 Dr. Pamela Collins is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the
departments of psychiatry and epidemiology at Columbia University. She is a
research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She completed
her medical training at Cornell University Medical College and trained in
psychiatry at Columbia University where she also completed graduate work in
public health and an NIMH post-doctoral research fellowship. She studied
cultural psychiatry and applied medical anthropology as a research fellow in the
Department of Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School.
Dr. Collins' work focuses on mental health and psychosocial aspects of the AIDS
epidemic in the United States, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. She and
her colleagues developed the HIV prevention curriculum, "Our Selves, Our Bodies,
Our Realities" to help women reduce risky sexual encounters, thereby reducing
their risk of HIV infection. Her work also examines the contribution of social
stigma related to mental illness and ethnicity to women's HIV risk.
Internationally, Dr. Collins has served on the secretariat of the MTCT-Plus
Initiative, which provides HIV care and treatment to families in Sub-Saharan
Africa and Asia. In South Africa, Dr. Collins' work has examined the role of
mental health care providers in development of HIV prevention interventions in
psychiatric settings and the community mental health impact of HIV/AIDS. She has
conducted training of health care providers in mental health and HIV/AIDS
transmission, prevention, and counseling in Argentina, Zambia, Uganda, and South
Africa. Dr. Collins is the Director of the interdepartmental Global Health Track
at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.EDUCATION
| Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN |
B.A. |
1986 |
Psychology |
| Cornell University Medical College, New York, NY |
M.D. |
1991 |
Medicine |
| Columbia University New York, NY |
Residency |
1995 |
Psychiatry |
| Columbia University/NYSPI, New York, NY |
Postdoctoral Fellowship |
1995-1998 |
Clinical Research |
| Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York,
NY |
M.P.H. |
1997 |
Public Health |
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
| 1994 |
Consultant, Ministry of Health, Province of
Neuquen, Argentina |
| 1995-1998 |
NIH Post-doctoral Clinical Research Fellow,
Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New
York, NY |
| 1996 |
World Health Organization Meeting of Advisers for
Educational Programs on Psychological Problems in General Health Care, Geneva,
Switzerland and Madrid, Spain |
| 1996 |
WHO Task Force Meeting on Epidemiologic
Strategies to address World Mental Health Problems in Under Served Populations,
New York, NY |
| 1998 |
Fogarty International Center AIDS International
Research Training Fellow, Center for Health Policy, University of the
Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| 1998 |
Mental Health Directorate of the Republic of
South Africa, Advisory Group for Pilot Project on Deinstitutionalization and
Community Mental Health Development |
| 1999 |
Research Fellow in Cultural Psychiatry and
Medical Anthropology, Department of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School,
Boston, MA |
| 1999-present |
Assistant Attending Psychiatrist, New York
Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY |
| 1999-present |
Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in
Epidemiology, Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, New York State
Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health,
Department of Epidemiology |
| 2000 |
Mental Health Directorate of the Republic of
South Africa, Task Team for Policy Guidelines on HIV/AIDS in Psychiatric
Institutions |
| 2002 |
U.S. Delegate for Inaugural Meeting on
Psychiatric Issues of the African Diaspora, Massachusetts General Hospital,
Boston, MA |
| 2002-2005 |
MTCT-Plus HIV Care Initiative, Secretariat member
and trainer, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY |
| 2003 |
Consultant, Pan-American Health Organization
Mental Health Case Histories Project in Rio Negro, Argentina |
| 2004-2006 |
WHO 3x5 Initiative, Mental Health Working Group |
| 2005-present |
Director, Global Health Program for the Master of
Public Health, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health,New York, NY |
HONORS AND AWARDS
| 1986 |
Phi Beta Kappa
John Hadley Award for the Most
Outstanding Psychology Student
Magna Cum Laude with Honors
Graduate
National Achievement
Scholarship |
| 1989-1990 |
Pew Nutrition Fellow,
Rockefeller University |
| 1995 |
Laughlin Fellow/American
College of Psychiatrists Award for Outstanding
Psychiatric Residents |
| 1997 |
American Psychiatric
Association Young Investigator's Colloquium Award |
| 1997 |
Echoing Green Foundation Fellowship for Social Entrepreneurs |
| 1997 |
American College of
Neuropsychopharmacology/APA Travel Fellow |
| 2003 |
Calderone Junior Faculty Research Prize, Mailman School of
Public Health, Columbia University |
PUBLICATIONS
Brush, F.R., Del Paine, S.N., Pelegrina, L.J., Rykaszewski, I.M., Dess,
N.K., & Collins, P.Y. (1988). CER suppression, passive avoidance learning, and
stress-induced suppression of drinking in the Syracuse high-and-low-avoidance
strains of rats (Rattus norvegicus). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 102,
337-349.
Marshall, R.D., Johannet, C.M., Collins, P.Y., Smith, H., Kahn, D.A., &
Douglas, C.J. (1995). Bupropion and sertraline combination treatment in
refractory depression. Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology, 9, 284-286.
Collins, P.Y., Wig, N.N., Day, R., Varma, V., Malhotra, S., Misra, A.K.,
Schanzer, B., & Susser, E. (1996). Psychosocial and biological aspects of acute
brief psychoses in three developing country sites. Psychiatric Quarterly, 67,
177-193.
Susser, E., Collins, P.Y., Schanzer, B., Varma, V., & Gittelman, M. (1996).
Can we learn from the care of persons with mental illnesses in developing
countries? American Journal of Public Health, 86, 926-928.
Collins, P.Y., Sohler, N., & Susser, E. (1997). The potential of
female-controlled methods of HIV prevention among. women with mental illness.
The Health Psychologist, 18, 9, 20-21.
Collins, P.Y., Adler, F., Boero, M., & Susser E. (1999). Using local
resources in Patagonia: Primary care and mental health in Neuquen, Argentina.
International Journal of Mental Health, 28, 3-16.
Collins, P.Y., Lumerman, J., Conover, S., & Susser, E. (1999). Using local
resources in Patagonia: A model of community-based rehabilitation.
International Journal of Mental Health, 28 , 17-24.
Collins, P.Y., Varma, V.K., Wig, N.N., Mojtabai, R., Day, R., & Susser, E.
(1999). Fever and acute brief psychosis in urban and rural settings in North
India. British Journal of Psychiatry, 174, 520-524.
Collins, P.Y. (2001). Dual taboos: Sexuality and women with severe mental
illness in South Africa: Perceptions of mental health care providers. AIDS &
Behavior, 5, 151-161.
Collins, P.Y., Geller, P.A., Miller, S., Toro, P., & Susser, E. (2001).
Ourselves, our bodies, our realities: An HIV preventive intervention for women
with mental illness. Journal of Urban Health, 78, 162-175.
Bresnahan, M., Collins, P.Y., & Susser, E. (2003). Commentary on Lovisi et
al.: Mental illness in adult sample admitted to public hostels in the Rio de
Janeiro metropolitan area, Brazil. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric
Epidemiology, 38, 499-501.
Link, B., Yang, L., Phelan, J., & Collins, P.Y. (2004). Measuring mental
illness stigma. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 30, 511-541.
Catalan, J., Collins. P.Y., Mash, B., & Freeman, M. (2005).
Psychotherapeutic interventions in antiretroviral therapy (for second level
care). Mental Health and HIV/AIDS Series, No. 5. Geneva: World Health
Organization.
Freeman, M., Patel, V., & Collins, P.Y. (2005). Bertolote J. Integrating
mental health in global initiatives for HIV/AIDS. British Journal of
Psychiatry, 187, 1-3.
Von Unger, H., & Collins, P.Y. (2005). Transforming the meaning of HIV/AIDS
in recovery from substance use: a qualitative study of HIV-positive women in
New York. Health Care for Women International, 26, 308-324.
Collins, P.Y. (2006). Challenges to HIV prevention in psychiatric settings:
Perceptions of South African mental health care providers. Social Science &
Medicine, 63, 979-990.
Collins, P.Y., Holman, A., Freeman, M., & Patel, V. (2006). What is the
relevance of mental health to HIV/AIDS care and treatment programs in
developing countries? A systematic review. AIDS, 20, 1571-1582.
Collins, P.Y. (in press). Waving the banner of the mental health revolution:
Psychiatric reform and community mental health in the Province of Rio Negro,
Argentina. In J.M. Caldas de Almeida & A. Cohen (Eds.), Innovative Community
Mental Health Services in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, DC
:PAHO.
Collins, P.Y., Mestry, K., Wainberg, M., Nzama, T, & Lindegger G. (in
press). Daring to talk about sex: training South African mental health care
providers in the era of AIDS. Psychiatric Services. |
