Alex Young, MD, MSHS

Preferred Name: Alex Young

Dr. Alexander S. Young is a psychiatrist and health services researcher. He is Professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He is Associate Director of the Veterans Desert Pacific MIRECC Health Services Unit at the Greater Los Angeles Veterans Healthcare System. He is board-certified in Psychiatry and Clinical Informatics.

Dr. Young focuses on clinical psychiatry and studying and improving the quality and value of healthcare, with a particular emphasis on mental health, implementation science and health informatics. He has led research that characterized care quality nationally for people with depression and schizophrenia. He has led numerous studies that have improved healthcare quality, including improving the care of underserved and disadvantaged populations. He has lead research grants studying implementation of effective practices, informatics systems to support improved care, and interventions to improve care. Grants from the VA, NIMH and other funders have included studying an internet-based, peer-supported system that provides tailored education regarding diet and exercise to people with mental illness; studying computerized elicitation of preferences of mental health patients; evaluating a housing first program; studying the implementation and effectiveness of a Patient-Centered Medical Home with integrated mental health care to improve the primary care of people with serious mental illness; and using mobile data to characterize behaviors and mental health. He has a current national grant developing and studying a transdiagnostic outcomes-focused measure of mental health care quality.