The Steinberg Institute is excited to announce a new graduate research fellowship program designed to give future leaders in mental health and public policy hands-on experience turning research into actionable policy. The program will bring together students from multiple academic disciplines, including public policy, public health, psychology, human development, and mental health. The first cohort began their work in December 2024 and includes six students from top California institutions.
Five Master of Public Policy (MPP) students from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs — Cameron Manning, Kelsey McGillis, Gustavo Medrano, Gianna Radeljic, and Dominique Taylor (pictured above in order) — will examine levels of care across the California behavioral health landscape. They aim to compare the prevalence of serious mental illness among adults and the availability of behavioral health services across the state.
In addition, Andrea Elser, a Doctor of Medicine/Master of Public Health (MD/MPH) graduate student from the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, will join the cohort as she completes her practicum with the Steinberg Institute. Her work will focus on the Institute’s Vision 2030 initiative, particularly strengthening the behavioral health workforce and reducing the number of people in behavioral health crises entering hospital emergency departments.
The fellowship program builds on the Steinberg Institute’s commitment to fostering innovation and creating evidence-based solutions in behavioral health. Fellows will be a part of driving meaningful, systemic change for California’s behavioral health system.
To read more about the Steinberg Institute’s public policy research and to stay up to date on the work of the graduate fellows, visit https://steinberginstitute.org/public-policy-research/.