Janet C. Frank, DrPH, MS, is a faculty associate at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her current responsibilities include working with the California Community College Health Workforce Initiative (HWI) and with the Research Subcommittee of the California Master Plan on Aging.
From 1990 to 2013, Frank served as assistant director of academic programs in the UCLA Multicampus Program in Geriatric Medicine and Gerontology at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA where she led projects in geriatric workforce development. This included projects for the California Geriatric Education Center and the National Coordinating Center for the Research Centers for Minority Aging Research.
In 2013, Frank retired from her full-time role in geriatric medicine and joined the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research on a part-time basis. In her role as faculty associate at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, she participated in a systematic review of clinical preventive services for older adults, and the Healthy Aging Prevention Partnership Initiative. Most recently she directed the California Mental Health and Older Adult System of Care study, and a related project on the behavioral health workforce. Previous work through the Center also involved serving as a special assistant to the director of the National Coordinating and Evaluation Center for the NIH Diversity Education Consortium.
Frank received her master's degree in gerontology from the University of Southern California and her doctorate in public health from the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Researchers share study recommendations on how state policymakers, institutions, and county mental health/behavioral health departments and contracted providers can help improve state’s geriatric mental health care workforce and ensure that mental health care training that addresses the unique needs of older adults is a priority.