UT Tyler Awarded $1.75 Million HRSA Grant
December 12, 2024 | Elizabeth Wingfield
Funds to support School of Medicine’s behavioral health integration
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December 12, 2024 | Elizabeth Wingfield
Funds to support School of Medicine’s behavioral health integration
The University of Texas at Tyler was awarded $1,750,000 from the Health Resources and Services Administration to fund a project led by Dr. Cheryl McCullumsmith, Department chair, and Brittney Nichols, executive director of the Robert M. Rogers Department of Psychiatry.
The project, Rural Integrated behavioral health care Supports Everyone, or RISE NETX, will provide on-site tele-counseling and psychiatric consultation services to rural primary care clinics in northeast Texas.
“We are excited to use this generous funding to support our service to East Texas,” said Julie V. Philley, MD, UT Tyler president. “This grant will help address the critical need for mental health accessibility in rural areas.”
East Texas has one of the lowest rates of mental health providers in Texas, with 32 counties below the state average. All East Texas counties have a higher suicide rate than the state and national average.
“Through this funding and the support of Dr. McCullumsmith, mental health professions, community health workers, and so many others, we are addressing a critical gap in mental health care and creating a sustainable model that will have a lasting impact on East Texas,” said Dr. Sue Cox, School of Medicine dean.
This program will be a game-changer for rural mental health care. It supports primary care physicians caring for patients with depression, anxiety and other psychiatric illness by connecting patients to mental health trainees through telehealth at their local clinic, according to McCullumsmith.
“Psychiatry and psychology faculty will provide supervision and are available for consultation with the primary care physician. Thus, two goals are accomplished, patients in rural areas have increased access to mental health care and mental health trainees will gain invaluable hands-on and training,” she added.
With a mission to improve educational and health care outcomes for East Texas and beyond, UT Tyler offers more than 90 undergraduate and graduate programs to more than 10,000 students. Through its alignment with UT Tyler Health Science Center and UT Health East Texas, UT Tyler has unified these entities to serve Texas with quality education, cutting-edge research and excellent patient care. Classified by Carnegie as a doctoral research institution and by U.S. News & World Report as a national university, UT Tyler has campuses in Tyler, Longview, Palestine and Houston.