Katherine E. Watkins

Katherine E. Watkins is a Senior Physician Policy Researcher at RAND and a Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. She is a board-certified psychiatrist with expertise in substance use disorders, mental health treatment, and healthcare quality improvement. Her work focuses on integrating behavioral health services into primary care and improving access to treatment for vulnerable populations with co-occurring disorders.

• Education: M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania; Master's in Health Services as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at UCLA

Her research interests include substance use disorders, mental health treatment, opioid use disorder, co-occurring disorders, primary care integration, behavioral health services, addiction treatment, health policy, and implementation science. She has developed and evaluated integrated care models such as SUMMIT and CLARO to improve treatment for individuals with opioid use disorder and co-occurring depression or PTSD.

Her recent publications focus on reducing opioid overprescribing through behavioral nudges, improving organizational readiness for addiction treatment, and enhancing collaborative care models in primary and mental health settings. These works demonstrate a strong emphasis on evidence-based interventions, implementation strategies, and health system reform.

Scientific Awards:

• No awards mentioned in the provided text.

Watkins has led significant research on training substance abuse providers and primary care clinicians to deliver mental health services, improving quality measures for substance use care, and expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder in mental health settings. She has also contributed to national evaluations of Veterans Health Administration mental health services.

She leads the development of interventions such as the SUMMIT model for integrated substance use treatment in primary care and the CLARO model for co-occurring disorders, which involve care coordination, patient-centered approaches, and implementation support for healthcare organizations.