Applications are invited for an exciting postdoctoral fellowship opportunity under the direction of Dr. Victoria Ngo, Director of the Center for Innovation in Mental Health and PI of multiple domestic and global mental health studies, including the Harlem Strong Initiative, Building Resiliency in Youth (BRY), C2C Job Plus, and Project Dep (Vietnam).
Download the PDF for this call here.
About the projects:
Harlem Strong Initiative (NIMH U01) is a community-wide multisector collaborative to transform how mental health services are delivered in Harlem. Mental health task-sharing will be integrated into low-income housing, primary care practices, and community-based organizations. The goals are to (1) problem solve financing, access, and quality of care barriers, (2) support capacity building for mental health task-sharing for community health workers, (3) facilitate coordination and collaboration across mental health / behavioral health, primary care, and social services, and (4) identify a set of common metrics and strategies for continuous system quality improvement. The research study will evaluate the impact and cost-effectiveness using a hybrid Implementation-Effectiveness design to assess effects of the Harlem Strong Collaborative on system and consumer outcomes.
Building Resiliency in Youth (NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene) is a partnership between CUNY CIMH and NYC DOHMH to support development of mental health awareness and services for youth-serving Community-based Organizations in 33 neighborhoods with significant racial and economic disparities in health outcomes. The goals of the project are to support mental health task-sharing, including mental health promotion, screening, psychoeducation, brief evidence-based interventions, and to strengthen referral process for CBOs in NYC. Continuous quality improvement via learning collaboratives will be implemented to support sustainability of this program. A mixed methods program evaluation will be conducted for this program.
Community Connections to Care Job Plus Program (NYC Office of Economic Opportunity) is a partnership between CUNY CIMH and NYC Office of Economic Opportunity, to support development of mental health services for public housing residents who are receiving employment support services through the Job Plus program. The goals of the project are to support mental health task-sharing, including mental health promotion, screening, psychoeducation, brief evidence-based interventions, and to strengthen integration of employment and mental health services delivered to residents in public housing across NYC. Continuous quality improvement via learning collaboratives will be implemented to support sustainability of this program.
Project Dep (NIMH R01) is an implementation effectiveness hybrid randomized control study to evaluate implementation strategies, including workshops and technical assistance, supervision, community engagement, and learning collaboratives for scaling up a multicomponent collaborative care for depression program, which includes mental health community promotion, screening, psychoeducation, behavior activation, problem solving therapy, and medication management for community-based primary care clinics in 36 communities across Vietnam. The study evaluates RE-AIM outcomes and examines cost-effectiveness using a mixed methods approach.
The full-time position is a 2-year fellowship that focuses on applied research program dedicated to improving the evidence base on mental health task-sharing implementation models for at-risk communities in NYC and/or Vietnam. Our studies focus on developing, implementing, and scaling up mental health and psychosocial interventions in community accessible settings, including primary care, community-based organizations, houses of worship, and studying the effectiveness of various team-based models of care and implementation strategies. All of our projects use a community-partnered process, where a collaborative network of health system, policy, academic, and community stakeholders work together to develop and support capacity building, strengthen healthcare and community systems, and problem solve implementation barriers.
The Postdoctoral fellow will work closely with the PIs and investigators to manage the research study and ensure that project milestones are met. The fellow will oversee training and implementation process, community partnerships, quality improvement strategies, and data collection. The postdoctoral fellows will support research coordination (including IRB management, clinical trials registration, project management, data collection, etc.), development of trainings in evidence-based mental health intervention, community engagement activities, along with analysis of large dataset of implementation and outcome data, manuscript preparation, and presentations. There will also be opportunities to develop new research grants, including a K award at the end of the fellowship.
This opportunity will provide the fellow with opportunities to develop research, clinical, and training skills to lead community partnered mental health implementation science studies, publish, write grants, and gain experience in mental health implementation science in a local and/or global context. The center has a large network of collaborators and can offer many professional and research development opportunities.