M. Jeanne Miranda

Jeanne Miranda, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at UCLA. She is a mental health services researcher who has focused her work on providing mental health care to low-income and minority communities. She holds a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from University of Kansas and completed post-doctoral training at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Miranda's major research contributions have been in evaluating the impact of mental health care for ethnic minority communities. She conducted a trial of treatment of depression in impoverished minority patients at San Francisco General Hospital. Traditional care for depression was contrasted with traditional care supplemented by case management. Case management offered additional benefits for Latino patients but were not beneficial for African American and white participants. She has also studied the impact of care for depression in low-income, minority women screened through county entitlement programs. This study found that short term care for depression is effective for impoverished women, but outreach is necessary to engage these women in care. Dr. Miranda is an investigator in three UCLA centers focusing on improving disparities in health care for ethnic minorities. She directs community cores and an innovative research core focusing on translating lifestyle interventions (diet and exercise) for low-income and minority communities. She was the Senior Scientific Editor of Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity, A Supplement to Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General, published August 2001. She became a member of the Institute of Medicine in 2005. Dr. Miranda is the 2008 recipient of the Emily Mumford Award for Contributions to Social Medicine from Columbia University.