SIRC Health Disparities Colloquium

Michael Hollifield received his M.D. with thesis honors from the University of Washington in Seattle, and completed a dual residency training program in Family Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico (UNM) in 1994.  He served on the UNM faculty for 10 years practicing and teaching in both departments, most notably teaching all cognitive behavioral therapies for psychiatry residents and psychiatry in medicine for family medicine residents.  He served as medical director of biobehavioral oncology and the anxiety disorders program and the University of Louisville from 2004 to 2008, as a scientist at the Behavioral Health Research Center of the Southwest and president of the Institute for Stress Medicine in Albuquerque from 2008 to 2011 before accepting his current positions as director of the Traumatic Stress Program at the VA Long Beach Healthcare system and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California at Irvine.

Dr. Hollifield’s primary research interests are about the effects of severe trauma and adverse life events on health outcomes, how biological and behavioral factors play a role in the negative effects from trauma and adverse life events, and developing novel clinical interventions for trauma disorders. His National Institutes of Health funding includes improving measurement of trauma and health in refugees, and developing novel interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including the use of acupuncture, imagery rehearsal therapy, and integrated cognitive behavioral therapy. Other research includes the effects of meditation on autonomic nervous system functioning, and the effects of trauma, PTSD, and depression on immunological, inflammatory, and nervous system functioning and gene expression. He is currently evaluation director for the project Pathways to Wellness, which aims to improve detection, referral, and care for refugees with emotional distress.  He has been instrumental in developing the Refugee Health Screener-15, which is a validated screening instrument translated into seven languages and used at an increasing number of public health sites across the country.  His clinical interests parallel his research by working with people with trauma and anxiety disorders and those who have both medical and psychiatric illnesses.

Dr. Hollifield is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, a Board Member for the Society for the Study of Psychiatry and Culture, and a member of the American Psychiatric Association, and a member of the editorial board of General Hospital Psychiatry.