Darren Urada

Darren Urada is currently the Principal Investigator (PI) of multiple studies including the evaluation of California’s Organized Delivery System waiver for Substance Use Disorder services, the evaluation of California’s Hub and Spoke System for treating opiate use disorders, and an evaluation of an effort to integrate behavioral health and primary care (Project Care). Dr. Urada’s work focuses on applying scientific knowledge and evaluation methods to inform and improve behavioral health policies and practices at the state, county, and provider level. He previously led other studies of behavioral health integration, California’s evaluation of the Substance Abuse and Crime Prevention Act of 2000 (aka Proposition 36), and a grant to organize an international meeting on the integration of SUD treatment with primary care that drew international experts from 23 countries as well as co-sponsorships from the U.S. Institute of Peace, NIDA,SAMHSA, WHO, UNODC, and others. His research interested in cannabis include assessing the impact of Proposition 64 on cannabis use, cannabis as a treatment, and public health implications of cannabis legalization.