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.
Lapham G, Boudreau DM, Johnson EA, Bobb JF, Matthews AG, McCormack J, Liu D, Samet JH, Saxon AJ, Campbell CI, Glass JE, Rossom RC, Murphy MT, Binswanger IA, Yarborough BJH, Bradley KA. Prevalence and treatment of opioid use disorders among primary care patients in six health systems. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2020;207:107732. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.107732. Epub 2019 Nov 15. PubMed
Richards JE, Shortreed SM, Simon GE, Penfold RB, Glass JE, Ziebell R, Williams EC. Short-term risk of suicide attempt associated with patterns of patient-reported alcohol use determined by routine AUDIT-C among adults receiving mental healthcare. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2020 Jan-Feb;62:79-86. doi: 10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2019.12.002. Epub 2019 Dec 18. PubMed
Frost MC, Glass JE, Bradley KA, Williams EC. Documented brief intervention associated with reduced linkage to specialty addictions treatment in a national sample of VA patients with unhealthy alcohol use with and without alcohol use disorders. Addiction. 2020 Apr;115(4):668-678. doi: 10.1111/add.14836. Epub 2019 Dec 11. PubMed
Richards JE, Bobb JF, Lee AK, Lapham GT, Williams EC, Glass JE, Ludman EJ, Achtmeyer C, Caldeiro RM, Oliver M, Bradley KA. Integration of screening, assessment, and treatment for cannabis and other drug use disorders in primary care: an evaluation in three pilot sites. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2019 Aug 1;201:134-141. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.04.015. Epub 2019 Jun 8. PubMed
Goldberg SB, Simpson TL, Lehavot K, Katon JG, Chen JA, Glass JE, Schnurr PP, Sayer NA, Fortney JC. Mental health treatment delay: a comparison among civilians and veterans of different service eras. Psychiatr Serv. 2019 May 1;70(5):358-366. doi: 10.1176/appi.ps.201800444. Epub 2019 Mar 7. 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.