Paul Ciechanowski, MD, MPH spent several years as a family doctor before becoming trained as a consultation-liaison psychiatrist. He is a national leader in the psychiatric collaborative care model. He has conducted NIH- and CDC-funded research in developing the model and has trained hundreds of healthcare systems throughout the U.S., Canada, and India in implementing the model. He and his colleagues at the University of Washington developed the PEARLS Program which is now a national program for helping underserved older adults with depression and chronic conditions. He is the Chief Medical Officer of Janus Healthcare Partners and continues to see patients at the University of Washington Medicine Diabetes Institute.
The psychiatric collaborative care model offers an opportunity to mitigate burnout by reducing the burden placed on primary care providers (PCPs) and more effectively supporting their patients with behavioral health needs.