Professional Affiliations

John is a Research Associate at the Maine Rural Health Research Center (MRHRC) at the Muskie School of Public Service Maine at the University of Southern Maine (USM). He received his M.S. in Health Policy and Management from the Muskie School of Public Service and his B.S. in Business Administration from USM’s School of Business and Economics. He has been with the MRHRC since 1999 where his research interests have included mental health and substance abuse services, the integration of mental health and primary care services, rural safety net programs, primary care delivery systems, and small rural hospitals. Prior to joining MHRHC, John had nineteen years experience as a senior manager in non-profit and proprietary health care organizations including a large mental health and substance abuse group practice and a multi-disciplinary academic primary care practice. In addition to serving on the NARMH board, he serves on the Policy Board for the National Rural Health Association, the Board of the New England Rural Health Roundtable, the Primary Care Advisory Committee for the Missouri Foundation for Health, and the steering committee for the National Rural Health Clinic Technical Assistance Project. He was a 2002 Fellow in the Secretary’s Primary Care Policy Fellowship sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

NARMH Positions and Projects

John has been a NARHM Board Member since 2002 and serves as a member of the Rural Mental Health Policy Committee. Past activities have included serving as the Chair of the Membership Committee. He has worked with other board members on the “Rural and Frontier Mental and Behavioral Health Care: Barriers, Effective Policy Strategies, Best Practices” report.

Rural Mental Health Involvement and Contributions

John has worked extensively in the field of mental health and substance abuse treatment from both the management and research perspectives. He has published extensively on his research interests and has presented the findings from his research at numerous state and national meetings. He recently chaired the committee to update the National Rural Health Association’s Rural Mental Health policy paper. He is currently working with David Lambert to develop a rural mental health assessment process for the 23 states in the Northeast and Southeast Regions of the National Organizations of State Offices of Rural Health. He also serves as the principal investigator for a study of the Maine barriers to the integration of mental health and primary care services funded by the Maine Health Access Foundation.