CC, Litz B, Magruder KM, Harper E, Gore K, Stein N, Yeager D, Liu X, Coe TR, "Delivery of Self Training and Education for Stressful Situations (DESTRESS-PC): A Randomized Trial of Nurse Assisted Online Self-Management for PTSD in Primary Care," General Hospital Psychiatry, 37(4), 2015
Breslau J, Engel CC, "Information and Communication Technologies in Behavioral Health: A Literature Review with Recommendations for the Air Force," Publication number RR-1054-AF. Santa Monica: RAND Corporation, 2015
Engel CC, Bray RM, Jaycox LH, Freed MC, Zatzick D, Lane ME, Brambilla D, Rae Olmsted K, Vandermaas-Peeler R, Litz B, Tanielian T, Belsher BE, Evatt DP, Novak LA, Unützer J, Katon WJ, "Implementing collaborative primary care for depression and posttraumatic stress disorder: Design and sample for a randomized trial in the U.S. military health system," Contemporary Clinical Trials, 39(2), 2014
Engel CC, Cordova EH, Benedek DM, Liu X, Gore KL, Goertz C, Freed MC, Crawford C, Jonas WB, Ursano RJ, "Randomized Effectiveness Trial of a Brief Course of Acupuncture for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder," Medical Care, 52, 2014
Engel CC, "Suicide, mental disorders, and the US military: time to focus on mental health service delivery," JAMA, 310(5), 2013
