Dr. Unützer is an internationally recognized psychiatrist and health services researcher. His work focuses on innovative models of care that integrate mental health and general medical services and on translating research on evidence-based mental health care into effective clinical and public health practice. He has more than 300 scholarly publications and is the recipient of numerous federal and foundation grants and awards for his research to improve the health and mental health of populations through patient-centered integrated mental health services.

Dr. Unützer is Professor and Chair in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. He also directs the Garvey Institute for Brain Health Solutions at UW Medicine and he holds adjunct appointments as Professor in the School of Public Health (in the departments of Health Systems & Population Health and Global Health).

Dr. Unützer founded the AIMS Center (http://aims.uw.edu) which is dedicated to ‘Advancing Integrated Mental Health Solutions.’ He led the development and testing of IMPACT, an evidence-based model of depression care that has been implemented in more than 1,000 primary care clinics in the United States and abroad. IMPACT has been shown in randomized controlled trials to double the effectiveness of usual care for depression while lowering long-term health care costs. In recent years, Dr. Unützer’s work has focused on developing local, regional, national, and global partnerships that support workforce development and capacity building in primary and behavioral health care.

Dr. Unützer has served as Senior Scientific Advisor to the World Health Organization and as an advisor to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and he currently serves as a member of the board of the Archstone Foundation. He works with national and international organizations to improve behavioral health care for diverse populations. His awards include the Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars Award from the American Foundation for Aging Research, the Klerman Junior and Senior Investigator Awards from the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry, the Research Award from the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, the Senior Health Services Scholar Award from the American Psychiatric Association, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Medicine and Psychiatry. In 2020, he was named one of ‘50 Changemakers in Public Health’ by UW’s School of Public Health.  

Dr. Unützer trained in Medicine (MD, Vanderbilt University), Public Policy (MA, University of Chicago), and Public Health / Health Services (MPH, University of Washington). He completed fellowships in Geriatric Psychiatry at UCLA and in Primary Care Psychiatry at the University of Washington.

Neil Korsen, MD, MS is a physician scientist at the Center for Interdisciplinary Population and Health Research at the MaineHealth Institute for Research. His research experience includes work on depression in primary care, behavioral health integration, shared decision making, and practice redesign. His work has often focused on the interface between research and practice, and on the translation of research findings into clinical practice. 

Dr. Korsen has been working on behavioral health integration for more than 20 years. He helped to develop the Behavioral Health Integration Program at MaineHealth that now includes behavioral health clinicians in all of the approximately 60 primary care practices across the system. He has also been a member of the AHRQ National Integration Academy Council since 2011 and was the lead author on the Integrating Behavioral Health and Primary Care Playbook.

Dr. Korsen graduated from Hahnemann Medical College (now Drexel University School of Medicine) in 1979.  He was a resident in Family Medicine at Maine Medical Center from 1979-1982. He spent almost 20 years as a family physician and geriatrician in rural Maine. He left practice to pursue research training in 2001.  He graduated from the Master’s program at the Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences at Dartmouth (now The Dartmouth Institute) in 2002. He has worked in research and quality for Maine Medical Center and MaineHealth for more than 20 years. 

Ashley Breazeale, PhD, is a licensed psychologist who has worked at Cherokee Health Systems (CHS) since 2019 as a behavioral health consultant.  In addition to clinical work, Dr. Breazeale provides supervision for practicum students, pre-doctoral interns, and post-doctoral fellows. Dr. Breazeale has led the initiative of offering neuropsychology assessments within an integrated care setting at CHS. Dr. Breazeale has received training on the 4m’s of care and practices incorporating 4m’s within the BHC role at CHS. Dr. Breazeale is currently researching the impact social determinants have on reducing access to neuropsychology services. Dr. Breazeale completed her PhD at the University of Memphis with an emphasis in neuropsychology. Her research interests include neuropsychology, impacts of social determinants of health on access to services and integrated primary care. 

Christopher Walter is a Peer Specialist. He has been in recovery for 10 years; Completed Certification since 2021. He is currently working with Family Children's Association Link-Age Program. He has have inspired clients to gain independence and confidence. Accomplished goals with clients ALF, Nursing Homes, Secured Safety, Life Skills Training, Sobriety, Home Aides,(MLTC),etc.

He loves what he does. On his spare time, he enjoys hiking, kayaking and working on my own recovery self help.

Arlene S. Bierman, M.D., M.S., is Chief Strategy Officer of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ). Previously she was director of AHRQ’s  Center for Evidence and Practice Improvement (CEPI) consisting of five divisions the Evidence-Based Practice Center Program; the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Program; Digital Healthcare Research;  Practice Improvement; Healthcare Delivery and Systems Research; and the National Center for Excellence in Primary Care Research. Dr. Bierman is a general internist, geriatrician and health services researcher whose work has focused on improving access, quality and outcomes of health care for older adults with chronic illness in disadvantaged populations and has published widely in these areas. Dr. Bierman has also developed strategies for using performance measurement as a tool for knowledge translation, as well as conducted research to increase policymakers’ uptake of evidence. As tenured professor she held appointments Health Policy, Evaluation, and Management; Public Health; and Medicine; and Nursing at the University of Toronto, where she was the inaugural holder of the Ontario Women's Health Council Chair in Women's Health and a senior scientist in the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute at St. Michael's Hospital. She was principal investigator for the Project for an Ontario Women’s Health Evidence-Based Report Card (POWER) study, which provided actionable data to help policymakers and health care providers improve health and reduce health inequities in Ontario. Dr. Bierman has served on many advisory committees including the Geriatric Measurement Advisory Panel of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the board of Health Quality Ontario, and the Institutional Advisory Board of the CIHR Institute for Health Services and Policy Research. She received her MD degree from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill where she was a Morehead Fellow. She completed fellowships in Outcomes Research at Dartmouth Medical School, and Community and Preventive Medicine at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and also served as an Atlantic Philanthropies Health and Aging Policy Fellow/American Political Science Foundation Congressional Fellow. 

As President and CEO of the National Council on Aging, Ramsey Alwin is leading a nationwide movement to ensure equitable aging for every American. 

Building on NCOA’s 70 years of service and advocacy for older adults, Alwin is renewing the organization’s commitment to improving the lives of millions, especially those who are struggling. She is sparking critical conversations about the resources every American deserves to age well—and what needs to change to ensure all have access.

A seasoned thought leader and policy advocate, Alwin has changed the way people think about older adult poverty and economic security. She designed a new measure of economic security for older adults that better accounts for out-of-pocket health costs and worked to introduce the Measuring American Poverty Act in Congress to redefine the federal poverty measure for the older population. Thanks to Alwin’s efforts, the U.S. Census Bureau formally implemented the Supplemental Poverty Measure nationwide, virtually doubling the elder poverty count and better demonstrating true needs among this population. 

Prior to leading NCOA, Alwin directed financial resilience global thought leadership at AARP and served as Director of National Economic Security Programs at Wider Opportunities for Women. Currently, she serves on the Executive Committee of the UN NGO Committee on Aging, the America250 Health and Wellness Advisory Council, and the National Academy of Social Insurance Finance Committee.