Wellness Research in the UMass Department of Psychiatry

Douglas Ziedonis, MD, MPH, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and UMass Memorial Medical Center. Dr. Ziedonis is an internationally recognized leader in co-occurring mental illness and addiction, in particular tobacco dependence. He is a leader in promoting wellness - especially in mental health and addiction treatment settings. He is co-author of the Learning about Healthy Living manual that includes addressing nutrition, exercise, smoking cessation, spiritual approaches, and stress management. His research includes a focus on integrating wellness interventions into traditional psychiatric treatment, including complementary and alternative approaches.

Dr. Ziedonis has served as an advisor to President Bush’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health and serves as a Senior Fellow for SAMHSA’s Co-Occurring Disorders Center for Excellence and the TIPS on Co-Occurring Disorders. He also serves on the Institute of Medicine's (IOM) Committee on Gulf War and Health: Smoking Cessation in Military and Veteran Populations. Most recently, Dr. Ziedonis was invited to join the Massachusetts Oxycontin and Heroin Treatment Commission. He is the recipient of numerous awards and grants from the NIMH, NIDA, CSAT, and other agencies, including grants on Addressing Tobacco through Organizational Change, Motivational Enhancement Therapy for multiple problems, Dual Recovery Therapy, and Smoking Cessation Treatments. He has written over 100 peer-reviewed and other publications and co-edited three books and over 5 behavioral therapy manuals for co-occurring disorders. He serves on the Editorial Board of The American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse and The Journal of Groups in Addiction & Recovery.