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UNM Gets $7M Grant For Behavioral Health Research

Allan Ajifo, CC 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

New Mexico’s flagship university has received a $7 million grant to open a new behavioral health center. Researchers will work directly with people in communities dealing with addiction and mental health issues. 

UNM Professor of Health and Social Policy Lisa Cacari Stone will run the place. She said the state is in the midst of a perfect storm - the behavioral health crisis and an increase in alcohol and drug abuse. Add that to how the science has fallen behind on how to understand the cultural factors in behavioral health. 

“I think everyone can think of a personal story in which there’s been some human suffering due to unmet treatment or needs around substance abuse and mental health," Stone said.

Over half of the funding will go to community research projects that focus initially on Native American and Hispanic immigrant communities. 

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KUNM's Public Health New Mexico Project is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and the McCune Charitable Foundation. Find all stories from the project at www.publichealthnm.org. 

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