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.
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.
Unhealthy alcohol and drug use
Access and treatment-seeking patterns
Smartphone and web-based interventions in health care
Prevention and treatment
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.
Tsui JI, Akosile MA, Lapham GT, Boudreau DM, Johnson EA, Bobb JF, Binswanger IA, Yarborough BJH, Glass JE, Rossom RC, Murphy MT, Cunningham CO, Arnsten JH, Thakral M, Saxon AJ, Merrill JO, Samet JH, Bart GB, Campbell CI, Loree AM, Silva A, Stotts AL, Ahmedani B, Braciszewski JM, Hechter RC, Northrup TF, Horigian VE, Bradley KA. Prevalence and medication treatment of opioid use disorder among primary care patients with hepatitis C and HIV. J Gen Intern Med. 2021 Feb 10. doi: 10.1007/s11606-020-06389-7. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Campbell CI, Saxon AJ, Boudreau DM, Wartko PD, Bobb JF, Lee AK, Matthews AG, McCormack J, Liu DS, Addis M, Altschuler A, Samet JH, LaBelle CT, Arnsten J, Caldeiro RM, Borst DT, Stotts AL, Braciszewski JM, Szapocznik J, Bart G, Schwartz RP, McNeely J, Liebschutz JM, Tsui JI, Merrill JO, Glass JE, Lapham GT, Murphy SM, Weinstein ZM, Yarborough BJH, Bradley KA. PRimary Care Opioid Use Disorders treatment (PROUD) trial protocol: a pragmatic, cluster-randomized implementation trial in primary care for opioid use disorder treatment. Addict Sci Clin Pract. 2021;16(1):9. doi: 10.1186/s13722-021-00218-w. PubMed
Williams EC, Frost MC, Rubinsky AD, Glass JE, Wheat CL, Edmonds AT, Chen JA, Matson TE, Fletcher OV, Lehavot K, Blosnich JR. Patterns of alcohol use among transgender patients receiving care at the Veterans Health Administration: overall and relative to nontransgender patients. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2021;82(1):132-141. PubMed
Yeung K, Richards J, Goemer E, Lozano P, Lapham G, Williams E, Glass J, Lee A, Achtmeyer C, Caldeiro R, Parrish R, Bradley K. Costs of using evidence-based implementation strategies for behavioral health integration in a large primary care system. Health Serv Res. 2020 Dec;55(6):913-923. doi: 10.1111/1475-6773.13592. PubMed
Frost MC, Blosnich JR, Lehavot K, Chen JA, Rubinsky AD, Glass JE, Williams EC. Disparities in documented drug use disorders between transgender and cisgender U.S. Veterans Health Administration patients. J Addict Med. 2021 Jul-Aug 01;15(4):334-340. doi: 10.1097/ADM.0000000000000769. PubMed
Joe Glass explores how to engage patients with treatment for alcohol or drug use.
A trial led by KPWHRI researchers found that adding nurse care managers helped more people get needed treatment.
A new primary care approach improves alcohol-related preventive care as well as care for alcohol use disorder.