Scholarship and Biography
Constance M. Horgan, Sc.D. is a Professor at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University. She is the Co-Director of the Schneider Institutes for Health Policy and Research and the founding Director of its Institute for Behavioral Health. From 2007-2013, she served as the Associate Dean for Research. Dr. Horgan received her doctorate in health policy and management from the Johns Hopkins University. She is a national expert on the organization, financing and quality of behavioral healthcare. Her research is focused on how alcohol, drug and mental health services are financed, organized, and delivered in the public and private sectors and what approaches can be used to improve the quality and effectiveness of the delivery system. Dr. Horgan has led studies for a range of organizations, including the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the National Institutes of Health (NIMH, NIAAA, and NIDA), the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA); state governments; and foundations, including Robert Wood Johnson. She is the Founding Director of the Brandeis/Harvard Center to Improve System Performance of Substance Use Disorder Treatment funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, since the mid-nineties; now under its renewal she will serve as co-director of its policy core. She also has been instrumental in the establishment of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University. She is a member of the National Committee on Quality Assurance’s (NCQA) Behavioral Health Care Measurement Advisory Panel and the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Behavioral Health Standing Committee. In 2017, Dr. Horgan received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Public Health Association’s section on Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs. She also received the 2010 Anderson Award from the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) for distinguished contributions in the field of addiction, research, training and evaluation. She serves as a board member for the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, the Massachusetts Health Council, and the Greater Boston Council on Alcoholism. She is also a standing member of the National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.