The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center (UNC BHWRC)
A dynamic hub of innovative, data-driven research on the workforce responsible for providing mental health and substance use services.
Lisa De Saxe Zerden is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. She serves as the School's Interprofessional Education (IPE) Director and is a Research Fellow with the Carolina Health Workforce Research Center at the Sheps Center for Health Services Research.
Dr. Zerden is the PI for several HRSA and SAMHSA funded grants focused on behavioral health workforce development and substance use curricula. She received her PhD in Sociology and Social Work from Boston University School of Social Work and her MSW from the University of California at Los Angeles. Her research interests focus on the social drivers of health, including disparities that exacerbate drug use and behavioral health conditions. Her work explores inequitable access to treatment and prevention, social workers' roles in integrated health care, and advancing the behavioral health workforce to improve health. She currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Social Work.