As MHA’s Chief Program Officer and Vice President of Research and Innovation, Theresa works to improve access to mental health care through data and digital based innovations. Her areas of special interest include prevention, early intervention, education, and building a full recovery-oriented mental health system of care. Theresa manages MHA’s programs including MHA Screening, The State of Mental Health in America, and Workplace Wellness. She oversees MHA’s research which explores the integration of peers into research, the use of technology to support people in the earliest stages of recovery, and how large scale data provides insight into gaps in supports systems across the country. As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, she has over 15 years of experience in mental health as a clinician, educator and advocate. Her clinical experience focused on working with children and adults with serious mental illness, homelessness, dual diagnosis treatment, and early intervention of psychosis. As an advocate she worked to build a consumer based mental health workforce, to improve access to treatment through community based and recovery oriented mental health programs, and to address needs of underserved communities. She currently teaches at University of California, Irvine’s Advanced Immigrant Rights Clinic and at California State University, Fullerton’s Department of Social Work. Theresa is currently a Board Member of Project Return Peer Support Network, a member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee Mental Health Taskforce, a member of the Mental Health Research Network Advisory Committee, and a PCORI Ambassador.