Scholarship and Biography
Mary Brolin, Ph.D., a Senior Scientist within the Institute for Behavioral Health at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, has worked in the behavioral health field for 34 years conducting health services research and evaluating community-based behavioral health prevention and treatment programs. Her research interests focus on the intersection of behavioral health services with other service systems, including the criminal legal system, systems serving youth and young adults, and primary care and housing support systems. Dr. Brolin conducts mixed methods research on behavioral health services for youth and young adults, low-income people, Medicaid populations, chronically homeless people, and criminal justice populations.
Currently, Dr. Brolin is a co-investigator and the Implementation Lead for Brandeis’ NIDA-funded Hub and Spoke Model to Improve Pharmacotherapy Use for Opioid Use Disorders and Promote Recovery. She is also the qualitative lead on the Hub and Spoke Opioid Treatment Networks: 2nd Generation Approaches to Improve Medication Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder. She is also leading the evaluation of a nurse care manager and recovery coach MAT model in three community health centers in MA funded by SAMHSA. She recently completed a study of the implementation and effectiveness of an intensive case management program for high utilizers of emergency department services with substance use disorder and/or mental health treatment needs and a CMS initiative to help repeat users of detox reduce their need for subsequent detox services. She also led the evaluation of the Massachusetts Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (MASBIRT) project and was co-PI of an evaluation of a community-based SBIRT project conducted by YouthBuild USA. In addition to local evaluations, she has conducted larger-scale national evaluations including a study for the Open Society Institute’s Closing the Addiction Treatment Gap, involving 8 sites nationally and for the Grants to Benefit Homeless Individuals funded by SAMHSA, involving 25 sites nationally.
Dr. Brolin is a lecturer in the Masters in Public Policy (MPP) at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management. In the past few years, she has mentored ten NIAAA trainees on their dissertation and course work. Currently, she advises four MPP students and serves on several dissertation committees.
Dr. Brolin received a Ph.D. from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, a Masters in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in Sociology from Boston College.