DEBORAH ALTSCHUL, Ph.D.

Department of
Psychiatry

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PSYCHIATRY
CORE PRE-DOCTORAL PSYCHOLOGY INTERN FACULTY

B.S. in Psychology from Washington University, St. Louis, MO
M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Boston College, Boston, MA
Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Areas of interest: Cultural competency and mental health disparities,evidence based practice and cultural adaptation, consumer recovery and resiliency, and serious mental illnesses

Dr. Altschul is a psychologist who is a faculty member at the University of New Mexico Department Of Psychiatry’s Center for Rural and Community Behavioral Health. Her research is largely focused on examining the connection between behavioral health disparities, cultural competency, consumer outcomes, and evidence-based practice. Dr. Altschul works closely with the state’s Behavioral Health Purchasing Collaborative helping to develop a sustainable, culturally competent behavioral health infrastructure. She is the evaluation director of two federally funded grants supporting infrastructure development of behavioral health services in two tribal communities, and a legislatively-funded project to expand services to veterans and their families. Prior to working in New Mexico, Dr. Altschul worked at the University of Hawai‘i Mental Health Services Research, Evaluation, and Training Program where she was the head of the Consumer Assessment Team, aimed at involving individuals with serious mental illness in study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and report writing. Dr. Altschul was also the Cultural Competency Specialist on two federally-funded grants focused on EBP implementation and statewide infrastructure development. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship with the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors aimed at improving racial and ethnic disparities in mental health services.