Bio
Dr. Heather J. Gotham is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, and member of the Center for Dissemination and Implementation in the Division of Public Mental Health & Population Sciences.
She is Co-Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded Helping End Addiction Long-Term Data 2 Action (HD2A) Research Adoption Support Center (RASC) that aims to improve the dissemination and implementation (D&I) research capacity of a cadre of HD2A Innovation Projects and leverage this work to enhance the impact of D&I in research beyond HD2A. The overarching goal of the HD2A Program is to increase the chances for anyone, anywhere to receive the best possible treatment for addiction and pain-related conditions.
Dr. Gotham is also the Director of the Network Coordinating Office of the Mental Health Technology Transfer Center (MHTTC) Network funded by SAMHSA. The MHTTC Network consists of 10 regional centers, a National American Indian & Alaska Native Center, and a National Hispanic & Latino Center. The goal of this Network is the implementation and sustainment of evidence-based mental health prevention, treatment, and recovery support practices across US states and territories. In addition, she is a consultant on two NIDA-funded projects studying the implementation of substance use disorder screening and treatment approaches in HIV care settings.
Dr. Gotham has served as principal investigator, co-investigator or evaluator on SAMHSA, NIH, HRSA, and CDC grants. Her research focuses on implementation science, including factors affecting implementation, training and education of health care providers, and longitudinal course of implementation. Topics include substance use and mental health treatments for adolescents and adults, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, and screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment (SBIRT).
Dr. Gotham assisted in the development of the Dual Diagnosis Capability in Addiction Treatment (DDCAT) index with Mark McGovern, and led the development of the Dual Diagnosis Capability in Mental Health Treatment (DDCMHT) index. She co-authored practice guidelines for co-occurring disorders treatment in the State of Missouri, and led the evaluation for Missouri’s COSIG (Co-occurring State Infrastructure Grant) grant as well as another foundation-funded multi-site co-occurring disorders initiative. She has served on several national and state-level expert panels, and provided training and technical assistance on co-occurring disorders at the national, state, and local levels.
Paired with her work in assisting providers to implement clinical protocols, Dr. Gotham has significant experience in clinical teaching and training behavioral health and health care students and professionals. This work includes serving as the supervisor of a clinical research rotation in an APA-approved psychology internship, and designing curricula and providing training and technical assistance to behavioral health and health professionals on treatments for adult and adolescent substance use disorders (including opioid use disorder), implementing EBPs into behavioral health settings, co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders and treatment, integrating behavioral and primary health, and SBIRT. Dr. Gotham led two SAMHSA-funded SBIRT health professions training grants, developing didactic, role play, standardized patient scenarios, and training vignettes for SBIRT, and teaching medical students and residents; baccalaureate and advanced practice nursing, dental, dental hygiene, master’s level social work, and clinical psychology PhD students; medical, dental, nursing, and behavioral health faculty; clinical preceptors; and community healthcare providers. She also has experience developing interactive online training.
