BIOGRAPHY OF LOREN R. MOSHER, M.D.

[Guest guest]

IN MEMORIUM: A MAN OF QUALITY AND COMPASSION

 

Dr. Loren Mosher, Psychiatrist, Died This Weekend At

The Age Of 71. We Are Proud To Have Known Him.

 

http://www.moshersoteria.com/bio.htm

 

BIOGRAPHY OF LOREN R. MOSHER, M.D.

 

Born and raised in California, Dr. Mosher

received his B.A. from Stanford University and M.D.,

with honors, from Harvard Medical School in 1961,

where he also subsequently took his psychiatric

training. He was Clinical Director of Mental Health

Services for San Diego, California from 7/96 to

11/98and remains a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at

the School of Medicine, University of California at

San Diego. One of his principal tasks in San Diego was

the implementation of a managed care system for public

sector adult clients. From 1988-96 he was Chief

Medical Director of Montgomery County Marylands

Department of Addiction, Victim and Mental Health

Services and a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at the

Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences,

F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine. In his role in

Montgomery County, he helped establish a number of

innovative programs, including a consumer owned and

operated computer company and a new residential

alternative to psychiatric hospitalization for persons

in crisis.

 

His professional training and experience is

both extensive and wide-ranging. He received research

training at the National Institute of Mental Health

(NIMH) Intramural Research Program in Bethesda,

Maryland and at the Tavistock Clinic in London. From

1968-80 he was the first Chief of NIMH's Center for

Studies of Schizophrenia. While with the NIMH he

founded and served as first Editor-in-Chief of the

Schizophrenia Bulletin.

 

From 1970 to 1992 he was a collaborating

investigator, then Research Director, of the Soteria

Project - Community Alternatives for the Treatment of

Schizophrenia. In this role, he was instrumental in

developing and researching an innovative, non-drug,

non-hospital, home-like, residential treatment

facility for acutely psychotic persons. The many

publications from this experiment demonstrate both the

feasibility and cost-effectiveness of its

non-traditional approach to the treatment of persons

newly identified as having schizophrenia. Continuing

his career long interest in clinical research Dr.

Mosher more recently (1990 - 1996) has been the

Principal Investigator of a Center for Mental Health

Services(CMHS) research/demonstration grant for the

first study to compare clinical outcomes and costs of

long term seriously mentally ill public-sector

clients( " frequent flyers " randomly assigned (with no

psychopathology based exclusion criteria) to a

residential alternative to hospitalization or the

psychiatric ward of a local general hospital (the

McPath project). Its findings, comparable clinical

effectiveness with a 40% cost saving favoring the

alternative, have important acute care implications.

 

In 1980, while based at the University of

Verona Medical School, Dr. Mosher conducted an

in-depth study of Italy's revolutionary new mental

health system. He documented that a new National

Health Service supported system of catchmented

community care could stop admissions to large state

hospitals enabling them to be phased down and

eventually closed. He also showed that where the

mandated community system was implemented properly

there were no adverse consequences for patients or the

community.

 

In his legal/psychiatric work Dr. Mosher was

expert witness for the plaintiffs in two successful

class action suites related to forced medication of

psychiatric patients (N.J.; Renie vs. Klein, 1978; CA;

Jamison vs. Farribee 1983). He is currently expert

witness for the plaintiffs in four class action suites

(MD, VA, DC & AZ) against Psychiatric Institutes of

America(PIA) and National Medical Enterprises(NME) for

medical malpractice and insurance fraud

(1994-present).

 

As a clinician, Dr. Mosher specializes in

family and adolescent treatment, community psychiatry

program consultation, and staff training. As a

teacher, he is an acknowledged expert at conveying the

essential and critical aspects of the interviewing

process to students at all levels.

 

In addition to over 100 articles and reviews,

Dr. Mosher has edited books on the Psychotherapy of

Schizophrenia and on Milieu Treatment. His book,

Community Mental Health: Principles and Practice,

written with his Italian colleague, Dr. Lorenzo Burti,

was published by W.W. Norton in 1989. A revised,

updated, abridged paperback version, Community Mental

Health: A Practical Guide, appeared in 1994. It has

been translated into five languages. Most recently he

has founded his own consulting company, Soteria

Associates, to provide individual, family and system

consultation using the breadth of experience described

above. .

 

ADDRESSES:

Office and Home: 2616 Angell Avenue, San

Diego, CA 92122

Phone: (858) 550-0312 Fax: (858) 558-0854

E-Mail: MosherSchreiber( AT )compuserve.com