Mental health policy expert brings experience from national platform to HOD

by Melanie Moran
photo by John Russell

For William Turner, spending a year as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in a U.S. Senate office seemed like an excellent opportunity to be involved in federal health policy. It turned out to be the experience of a lifetime, when then-Sen. Barack Obama’s office selected him as a fellow during the year the now-president ran
for office.

“I felt quite privileged to be there in the midst of history unfolding,” said Turner, who joined the Peabody faculty this fall as the Betts Chair and Professor of Human and Organizational Development. “In addition to crafting important legislation, I had an opportunity to go to the debates, to Chicago on election night, and to be present at many of his groundbreaking speeches. It was an incredibly wonderful experience.”

While in Obama’s office, Turner worked on a broad range of health care legislation, including mental health parity, autism and health disparities. He also participated in seminal discussions of the Senate HELP committee’s current health care reform legislation and conducted more than 300 meetings with health care advocates and professional organizations. From those experiences, he believes that key issues are being lost in the current health care debate.

“An important message that was impressed upon me by practically every provider group, whether physicians, nurses or other health caregivers, was that we need to think differently about how we deliver health care,” Turner said. “Costs are extraordinarily important and are driving the debate right now, but reform needs to be much broader than that.”

Turner came away from Washington with a reinforced belief in the need to get academic research into the hands of policymakers.

“I think some of the solutions to health care problems currently being debated can be found in the research that those of us in the academy conduct,” Turner said. “I strongly encourage academicians and researchers who publish to share their findings with policymakers in a way that is easily accessible.”

Much of Turner’s research focuses on family mental health services, particularly for minority and underserved communities.

“In some communities, a visit to a mental health specialist is a sign of status, but for many individuals and families – particularly African American families – the need to seek this kind of help isn’t necessarily seen so positively,” Turner said.

“It is important to find ways to de-stigmatize these services, such as fostering greater alliances between mental health providers and religious or community organizations, in order to increase accessibility to much-needed services.”

Turner was drawn to Vanderbilt from the University of Minnesota by several colleagues here with whom he shares interests in research on strengthening African American families, and by the opportunity to further explore the role that churches and faith communities play in supporting mental health services in African American communities. But another, more personal reason first drew him and his wife to Vanderbilt.

“Our daughter, Morgan, is a senior at Vanderbilt, and we are enjoying spending this year with her,” Turner said. “And fortunately, she’s delighted that we’re here.” 

Posted 10/01/09