—by Paul M. Kubek
Columbus, OH—Mark Hurst, MD, is medical director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS), where he provides leadership for clinical services at all of the state's regional psychiatric hospitals and community-based organizations. Dr. Hurst is board certified in psychiatry and addiction psychiatry and has, throughout his career, integrated treatment for both substance abuse and mental illness as a way to maximize recovery for people with these co-occurring disorders.
INTEGRATED BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE
Prior to becoming medical director, Dr. Hurst served as chief clinical officer at Twin Valley Behavioral Healthcare, a state psychiatric hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where he provided leadership for an inpatient adaptation of Integrated Dual Disorder Treatment (IDDT), the evidence-based practice for co-occurring disorders.
Recognized as an early innovator and advocate for integrated behavioral healthcare, Dr. Hurst received the "2007 IDDT Champion Award" at the Conference of the Ohio Substance Abuse and Mental Illness Coordinating Center of Excellence, an initiative of the Center for Evidence-Based Practices at Case Western Reserve University.
IDDT & ACT IMPROVE OUTCOMES
Today, as medical director of OhioMHAS, Dr. Hurst continues to advocate for and support the implementation of IDDT and other evidence-based practices like Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) throughout Ohio's mental health system to ensure there is a seamless continuity of care among community-based agencies and the state's regional psychiatric hospitals that serve people with severe mental illness who are most vulnerable to addiction, homelessness, crisis and emergency care, psychiatric hospitalization, arrest, incarceration, and chronic medical conditions.
Throughout his career, Dr. Hurst has served in a number of positions in public psychiatry, including chief of psychiatry at the Columbus VA outpatient clinic; medical director of Ohio State University Psychiatric Healthcare; and director of the Harding Addiction Recovery Center in Columbus. He has been on the faculty of The Ohio State University Department of Psychiatry since 1989 and has received numerous teaching awards. He has published on multiple topics in psychiatry, addiction treatment, and psychopharmacology and has made numerous presentations on these topics locally, regionally, and nationally.
Dr. Hurst is a graduate of Muskingum College and the Medical College of Ohio and completed his psychiatry residency training at the University of Michigan and Ohio State University. He has been honored with listing in the Midwest edition of "Best Doctors in America" since 1995.