Ayana Jordan, MD, Ph.D., a renowned expert in addiction and other mental health conditions in underserved populations, has joined NYU Langone Health’s Department of Psychiatry as the Barbara Wilson Associate Professor of Psychiatry. She will also serve as the Pillar Lead for Community Engagement in NYU Langone’s Institute for Excellence in Health Equity and as an associate professor in the Department of Population Health.
Prior to joining NYU Langone, Dr. Jordan held several positions at Yale School of Medicine, including assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry; associate residency program director; and director of the Social Justice and Health Equity Curriculum and the Yale Global Mental Health Residency Program. Her clinical and research studies focus on increasing access to evidence-based treatments for racial and ethnic minorities with substance use and other mental health disorders, utilizing community-engaged research principles.
“We are delighted to welcome to our faculty Dr. Jordan, an exceptional clinician and researcher whose critically important work in addiction and mental health disparities is changing the lives of many patients,” says Charles R. Marmar, MD, the Lucius N. Littauer Professor of Psychiatry and Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health. “She will serve as an outstanding addition to the department, providing new insights in how we think about and approach community-based mental health care.”
As the principal investigator of a five-year grant from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Dr. Jordan is addressing health disparities by providing evidence-based treatment in the Black church for adults with alcohol use and other substance use disorders. Her work focuses on providing life-saving treatment to people that need it most. She is also principal investigator of the Imani Breakthrough Project, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and employing an evidence-based recovery program adapted for use in Black and Latinx churches.
“Faith institutions are playing a large part in the treatment paradigm. One intervention is training community church-based health advisors, who are recovering from addiction themselves, and it is working,” says Dr. Jordan. “These projects aim to understand how to create an inclusive culture of wellness for minority communities from a public health perspective.”
As the Pillar Lead for the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity, Dr. Jordan will further advance strategies for community engagement practices related to mental health equity in community settings. Dr. Jordan was recently asked to provide expert consultation related to mental health equity for the Biden-Harris administration as part of The White House Office of Public Engagement Leaders in Health Equity Roundtable Series. She was selected to participate given her national leadership and scholarship in the field of mental health equity to provide a perspective that is greatly valued.
“Dr. Jordan’s accomplishments and transformative vision to integrate health equity into clinical care, education, and research focused on community engagement aligns with our commitment to advance excellence in health equity and foster a culture of inclusive excellence across our NYU Langone Health,” says Olugbenga G. Ogedegbe, MD, MPH, director of the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity and Dr. Adolph and Margaret Berger Professor of Medicine and Population Health at NYU Langone Health.
