Helen Jack

Dr. Helen E. Jack, MD has held a Visiting Researcher position at King’s College London since 2014 and is also on faculty in the Division of General Internal Medicine at the University of Washington. In addition to her clinical work as a primary care physician, Dr. Jack’s research focuses on the integration of behavioural health into primary care for vulnerable populations. In her role at KCL, Helen has taught in and designed evaluation strategies for NIH and Wellcome Trust-funded mental health capacity building programs in southern Africa, including the African Mental Health Leadership Initiative (AMARI). In addition to capacity-building, she conducts global mental health research in Zimbabwe where her investigations focus on mental health system strengthening. Complementing her global mental health work, Helen has done US-based research on the role of lay health workers in substance use treatment and chronic disease management. Her research has been published in journals including Lancet Psychiatry, British Journal of Psychiatry, and Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Dr. Jack graduated summa cum laude from Yale University, received her MD from Harvard Medical School, and completed Internal Medicine residency at University of Washington. Prior to beginning her medical training, she earned a second BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar.

Research Interests

• Primary care integration
• Addiction medicine
• Lay health workers
• Implementation science
• Qualitative research

Expertise and Public Engagement

• Advocacy
• Public lectures

Key publications

Jack H, Canavan M, Ofori-Atta A, Taylor L, Bradley E. Recruitment and retention of mental health workers in Ghana. PLoS One. 2013;8(2):e57940. PMID: 23469111.

Basu S, Jack HE, Arabadjis SD, Phillips RS. Benchmarks for Reducing Emergency Department Visits and Hospitalizations Through Community Health Workers Integrated Into Primary Care: A Cost-Benefit Analysis. Med Care. 2017 Feb;55(2):140-147. PMID: 27547954.

Jack HE, Arabadjis SD, Sun L, Sullivan EE, Phillips RS. Impact of Community Health Workers on Use of Healthcare Services in the United States: A Systematic Review. J Gen Intern Med. 2017 Mar;32(3):325-344. PMID: 27921257.

Kidia K, Machando D, Mangezi W, Hendler R, Crooks M, Abas M, Chibanda D, Thornicroft G, Semrau M, Jack H. Mental health in Zimbabwe: a health systems analysis. Lancet Psychiatry. 2017 Nov;4(11):876-886. PMID: 28625876.

Ofori-Atta A, Attafuah J, Jack H, Baning F, Rosenheck R; Joining Forces Research Consortium. Joining psychiatric care and faith healing in a prayer camp in Ghana: randomised trial. Br J Psychiatry. 2018 Jan;212(1):34-41. PMID: 29433613.

Jack HE, Oller D, Kelly J, Magidson JF, Wakeman SE. Addressing substance use disorder in primary care: The role, integration, and impact of recovery coaches. Subst Abus. 2018;39(3):307-314. PMID: 28991516.

Jack HE, Fricchione G, Chibanda D, Thornicroft G, Machando D, Kidia K. Mental health of incarcerated people: a global call to action. Lancet Psychiatry. 2018 May;5(5):391-392. PMID: 29699739.

Jack HE, Oller D, Kelly J, Magidson JF, Wakeman SE. Asking How Our Patients Understand Addiction. Am J Med. 2019 Mar;132(3):269-271. PMID: 30240683.

Jack HE, Myers B, Regenauer KS, Magidson JF. Mutual Capacity Building to Reduce the Behavioral Health Treatment Gap Globally. Adm Policy Ment Health. 2020 Jul;47(4):497-500. PMID: 31823100.

Jack HE, Merritt C, Medhin G, Musesengwa R, Mafuta C, Gibson LJ, Hanlon C, Sorsdahl K, Chibanda D, Abas M. Developing sustainable capacity-building in mental health research: implementation outcomes of training of trainers in systematic reviewing. Glob Health Action. 2020;13(1):1715325. PMID: 32041498.

See a full list of Dr. Jack’s publications here.