William Fisher

William H. Fisher, Ph.D.

Professor Emeritus

College
College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Department
School of Criminology and Justice Studies
Phone
978-934-4000
Office
Health and Social Sciences Building - 4th Floor

Expertise

Crime and mental illness, mental health law, statistics and research design.

Research Interests

Research on systems involved with severely mentally ill adults; Mental health policy and law; Interface of the criminal justice and mental health systems; Social deviance and social control; Statistical analysis and research methodology; Social epidemiology of mental disorders.

Education

  • MA: Criminal Justice, (2008), University at Albany, SUNY - Albany, NY
  • Ph D: Sociology, (1980), Northeastern University
  • MA: Sociology/ Social Anthropology, (1975), Northeastern University
  • BA: Psychology, (1969), Clark University - Worcester, MA

Biosketch

William H. Fisher, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus of Criminology and Criminal Justice at The University of Massachusetts Lowell and Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Dr. Fisher received his Ph.D. in sociology from Northeastern University and was a Christopher Walker Post-Doctoral Fellow in Mental Health Policy at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. His chief areas of interest are the intersection of the mental health and criminal justice systems, mental health law, and statistics and research design. He has been principal or co-investigator on grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the National Science Foundation, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  He has authored or co-authored over 100 peer reviewed journal articles and edited three volumes in the Elsevier Research on Community Mental Health series. He was founding co-director of the NIMH - funded Center for Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Research and, while at the University of Massachusetts Medical School,  served as founding director of the Center for Mental Health Services Research in the Department of Psychiatry. He was elected chair of the Mental Health Section of the American Public Health Association in 2002 and in 2001 was recipient of the Mental Health Section Award.  In 2005 he received the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health Commissioner’s Distinguished Service Award.

Selected Awards and Honors

  • Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society
  • Distinguished Service Award (2006) - Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
  • American Public Health Association Mental Health Section Award (2001) - American Public Health Association
  • Commissioner's Recognition Award (1995) - Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
  • Christopher Walker Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Health Policy and Social Medicine (1988) - Harvard University

Selected Publications

  • Curcio, G., Pattavina, A.F., Fisher, W.H. (2016). Gender Differences on the Road to Redemption. Feminist Criminology, 1557085116654566.
  • Morabito, M.S., Socia, K., Fisher, W.H., Wik, A. (2016). The Nature and Extent of Police use of Force in Encounters with People with Behavioral Health Disorders. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry.
  • Smelson, D., DA Pinals, ., Sawh, L., Fulwiler, C., Singer, S., O’Connor, K., Fisher, W.H., Hartwell, S., Gonzalez, G. (2015). A Pilot Specialty Jail Diversion Program for Justice-involved Veterans with Co-occurring Disorders. Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 146 e101.
  • Fisher, W.H., Smelson, D.A., Pinals, D.A., Sawh, L., Fulwiler, C., Singer, S., Guevremont, N., Steadman, H.J., Hartwell, S. (2015). An Alternative to Incarceration: Co‐Occurring Disorders Treatment Intervention for Justice‐Involved Veterans. World Medical & Health Policy, 7(4) 329-348.
  • Silver, J., Fisher, W.H., Silver, E. (2015). Preventing Persons Affected by Serious Mental Illnesses from Obtaining Firearms: The Evolution of Law, Policy, and Practice in Massachusetts. Behavioral sciences & the law.
  • Fisher, W.H., Clark, R.E., Baxter, J.D., Aweh, G., O’Connell, E., Barton, B.A. (2015). Risk Factors for Relapse and Higher Costs among Medicaid Members with Opioid Dependence or Abuse: Opioid Agonists, Comorbidities, and Treatment History. Journal of substance abuse treatment.
  • Fisher, W.H., Grudzinskas Jr, A., Filone, S., Winckworth-Prejsnar, K., Rock, M.R. (2014). State-Level Dissemination and Promotion Initiatives (pp. 164). Oxford University Press
  • Fisher, W.H., Clark, R.E., Baxter, J.D., Barton, B.A., Aweh, G., O’Connell, E. (2014). The Impact of Prior Authorization on Buprenorphine Dose, Relapse Rates, and Cost for Massachusetts Medicaid Beneficiaries with Opioid Dependence. Health services research, 49(6) 1964-1979.
  • Fisher, W.H., Clark, R., Baxter, J., Barton, B., O’Connell, E., Aweh, G. (2014). Co-occurring Risk Factors for Arrest among Persons with Opioid Abuse and Dependence: Implications for Developing Interventions to Limit Criminal Justice Involvement (47:3 pp. 197-201). Journal of substance abuse treatment
  • Fisher, W.H., Epperson, M.W., Wolff, N., Morgan, R.D., Frueh, B.C., Huening, J. (2014). Envisioning the Next Generation of Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Interventions. International journal of law and psychiatry, 37(5) 427-438.
  • Fisher, W.H., Hartwell, S.W., Deng, X., Pinals, D.A., Fulwiler, C., Roy-Bujnowski, K. (2014). Recidivism Among Released State Prison Inmates Who Received Mental Health Treatment While Incarcerated. Crime & Delinquency, 60(6) 811.
  • Fisher, W.H., McCabe, P.J., Christopher, P.P., Pinals, D.A. (2013). Predictors of Criminal Justice Involvement in Severe Mania. Journal of affective disorders, 149 367-374.
  • Fisher, W.H., Hartwell, S., Deng, X., Siegfriedt, J., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Johnson, C., Fulwiler, C. (2013). Predictors of Accessing Substance Abuse Services among Individuals with Mental Disorders Released from Correctional Custody. Journal of Dual Diagnosis, 9(1) 11-22.
  • Fisher, W.H., Wolff, N., Frueh, B.C., Huening, J., Shi, J., Epperson, M.W., Morgan, R. (2013). Practice Informs the Next Generation of Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Interventions. International journal of law and psychiatry, 36(1) 1-10.
  • Fisher, W.H., Hartwell, S.W., Deng, X., Fulwiler, C., Sambamoorthi, U., Johnson, C., Pinals, D.A., Sampson, L., Siegfriedt, J. (2012). Harmonizing databases? Developing a Quasi-experimental Design to Evaluate a Public Mental Health Re-entry Program. Evaluation and program planning, 35 461-472.
  • Fisher, W.H., Christopher, P.P., McCabe, P.J. (2012). Prevalence of Involvement in the Criminal Justice System during Severe Mania and Associated Symptomatology. Psychiatric Services, 63(1) 33-39.
  • McCabe, P., Christopher, P., Druhn, N., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Grudzinskas, A.J., Fisher, W.H. (2012). Arrest Types and Co-occurring Disorders in Persons with Schizophrenia or Related Psychoses. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 39(3) 271-284.
  • Wolf, N., Morgan, R.D., Shi, J., Huening, J., Fisher, W.H. (2011). Thinking Styles and Emotional States of Male and Female Prison Inmates by Mental Disorder Status. Psychiatric Services, 62(12) 1485.
  • Fisher, W.H., Grudzinskas, A.J., Roy-Bujnowski, K.M., Wolff, N. (2011). Public Policy and Limits of Diversion Programs for Reducing Jail Exposure of Persons With Serious Mental Illness. Psychiatric Services, 62(12) 1503-1505.
  • Fisher, W.H., Simon, L., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Albert Jr Grudzinskas, ., Wolff, N., Crockett, E., Banks, S. (2011). Risk of Arrest among Public Mental Health Services Recipients and the General Public. Psychiatric Services, 62(1) 67-72.
  • Fisher, W.H., Harris, A.J., Veysey, B.M., Ragusa, L.M., Lurigio, A.J. (2010). Sex Offending and Serious Mental Illness: Directions for Policy and Research. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 37(5) 596-612.
  • Fisher, W.H., Banks, S.M., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Albert J. Jr Grudzinskas, ., Simon, L.J., Wolff, N. (2010). Categorizing Temporal Patterns of Arrest in a Cohort of Adults with Serious Mental Illness. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 37(4) 477-490.
  • Fisher, W.H., Hartwell, S.W., Davis, M. (2010). Emerging Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities involved with the Criminal Justice System. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, 54(5) 756-768.
  • Fisher, W.H., Grisso, T. (2010). Commentary: Civil Commitment Statutes”40 Years of Circumvention. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 38(3) 365-368.
  • Fisher, W.H., Morgan, R.D., Duan, N., Mandracchia, J.T., Murray, D. (2010). Prevalence of Criminal Thinking among State Prison Inmates with Serious Mental Illness. Law & Human Behavior (Springer Science & Business Media B.V.), 34(4) 324.
  • Fisher, W.H., ALBERT GRUDZINSKAS JR J., . (2010). Crisis Intervention Teams as the Solution to Managing Crises Involving Persons with Serious Psychiatric Illnesses: Does One Size Fit All? Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, 10(1) 58-71.
  • Hartwell, S.W., Fisher, W.H., Deng, X. (2009). The Impact of Regionalization on Reentry Service Outcomes for Individuals With Severe Mental Illness. Psychiatric Services, 60(3) 394.
  • Fisher, W.H., Davis, M., Gershenson, B., Grudzinskas, A.J., Banks, S.M. (2009). Justice System Involvement into Young Adulthood: Comparison of Adolescent Girls in the Public Mental Health System and in the General Population. American Journal of Public Health, 99(2) 234-236.
  • Hartwell, S., Fisher, W.H. (2008). "Symbolic" Interactionism: Emerging Adults with Psychiatric Disabilities Involved with the Criminal Justice System. Conference Papers – American Sociological Association, 1.
  • Hartwell, S., Fisher, W.H., Davis, M. (2007). Emerging Adults Emerging From Incarceration with Psychiatric Disabilities: Age-Specific Mental Health System Challenges. Conference Papers – American Sociological Association, 1.
  • Fisher, W.H., Davis, M., Banks, S.M., Gershenson, B., Albert J. Jr Grudzinskas, . (2007). Arrests of Adolescent Clients of a Public Mental Health System during Adolescence and Young Adulthood. Psychiatric Services, 58(11) 1454-1460.
  • Fisher, W.H., Wolff, N., Albert J. Jr Grudzinskas, ., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Banks, S.M., Clayfield, J. (2007). Drug-related Arrests in a Cohort of Public Mental Health Service Recipients. Psychiatric Services, 58(11) 1448-1453.
  • Fisher, W.H., Drake, R.E. (2007). Forensic Mental Illness and other Policy Misadventures. Commentary on ’Extending Assertive Community Treatment to Criminal Justice Settings: Origins, Current Evidence, and Future Directions’. Community mental health journal, 43(5) 545-548.
  • Biebel, K., Nicholson, J., Geller, J., Fisher, W.H. (2006). A National Survey of State Mental Health Authority Programs and Policies for Clients Who are Parents: a Decade Later. Psychiatric Quarterly, 77(2) 119-128.
  • Fisher, W.H., Geller, J.L., Jr Grudzinskas Albert J., ., Clayfield, J.C., Lawlor, T. (2006). Involuntary Outpatient Treatment as Desintitutionalized Coercion: The Net-widening Concerns. International journal of law and psychiatry, 29 551-562.
  • Fisher, W.H., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Grudzinskas, A.J., Clayfield, J.C., Banks, S.M., Wolff, N. (2006). Patterns and Prevalence of Arrest in a Statewide Cohort of Mental Health Care Consumers. Psychiatric Services, 57(11) 1623-1628.
  • Fisher, W.H., Silver, E., Wolff, N. (2006). Beyond Criminalization: Toward a Criminologically Informed Framework for Mental Health Policy and Services Research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 33(5) 544-557.
  • Fisher, W.H. (2006). Better Than Well: American Medicine Meets the American Dream. Psychiatric Services, 57(3) 425.
  • Grudzinskas, Jr., A.J., Clayfield, J.C., Roy-Bujnowski, K., Fisher, W.H., Richardson, M.H. (2005). Integrating the Criminal Justice System into Mental Health Service Delivery: The Worcester Diversion Experience. Behavioral sciences & the law, 23(2) 277-293.
  • Clayfield, J.C., Jr Grudzinskas Albert J., ., Fisher, W.H., Roy-Bujnowski, K. (2005). E Pluribus Unum: Creating a Multi-Organizational Structure for Serving Arrestees with Serious Mental Illness. Research in Social Problems & Public Policy, 12 27.
  • (2004). Timelines: 1830-1899. The Palgrave Guide to English Literature and its Contexts, 1500-2000
  • Davis, M., Banks, S., Fisher, W.H., Grudzinskas, A.J. (2004). Longitudinal Patterns of Offending During the Transition to Adulthood in Youth From the Mental Health System. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 31(4) 351-366.
  • Pinals, D.A., Packer, I.K., Fisher, W.H., Roy-Bujnowski, K. (2004). Relationship Between Race and Ethnicity and Forensic Clinical Triage Dispositions. Psychiatric Services, 55(8) 873-878.
  • Fisher, W.H., Normand, S.T., Dickey, B., Packer, I.K., Grudzinskas, A.J., Azeni, H. (2004). Managed Mental Health Care’s Effects on Arrest and Forensic Commitment. International journal of law and psychiatry, 27(1) 65-77.
  • Fisher, W.H., Packer, I.K., Banks, S.M., Smith, D., Simon, L.J., Roy-Bujnowski, K. (2002). Self-reported Lifetime Psychiatric Hospitalization Histories of Jail Detainees with Mental Disorders: Comparison with a Non-incarcerated National Sample. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 29(4) 458-465.
  • Fisher, W.H., Dickey, B., Normand, S.T., Packer, I.K., Grudzinskas, A.J., Azeni, H. (2002). Use of a State Inpatient Forensic System under Managed Mental Health Care. Psychiatric services (Washington, D.C.), 53(4) 447-451.
  • Fisher, W.H., Barreira, P.J., Geller, J.L., White, A.W., Lincoln, A.K., Sudders, M. (2001). Long-Stay Patients in State Psychiatric Hospitals at the End of the 20th Century. Psychiatric Services, 52(8) 1051.
  • Fisher, W.H., Packer, I., Simon, L., Smith, D. (2000). Community Mental Health Services and the Prevalence of Severe Mental Illness in Local Jails: Are They Related? Administration & Policy in Mental Health, 27(6) 371.
  • Fisher, W.H., Packer, I., Grisso, T., McDermeit, M., Brown, J. (2000). From Case Management to Court Clinic: Examining Forensic System Involvement of Persons with Severe Mental Illness. Mental health services research, 2(1) 41-49.
  • Fisher, W.H., Dickey, B. (1999). Cost-Outcome Methods for Mental Health. Psychiatric Services, 50(4) 569.
  • Fisher, W.H., Appelbaum, K.L. (1997). Judges’ Assumptions About the Appropriateness of Civil and Forensic Commitment. Psychiatric Services, 48(5) 710.
  • Fisher, W.H., Grisso, T., Cocozza, J.J., Steadman, H.J., Greer, A. (1994). The Organization of Pretrial Forensic Evaluation Services. Law & Human Behavior (Springer Science & Business Media B.V.), 18(4) 377.

Selected Presentations

  • The Massachusetts Mental Health Criminal Justice Cohort Study: What Weêve Learned - Annual Meeting, October 2008 - San Diego, California
  • Examining Criminal Justice Involvement among State Mental Health Agency Clientele: The Massachusetts Mental Health Criminal Justice Cohort Study - Center for Mental Health Services ONE-MHSIP Spring Meeting, April 2008 - Boston MA
  • Temporal Patterns of Arrest in a Cohort of Adults Receiving Mental Health Services - Annual Meeting, March 2008 - Jacksonville, FL
  • Modeling Patterns of Criminal Justice Involvement among State Mental Health Agency Clients: Using Cross-Agency Data to Target Individuals at Risk of Arrest - NASMHPD State Mental Health Agency Services Research, Program Evaluation and Policy Conference, February 2008 - Arlington, VA
  • Using Criminal Justice Involvement as a Mental Health Outcome Measure: Issues in Interpretation and Measurement - SAMHSA State Mental Health Data Infrastructure Grant Annual Meeting, February 2008 - Arlington, VA
  • Temporal Patterns of Arrest in a Cohort of Adults Receiving Mental Health Services - Annual Meeting, November 2007 - Washington, DC
  • Mental Health Services and Patterns of Arrest: Implications for Planning Diversion Services - Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, November 2007 - Boston MA
  • Felony Arrests in a Mental Health Service Use Cohort: Implications for Serving State Prison Inmates who have Severe Mental Illness - NIMH Mental Health Services Research Conference, July 2007 - Washington, DC
  • Whom should we divert and to where? Looking at arrests in a 10-year cohort study of persons with mental illness - World Psychiatric Association Thematic Conference, June 2007 - Dresden, Germany
  • Mental Health Services and Risk of Arrest - 19th Annual Child Mental Health Services Research Conference, March 2007 - Tampa FL
  • Measuring Police Attitudes toward Persons with Mental Illness to Inform First Responder Training - National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute Conference, February 2007 - Baltimore MD
  • Mental Health Services and Patterns of Arrest: Implications for Planning Diversion Services - Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, November 2006 - Boston MA
  • Arrest in a Mental Health Service Use Cohort: Implications for Diversion and Mental Health Service Needs among Offenders with Mental Illness in the U.S. - North London Forensic Service Ninth International Conference, September 2006 - Cambridge UK
  • Arrest in a Mental Health Service Use Cohort: Assessing Demand for Diversion - National GAINS Center Conference, April 2006 - Boston MA
  • Arrest Rates Among Person Served by a Department of Mental Health over a 10-Year Period, March 2006 - St Petersburg FL
  • Integrating Criminal Justice & Social Services Systems to Ensure a Seamless Continuum of Care, March 2006 - St Petersburg FL
  • Outpatient Commitment: A Competency Based Justification, March 2006 - St Petersburg FL
  • Research Supporting Diversion of Persons with Mental Illness - National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute Conference, February 2006 - Baltimore MD
  • Modeling the Diffusion of a Mental Health Assessment Technology in the Juvenile Justice System: The Case of the Massachusetts Youth Screening Instrument - Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, November 2005 - Washington, DC
  • Role of Ethnicity in Applying for Psychiatric Disability - Annual Meeting, October 2005 - Montreal
  • Trouble with the Law and the Courts: What the National Comorbidity Study Can and Cannot Tell Us About the Behavioral Health Antecedents of Juvenile and Adult Offending - 18th Annual Child Mental Health Services Research Conference, March 2005 - Tampa FL
  • Adopting the MAYSI-2: Spatial, Temporal and Systemic Diffusion across Juvenile Settings - Annual Meeting of the American Psychology Law Society, March 2005
  • A Nested Clock Model of Precursors to Offending among Person with Severe Mental Illness - Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology, November 2004 - Nashville, TN
  • Trouble with the Police and Courts: Examining the Rates of Police and Court Contact among Persons With and Without Mental Illness and Substance Abuse in the National Comorbidity Study - 3rd Annual Meeting of the International Association of Forensic Mental Health Services, April 2003 - Miami FL
  • Did Medicaid Managed Care Send the Mentally Ill to Jail? An Empirical Assessment, April 2003 - Worcester MA
  • Trouble with the Law: Assessing Criminal Justice System Contact in a National Sample of Community Residents With and Without Psychiatric Disorders - Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, November 2002 - Philadelphia PA
  • Managed care effects on arrest and forensic commitment - Presented at the National GAINS Center Conference, October 2002 - San Francisco CA
  • UMASS Mental Health Diversion Program: When I Paint My Masterpiece - Presented at the National GAINS Center Conference, October 2002 - San Francisco CA
  • Managed Care Effects on Arrest and Forensic Commitment - National Institute of Mental Health 15th Biennial International Conference on Mental Health Services Research, April 2002 - Washington, DC
  • Before there was MHSIP: Mental Health Statistics in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries - Fiftieth Annual National Conference on Mental Health Statistics, May 2001 - Washington, DC
  • Managed Care and the Forensic Mental Health System - American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, November 2000 - Boston MA
  • Processual studies of violence among people with mental illness - American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, November 2000 - Boston MA
  • Race and Ethnicity: Impact on Forensic Admissions - 31st Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, October 2000 - Vancouver BC
  • Managed Care and the Forensic Mental Health System - Challenges for the 21st Century; Mental Health Services Research, July 2000 - Washington, DC
  • Insurance Status and Length of Stay for Involuntarily Hospitalized Patients - Tenth Annual National Conference, February 2000 - Washington, DC
  • New Long Stay State Hospital Patients - Annual Meeting, November 1999 - Chicago, IL
  • The Long Good-Bye: Closing a State Hospital through Expanding Community Resources - Twenty-Fourth International Congress on Law and Mental Health, June 1999 - Toronto, Ontario Canada
  • States' Responses to Kansas v. Hendricks: Changing the Civil Commitment Laws - Fifteenth Annual Public Sector Psychiatry Conference, April 1999 - Worcester MA
  • Civil Commitment Practices in the Era of Managed Care: Research in Response to A Journalistic Inquiry - Ninth Annual National Conference, February 1999 - Alexandria VA
  • Developing Standards for Outcome Measures - Annual Meeting, November 1998 - Washington, DC
  • How Managed Care Organizations Develop Selective Contracting Networks - Ninth NIMH Biennial Research Conference on the Economics of Mental Health, September 1998 - Bethesda MD
  • Managed Care in the Mental Health System, July 1998 - Paris, France
  • Jails and the Mentally Ill: Research and Application - State Mental Health Forensic Directors Annual Conference, September 1997 - Annapolis, MD
  • Mental Health System Variation and the Jailed Mentally Ill - Annual Meeting, November 1996 - New York, NY
  • Judicial Attitudes toward Forensic Commitment, October 1996 - San Juan, PR
  • Survey of Police Procedures for Mental Illness Lockup Screening - Sixth Annual National Conference, February 1996 - Arlington, VA
  • The 'Civil' and 'Forensic' Mental Health Systems: How Do They Overlap? - Sixth Annual National Conference, February 1996 - Arlington, VA
  • Chance Corrected Continuity of Provider Measures for Psychiatric Inpatient Care - Annual Meeting, American Public Health Association, October 1995 - San Diego CA
  • Managed Care and Health Care Reform: Who Gets Left Out - National Conference on Mental Health Statistics, June 1995 - Washington DC
  • Area Variation in the Effects of Managed Care and Privatization - Fifth Annual National Conference, January 1995 - San Antonio, Texas
  • Assessing the Efficacy of Outpatient Commitment: A Case Control Study of Service Use by Committed and Non-Committed Consumers - Fifth Annual National Conference, January 1995 - San Antonio, Texas
  • Length of Stay in State Hospitals: Reports of Multi-State Analyses - National Conference on Mental Health Statistics, June 1994 - Washington DC
  • Issue Workshop: Perspectives on Recidivism in the Public Sector - American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting, May 1994 - Philadelphia, PA
  • Symposium: "Systems Litigation: Using the Courts to Change Mental Health Systems." - American Psychology Law Society Biennial Meeting, March 1994 - Sante Fe, NM
  • Variations in Patterns of Services for the Severely Mentally Ill: The Role of Functional Level and Service System Characteristics - American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, October 1993 - San Francisco CA
  • Symposium:"Closing State Hospitals: The Massachusetts Experience with Privatization and Facility Consolidation." - Fourth Annual National Conference, October 1993 - Annapolis, MD
  • Symposium: "Medicaid/Managed Care for Mental Health/Substance Abuse Services.", October 1993 - Baltimore, MD
  • The Impact of Managed Care on Referrals to Inpatient and Outpatient Treatment - The Impact of Managed Care on Referrals to Inpatient and Outpatient Treatment, October 1993 - Annapolis, MD
  • The Collaborative State Hospital Longitudinal Data Base Project: Patient Characteristics, Length of Stay, and Recidivism Patterns - National Conference on Mental Health Statistics, June 1993 - Washington DC
  • Community Services and the Least Restrictive Alternative: Lessons from a Vacated Consent Decree - Annual Meeting, American Public Health Association, November 1992 - Washington DC
  • Mentally Ill Mothers and their Children: Continuity of Care for Two High Risk Populations - Annual Meeting, American Public Health Association, November 1992 - Washington DC
  • The Final Outcome of a Federal Court Consent Decree: What the Northampton Consent Decree teaches Us About Mental Health Policy - The Final Outcome of a Federal Court Consent Decree: What the Northampton Consent Decree teaches Us About Mental Health Policy, October 1992 - Baltimore MD
  • State Systems for Delivery of Pretrial Forensic Evaluation Services - American Psychological Association Annual Convention, August 1992 - Washington DC
  • Is Federal Financing of State Hospital Services in the Community Feasible?: A Case Study of the Philadelphia State Hospital Closing - The Political Economy of the Asylum: Issues of Public Choice and Health Insurance, June 1992 - Philadelphia PA
  • Where's Care? Massachusetts' General Hospitals and the Chronically Mentally Ill?" Right-Sizing Massachusetts' State Hospitals?, May 1992 - Worcester MA
  • Gender Differences Among Traumatized Dually Diagnosed Clients - Annual Meeting, Eastern Psychological Association, April 1992 - Boston, Massachusetts
  • Deinstitutionalization, Privatization, etc. Buzzwords and Megatrends for the 1990s - Worcester State Hospital Grand Rounds, February 1992
  • Mental Health Evaluation for the Criminal Courts - Annual Meeting, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, October 1991 - Orlando FL
  • Psychiatric Prescreening and the Mental Health Services System - Annual Meeting, American Public Health Association, October 1991 - Atlanta GA
  • Assessing the Utilization Patterns of Community Residential Programs - Forty-third Institute on Hospital and Community Psychiatry, October 1991 - Los Angeles CA
  • Patterns and Prevalence of Substance Abuse Among State Hospital Patients - Patterns and Prevalence of Substance Abuse Among State Hospital Patients, October 1991 - Atlanta GA
  • The Public/Private Relationship in Providing Inpatient Care for Seriously Mentally Ill Patients - Second Annual Conference on State Mental Health Agency Services Research, October 1991 - Arlington VA
  • Psychosocial and Personality Adjustment Among Chemically Addicted, Persistently Mentally Ill - Psychosocial and Personality Adjustment Among Chemically Addicted, Persistently Mentally Ill, August 1991 - San Francisco CA
  • Forecasting in Mental Health Services - National Conference on Mental Health Statistics, Division of Biometry and Applied Sciences, National Institute of Mental Health, June 1991 - Washington DC
  • Dollars and Census Reduction - Grand Rounds, Northampton State Hospital, April 1991 - Northampton, Massachusetts
  • Using Inpatient Data for Policy Development and Decision Making - Virginia Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse, April 1991
  • State Hospitals and Community Services: The Massachusetts Experience - State Hospitals and Community Services: The Massachusetts Experience, November 1990 - Worcester, Massachusetts
  • Community Resources and Chronic Recidivism in State Hospitals - American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, October 1990 - New York, New York
  • Discharging Contemporary Psychogeriatric Patients from State Hospitals - American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, October 1990 - New York, New York
  • Methodological Issues in Applying Small Area Variation Analysis to Inpatient Treatment for Chronic Mental Illness - American Public Health Association Annual Meeting, October 1990 - New York, New York
  • Analyzing Inpatient Data - New England Public and Academic Services Research Conference, September 1990 - New Haven, Connecticut
  • Examining Length of Stay in State Hospitals: Conceptualization and Measurement - American Psychological Association Annual Convention, August 1990 - Boston, Massachusetts
  • Measuring Service Systems Outcomes Using Life Table Analysis - National Conference on State Mental Health Agency Research, February 1990 - Alexandria, Virginia

Selected Contracts, Fellowships, Grants and Sponsored Research

  • Co Principal Investigator, "Mental Health Services Costs and Outcomes (), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Co-investigator, Treatment Retention Strategies in Transition Age Youth (), Grant - ----
  • Co-Investigator, Employment Demonstration Project, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (1999), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery (2013), Contract - SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MENTAL HEALTH SERV
    Fisher, W.H. (Principal)
  • Buprenorphine Treatment for Medicaid Beneficiaries (2011), Contract - NIH-NATL INSTITUTE ON DRUG ABUSE
    Fisher, W.H. (Principal)
  • Co-Investigator, Cost, Benefits and Regulation of Buprenorphine Treatment for Medicaid Beneficiaries (2010), Grant - ----
  • Co-Investigator, Center for Behavioral Health Services and Criminal Justice Research (2008), Grant - NIMH Advanced Center
  • Co-Investigator, The Boston Police Study (2006), Grant - Sidney R Baer, Jr. Foundation
  • Creation of a Legal Data Base on State Involuntary Inpatient & Outpatient Civil C (2011), Grant -
    Fisher, W.H. (Principal)
  • Co-Investigator, Firearms laws, mental disorder, and violence: Combining social epidemiology and labeling theory to evaluate public health legislation (2011), Grant - National Science Foundation
  • Principal Investigator, Creation of a Legal Data Base on State Involuntary Inpatient and Outpatient Civil Commitment Laws: Mapping (2011), Grant - Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Public Health Law Program
  • Co-investigator, Evaluating Effectiveness of a Statewide Public Mental Health Re-entry Program (2009), Grant - ----
  • Co-investigator, Treatment Retention Strategies in Transition Age Youth (2009), Grant - ----
  • Co-Investigator, Adaptation of Multisystemic Therapy for Transition Age Youth (2007), Grant - ----
  • Principal Investigator, Modeling Criminal Justice Involvement among Persons With Mental Illness (2003), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Co-Investigator, National Youth Screening and Assessment Program (2002), Grant - John D and Catherine T MacArthur Foundation.
  • Co-Investigator/Co-Director, Center for Mental Health Services and Criminal Justice Research (2002), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Co-Investigator, "An Intensive Study of Violent Incidents. (1998), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Principal Investigator, "Managed Care Effects on Arrest and Forensic Commitment" (1998), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Co-Investigator, "Regional Variation in Mental Health Service Costs." (1994), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Principal Investigator, "Analysis of Long Stay Patient Data in the Collaborative Longitudinal State Hospital Data Project." (1993), Grant - National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors Research Institute
  • Co Principal Investigator, "Mental Health Services Costs and Outcomes (1991), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Research Associate, "Emergent Models of Pretrial Forensic Evaluation (1990), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Co Investigator, "Treating Substance Abuse Among Chronic Mental Patients (1989), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health
  • Methodologist, "Legal Intervention in Civil Commitment." (1981), Grant - National Institute of Mental Health