Joseph E. Glass, PhD, MSW

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“We need to increase the reach of addiction treatment within health care systems. Many more people could benefit from effective care.”

Joseph E. Glass, PhD, MSW

Senior Scientific Investigator, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Affiliate Associate Professor, Department of Health Systems and Population Health, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington

Biography

Joseph Glass, PhD, MSW, is an associate investigator at Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute (KPWHRI). Before joining KPWHRI in July 2016, he was an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Social Work.

Dr. Glass’s research seeks to identify how effective health care interventions for unhealthy alcohol and drug use can reach more people. Much of his work aims to develop, test, and implement modern models of care that proactively deliver evidence-based treatments within health care settings and that intensively refer patients to specialty care while considering social determinants of health.

Dr. Glass’s work is informed by his practical experience in the field. After receiving a Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan, Dr. Glass was a psychiatric social worker at the Veterans Affairs Ann Arbor Healthcare System. There he developed expertise in social work case management and evidence-based treatments for anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders.

He completed a 5-year career development award funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 2021, which allowed him to obtain intensive training in clinical trials and implementation science. Currently, he has 2 active randomized controlled trials.

  • One is a 5-year grant awarded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse called the DIGITS Trial, which is testing strategies for improving how clinicians and patients use app-based treatments for substance use disorder in primary care.
  • Another study is the Addressing Barriers to Care Trial (ABC-SUD), which is a 5-year grant awarded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse as part of the Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science at Stanford. The ABC-SUD study is evaluating use of Care Navigators to improve the rate at which people successfully obtain treatment when they are referred to care.

Dr. Glass also co-leads a 2-year study funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism to validate and improve approaches for monitoring the quality of care for alcohol use disorder. He also enjoys serving as a co-investigator and consultant, providing expertise and support to studies led by his colleagues.

Dr. Glass is an affiliate associate professor of health systems and population health, and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, at the University of Washington.​​​​​

Research interests and experience


Sparc trial tools

Resources for behavioral health integration

The SPARC trial successfully implemented behavioral health care into primary care. On our website, you can access tools for behavioral health integration, as well as frequently asked questions and publications.


Recent publications

Williams EC, Joo YS, Lipira L, Glass JE. Psychosocial stressors and alcohol use, severity, and treatment receipt across HIV status in a nationally representative sample of U.S. residents. Subst Abus. 2017 Jul-Sep;38(3):269-277. doi: 10.1080/08897077.2016.1268238. Epub 2016 Dec 7. PubMed

Mares ML, Gustafson DH, Glass JE, Quanbeck A, McDowell H, McTavish F, Atwood AK, Marsch LA, Thomas C, Shah D, Brown R, Isham A, Nealon MJ, Ward V. Implementing an mHealth system for substance use disorders in primary care: a mixed methods study of clinicians' initial expectations and first year experiences.  BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2016;16(1):126.  PubMed

Glass JE, Bohnert K, Brown RL. Alcohol screening and intervention among United States adults who attend ambulatory healthcare. J Gen Intern Med. 2016 Jul;31(7):739-45. doi: 10.1007/s11606-016-3614-5. Epub 2016 Feb 9. PubMed

Glass JE, Hamilton AM, Powell BJ, Perron BE, Brown RT, Ilgen MA. Revisiting our review of Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT): meta-analytical results still point to no efficacy in increasing the use of substance use disorder services. Addiction. 2016 Jan;111(1):181-3. doi: 10.1111/add.13146. Epub 2015 Oct 13. No abstract available. PubMed

Glass JE. Challenges in developing and testing referral to treatment interventions. Addiction. 2015 Sep;110(9):1419-20. doi: 10.1111/add.13039. PubMed

 

Healthy Findings Blog

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Understanding the needs of people seeking care for substance use

Joe Glass explores how to engage patients with treatment for alcohol or drug use.

Research

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Increasing opioid use disorder treatment in primary care

A trial led by KPWHRI researchers found that adding nurse care managers helped more people get needed treatment.

Research

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Better care for patients who drink alcohol

A new primary care approach improves alcohol-related preventive care as well as care for alcohol use disorder.