Dr. Galea, Associate Professor & ACCESS Lab Director

Neuropsychiatric disorders account for more than 10% of the global disease burden. Yet, most persons requiring mental health care—an estimated 50% of persons in high-income countries and 85% in low- and middle-income countries—go without services. A significant barrier to mental health service access is an extremely limited worldwide mental health workforce; in low-income settings, there is less than 1 psychiatrist per 100,000 persons.

My research and the primary objective of the ACCESS Lab is to expand access to mental health services by using implementation science to scale existing, evidence-based interventions, primarily for depression and anxiety, the most prevalent mental disorders. My specific focus is on “low-intensity” mental health interventions delivered by laypeople with no previous mental health training or experience and are consequently much less expensive than more traditional approaches requiring highly skilled personnel.

Accordingly, all the Global Mental Health research conducted by ACCESS Lab members is community-engaged because it is solely concerned with improving access to existing mental health interventions for persons most in need.