Alison Hamilton

Alison Hamilton

Principal Investigator

Alison Hamilton, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Associate Research Anthropologist in the Department of Psychiatry at UCLA and a Research Health Scientist at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System. She received her Ph.D. in anthropology from UCLA in 2002, and her M.P.H. in Community Health Sciences from UCLA in 2009. Dr. Hamilton currently has an NIH Career Development Award (NIDA K01 DA017647) to study women methamphetamine users and sexuality. This study focuses intensively on women’s life histories of trauma and their relationship to substance abuse, adult trauma and violence, and sexual experiences. Dr. Hamilton also serves as a Co-Investigator on VA-funded studies of (1) determinants of genetics and genomics services in the VA; (2) quality improvement in care for veterans with severe mental illness (SMI); and (3) utilization of peer support technicians in intensive case management teams for veterans with SMI. She is Principal Investigator on a SAMHSA-funded evaluation of a modified therapeutic community for dually diagnosed male veterans, and she is co-PI on a privately funded pilot study of high-functioning individuals with schizophrenia. Utilizing qualitative and mixed methodologies, her areas of specialty are substance abuse, sexuality, HIV risk, trauma, mental health, women’s health, evaluation research, and health services quality improvement.