Helen Jack, MD

Dr. Helen Jack is an Assistant Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine at University of Washington and a primary care physician in a prison in rural eastern Washington. Dr. Jack’s research focuses on the integration of mental health and addiction treatment into low-resource primary care settings both domestically and in low-income countries. Her work is currently supported by an NIMH K23 career development award to study the implementation of the World Health Organization’s depression treatment guidelines in primary care in Zimbabwe, where she has been conducting research and doing research capacity building since 2013. She also co-leads two studies focused on substance use treatment and HIV prevention for people releasing from prison in Washington State. Much of her prior research has centered on how lay health workers, including both community health workers and peer support workers, can be part of expanding access to behavioral health care, both domestically and in southern Africa.

Dr. Jack graduated summa cum laude from Yale University and completed medical school at Harvard Medical School. Prior to beginning her medical training, she earned a second BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.