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Draft:Jonathan Sherin

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Jonathan Sherin, M.D., Ph.D. (born November 5, 1965) is an American neurobiologist and psychiatrist who served as the fifth Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH) from 2016-2022.[1] [2] [3] [4] Sherin has professor rank faculty appointments at the University of California, Los Angeles, the University of Southern California and the newly accredited Roseman University School of Medicine. [5]

Education

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Born in Washington, D.C., Sherin earned a Bachelor of Science with honors in Neuroscience from Brown University in 1988. He earned both M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine in 1998 during which he was a Scholar in Residence and completed his Ph.D. laboratory experiments at Harvard Medical School from 1991-1996. In 2002, he completed his Psychiatry Residency Program at the University of California, Los Angeles.[6]

Career

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Veterans Affairs and Volunteers of America

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Immediately following residency, Sherin began his career at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), serving as clinician, teacher and researcher at the Greater Los Angeles VA. Over time, he took on greater leadership roles in an effort to repair broken systems of care at VA, overseeing first all mental health hospital programs and eventually the entire continuum of mental health operations on the West Los Angeles VA campus.[7]

In 2010, Sherin moved to the Miami VA, where he served as Chief of Mental Health and Behavioral Sciences, his last post at VA, overseeing all mental health operations across south Florida’s Dade, Broward, and Monroe Counties as well as Professor and Vice Chairman for the University of Miami Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.[8]

In 2012, Sherin went on to serve as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President for Volunteers of America, one of the nation’s oldest and largest providers of community-based safety net services to vulnerable populations. In this position, he focused on, expanded, and innovated services to military community members including a “battle buddy” peer-to-peer navigation program for struggling veterans.[9] [10]

In 2015, he returned to the West L.A. VA campus as an expert advisor in the settlement of “Valenti v Shinseki” where he collaborated with then VA Secretary Robert McDonald and the plaintiff partners Bobby Shriver and Ron Olsen (MTO) to ramp up services to homeless veterans in LA and to create a revitalization plan for the campus that had been deteriorating and misused for decades. Given a lack of progress in response to this settlement on the part of VA, Sherin has continued to work on behalf of homeless veterans as expert witness in “Powers v McDonough” (the next, reframed, iteration of “Valenti v Shinseki”).[11] [12]

Tenure as LA County Department of Mental Health Director

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Sherin was appointed as Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health in 2016.[13] In this role, he led the nation’s largest county mental health system with a budget of approximately $3 billion, serving a region of over 10 million people. [14] As Director, Sherin launched an enterprise-wide reorganization of the Department to double down on community by coordinating the delivery of resources to support the social determinants of health and wellbeing with prevention, early intervention and treatment services. He also invested heavily in alternative crisis programs and reentry initiatives to bring those languishing across the County back into the community. His strategy has always advocated for a bottom-up system transformation in which “grass-roots guide grass-tops”, and he has always adopted a speak truth to the systems of power with a focus on community-based solutions at the practice, program and policy level. [15]

Sherin called on the County to take a “heart forward” approach to connecting with individuals in need of care.[16] He popularized the “3 Ps” philosophy, which emphasized the importance of “people, place and purpose” in psychiatric rehabilitation. [17] In line with this approach, Sherin led efforts to invest in, revitalize, and further develop existing County-owned properties to create campus-based “restorative care villages” which offer comprehensive treatment and reintegration services to the County’s most vulnerable populations. [18]

As Director, Sherin worked with the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and California Legislature to protect and reinvest over $220M in funding from the Mental Health Services Act and prevented California Health Facilities Financing Authority (CHFFA) from reverting funding for local infrastructure back to the State.[19]

Sherin emphasized the importance of peer-to-peer relationships in transforming mental health care[20] by using his pulpit in LA County to spur and shape the certification of peer support as a MediCal billable mental health service (SB-803). He created the Veteran Peer Access Network (VPAN), a first of its kind veterans support network that brings together peers across federal, state, county and city departments to deliver an access and navigation network and dedicated help-line for veterans. [21] [22]

Sherin launched the community building WE RISE campaign that ran for four years during Mental Health Awareness Month (May) before and during the height of the Covid pandemic. The campaign, which leveraged visual artists, musicians, entertainers, athletes and creatives across the region and beyond, reached over 30% of the population aged 14-24 in LA County[23] and emphasized the notion that mental health, wellbeing and community belonging need to be a right, not a privilege. The campaign emphasized the tagline that “None of Us Are Well Until All of Us Are Well” and that isolation leads to “The other LOL; the lethality of loneliness”. [24] [25]

Research, media, and national and international work

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In addition to his work in the health and human services sector, Sherin is a scientist who has published over 15 peer reviewed scientific articles in the fields of neurobiology and psychiatry. [26] His research identifying a core sleep-circuit in mammals (the “sleep switch”) has been featured in Science magazine and he received a Kempf Award from the American Psychiatric Association for his conceptual model of the psychotic process. [27] [28] Other examples of his research contributions include: making the case to research the impacts of climate change on youth mental health and wellbeing in the Caribbean, addressing mental health disability in unsheltered homelessness, population health implementation of trauma and resilience informed care across child and family ecosystems, barriers and strategies for improving communication between inpatient and outpatient mental health clinicians, and more.

Since retiring from his most recent government post, Sherin has served on numerous public, private and advocacy boards to advance the health, wellbeing and connectedness of disenfranchised populations domestically and internationally, including his role as the Chief Medical Officer for the Healthy Brains Global Initiative, a global non-profit.[29]

Sherin has written and continues to write opinion pieces in the LA Times on mental health, wellbeing and systems reform.[30] [31] [32] [33]

Personal life

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Sherin resides in Los Angeles, California, and stays connected himself as a father, surfer, sailor, cook and writer.

References

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  1. ^ California News Wire Services. (2016, October 12). Supes appoint new county mental health director. Patch. https://patch.com/california/beverlyhills/supes-appoint-new-county-mental-health-director
  2. ^ Los Angeles Times. (2022, April 19). LA County mental health head Dr. John Sherin resigning. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-04-19/la-county-mental-health-head-dr-john-sherin-resigning
  3. ^ Medical News Today. (n.d.). Dr. Jonathan Sherin profile. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/provider/dr-jonathan-sherin-1659387249
  4. ^ LAist. (n.d.). LA County Dept. of Mental Health Director on Homelessness, Schools, Jails, and More. https://laist.com/shows/airtalk/la-county-dept-of-mental-health-director-on-homelessness-schools-jails-and-moreDr.
  5. ^ University of Southern California Gehr Family Center for Health Systems Science. (n.d.). Gehr Speaker: Jonathan Sherin flyer. https://gehrcenter.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Gehr-Speaker-Jonathan-Sherin-Flyer.pdf
  6. ^ U.S. House of Representatives Document Repository https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20140710/102444/HHRG-113-VR00-Bio-SherinJ-20140710.pdf
  7. ^ The New York Times. (2010, May 6). Veterans' art: A national memory [Archived]. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/06/arts/design/06veterans.html
  8. ^ U.S. House of Representatives Document Repository https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20140710/102444/HHRG-113-VR00-Bio-SherinJ-20140710.pdf
  9. ^ Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. (2014). New challenges for new veterans. Community Investments, 26(3). https://www.frbsf.org/community-development/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/ci_vol26no3-new-challenges-for-new-veterans.pdf
  10. ^ LAist. (2020, July 8). LA County exploring a system of ‘battle buddies’ to help veterans. Southern California Public Radio. https://laist.com/news/kpcc-archive/la-county-exploring-a-system-of-battle-buddies-hel
  11. ^ Los Angeles Times. (2015, October 16). Draft master plan unveiled for long-neglected veteran’s campus in West Los Angeles. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-draft-master-plan-unveiled-for-long-neglected-veteran-s-campus-in-west-los-angeles-20151016-story.html
  12. ^ Los Angeles Times. (2016, January 28). Veterans Affairs property plan revealed. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-va-property-plan-20160128-story.html
  13. ^ California News Wire Services. (2016, October 12). Supes appoint new county mental health director. Patch. https://patch.com/california/beverlyhills/supes-appoint-new-county-mental-health-director
  14. ^ Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. (n.d.). About. https://dmh.lacounty.gov/about/#:~:text=The%20Los%20Angeles%20County%20Department,LACDMH%20staff%20at%20approximately%20300
  15. ^ Urban Land Institute (ULI) LA. (2024, June). ULI HighRise Report. https://ulidigitalmarketing.blob.core.windows.net/ulidcnc/sites/47/2024/06/ULI-HS2024_e-Booklet_HighRes.pdf
  16. ^ Los Angeles Daily News. (2017, May 21). How L.A. County’s new mental health director hopes to help heal troubled minds. Los Angeles Daily News. https://www.dailynews.com/2017/05/21/how-la-countys-new-mental-health-director-hopes-to-help-heal-troubled-minds/
  17. ^ Los Angeles Times. (2022, February 19). Lopez: Mental illness and homelessness – the invisible challenge. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-02-19/lopez-column-mental-illness-homeless
  18. ^ LAist. (2022, August 17). Los Angeles restorative care village focuses on medical and mental health for veterans. https://laist.com/news/health/los-angeles-restorative-care-village-medical-and-mental-health
  19. ^ The Imprint: Youth & Family News. (2020, March 23). Top mental health doctor Jonathan Sherin’s plan for prevention and families. https://imprintnews.org/childrens-mental-health/top-mental-health-doctor-jonathan-sherin-plan-prevention-families/32064
  20. ^ Los Angeles Daily News. (2017, May 21). How LA County’s new mental health director hopes to help heal troubled minds. https://www.dailynews.com/2017/05/21/how-la-countys-new-mental-health-director-hopes-to-help-heal-troubled-minds/
  21. ^ Los Angeles County. (2022, June 9). L.A. County Department of Mental Health releases inaugural veteran peer access network report. https://lacounty.gov/2022/06/09/l-a-county-department-of-mental-health-releases-inaugural-veteran-peer-access-network-report/
  22. ^ U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. (2023, September 22). Through VPAN, peer support helps veterans get off the streets and into services. https://www.va.gov/greater-los-angeles-health-care/stories/through-vpan-peer-support-helps-veterans-get-off-the-streets-and-into-services/
  23. ^ https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RRA2400/RRA2455-2/RAND_RRA2455-2.pdf
  24. ^ Spectrum News 1. (2022, May 2). LA City Hall to be lit green for Mental Health Awareness Month. https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/health/2022/05/02/la-city-hall-to-be-lit-green-for-mental-health-awareness-month
  25. ^ Los Angeles County. (2021, April). LACDMH Connecting Our Community Report. https://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/dmh/1108575_LACDMHConnectingOurCommunityApril2021.pdf
  26. ^ Scopus. (n.d.). Jonathan Sherin Author Details. https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=6602826988
  27. ^ U.S. House of Representatives Document Repository. (2014, July 10). Dr. Jonathan Sherin biography. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/VR/VR00/20140710/102444/HHRG-113-VR00-Bio-SherinJ-20140710.pdf
  28. ^ Psychiatric News. (2006, April 21). Mental illness and homelessness: The challenges. Psychiatric News. https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/10.1176/pn.39.15.0390025
  29. ^ The Healthy Brains Global Initiative. (n.d.). Management team: Jonathan Sherin. https://www.hbgi.org/management-team-jonathan-sherin
  30. ^ Los Angeles Times. (2020, August 20). Op-ed: Mentally ill people often don’t get treatment because of antiquated law. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-08-20/op-ed-mentally-ill-people-often-dont-get-treatment-because-of-antiquated-law
  31. ^ Los Angeles Times. (2020, May 20). The impact of mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-05-20/mental-health-coronavirus-covid
  32. ^ Los Angeles Times. (2020, December 18). The need for new laws to address homelessness. https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-12-18/need-for-new-laws-to-address-homelessness
  33. ^ Los Angeles Times. (2022, February 19). Lopez: Mental illness and homelessness – the invisible challenge. Los Angeles Times. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2022-02-19/lopez-column-mental-illness-homeless
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