Katherine Watkins (she/her) is a senior physician policy researcher at RAND, and a board-certified practicing psychiatrist, and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She uniquely combines a research background in substance abuse and mental health treatment services with a clinical background in treatment for substance use and co-occurring disorders, and she has focused on training substance abuse providers to deliver evidence-based mental health services to individuals with drug and alcohol problems, and primary care providers to deliver treatment for mental illness and substance use disorders. She is particularly interested in increasing access to treatment for vulnerable populations and in improving care for individuals with co-occurring mental health disorders and substance abuse.
Dr. Watkins received her M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she obtained her master's degree in health services.
Selected Publications
Watkins, K. E., et al., "Association Between Quality Measures and Mortality in Individuals With Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders," Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 69, 2016
Watkins, K. E., et al., "The Affordable Care Act: An opportunity for improving care for substance use disorders?" Psychiatric Services, 66(3), 2015
Watkins, K. E., et al., "The cost-effectiveness of depression treatment for co-occurring disorders: A clinical trial," Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 46(2), 2014
Watkins, K. E., et al., "An effectiveness trial of group cognitive behavioral therapy for patients with persistent depressive symptoms in substance abuse treatment.," Archives of General Psychiatry, 68(6), 2011
Watkins, K. E., et al., "Care for veterans with mental and substance use disorders: Good performance, but room to improve on many measures," Health Affairs, 30(11), 2011
Watkins, K. E., et al., "Developing medical record-based performance indicators to measure the quality of mental health care.," Journal for Healthcare Quality, 33(1), 2011
Watkins, K. E., et al., "The health value and cost of care for major depression.," Value in Health, 12(1), 2009
Watkins, K. E., et al., "Improving Care for Depression in Patients with Comorbid Substance Misuse," American Journal of Psychiatry, 163(1), 2006