Mary F. Brolin, PhD

Mary Brolin has worked in the substance abuse field for 19 years using state management information system data to guide program decisions and evaluating community-based substance abuse prevention and treatment programs. For many years, Dr. Brolin worked with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Abuse Services (BSAS) using the Substance Abuse Management Information System to guide policy and program development. Dr. Brolin was a Senior Researcher on the Massachusetts Treatment Outcomes and Performance Pilot Study II, funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT). Subsequent to TOPPS II, Dr. Brolin participated on CSAT's Performance Management Technical Advisory Group (TAG). Dr. Brolin facilitated TAG meetings and was lead author on a white paper, Performance Management: Improving State Systems Through Information-Based Decisionmaking, to guide the Single State Authorities as they adopt CSAT performance measures. Currently, Dr. Brolin works on the State Outcomes Measurement and Monitoring System (SOMMS) project, which will help states adopt the National Outcome Measures developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).

Dr. Brolin's research interests focus on the intersection of substance abuse treatment services with other systems. She has evaluated or is currently evaluating an adult treatment drug court, a juvenile treatment drug court, homeless projects for chronically homeless men and women in Boston and for women reintegrating from the New York prison system, and two HIV outreach programs, one targeting African American and Latina women at risk for HIV and substance abuse in Worcester, MA and the other targeting at-risk street populations in New York City. Dr. Brolin is also a member of the Brandeis team evaluating the MASBIRT project, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services and Boston Medical Center Section of General Internal Medicine, Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit. MASBIRT aims to increase and enhance the services currently provided to Massachusetts residents through the development of an effective, sustainable, and replicable model of substance abuse screening, brief intervention, referral and treatment in generalist medical settings.

Dr. Brolin received a Ph.D. from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, a Masters in Social Sciences from the University of Chicago, and a B.A. in sociology from Boston College.