Mental health heavyweight headed to Scranton
Standard-SpeakerMar 15, 2018
The mental health heavyweight is
He plans to link two segments that are chronically held apart, mental and physical health, and he wants to pull in law enforcement and the courts, too.
Huey already opened talks with
"I told
Huey, 75, also accepts a psychiatry professorship at the medical school.
He leaves behind an established career and a leadership position at the
Earlier in his career, Huey was medical director for mental health with the Scripps health system in
"He's basically at this beautiful place in his career that he doesn't have to do anything," said Dr.
The medical school's Behavioral Health Initiative, or BHI, which seeks in part to link behavioral and physical health care, first caught Huey's attention.
"Having that be a top priority for the school of medicine is highly unique in this country because behavioral health -- I've described it as a lost planet," Huey said. "It can't be lost anymore. It can't be forgotten."
Funding from the
"Leighton's recruitment is a testimony of the vision of the founders of
Huey will divide his hours, committing 40 percent of his time to the Wright Center, working with the psychiatry program residents and seeing patients. His arrival strengthens ties between the region's leading academic medical institutions.
He will work closely with Geisinger's Springboard Healthy Scranton, an initiative to make the city a vanguard for thriving community health. Springboard and the BHI were developed separately, but Springboard Healthy Scranton Senior Director
"The synergy between Springboard and his job description are awesome," he said. "I'm excited to see him relocate and to see how the pieces begin to come together."
Contact the writer:
joconnell@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9131
;
@jon_oc on Twitter
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