COIN Investigators & Staff
COIN Affiliate Investigator
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Tracy L Simpson, PhD
- Title: Adjunct Professor, University of Washington Department of Psychology
- Contact: Tracy.Simpson@va.gov
- Location: Seattle
- University of Washington webpage
Research Interests
Tracy Simpson is a Senior Investigator and Educator in the VA Puget Sound Center of Excellence in Substance Addiction Treatment and Education (CESATE) and a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington. She is the Director of the Psychology Training Track at the VAPS MIRECC. Her research interests include understanding and addressing co-occurring substance use disorders and other mental health disorders, particularly the relationships between PTSD and alcohol use disorders. She also has interest and expertise in women’s substance use disorders as well as in LGBTQ+ Veteran mental health, including substance use disorders. Most of Dr. Simpson’s career has been devoted to the conduct of randomized clinical trials focused on efficacy evaluations, but she is increasingly focusing on literature synthesis projects through systematic reviews and meta-analyses as well as on better understanding how treatment for substance use disorders is and is not accessed in the “real world” of VA clinical settings. Dr. Simpson is also active with the VAPS Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Access Committee, leading the biannual effort to collect detailed information from staff on the cultural climate here at VAPS via the “climate survey.” She and her team synthesize and present that information under Quality Improvement auspices regularly and are working on papers to disseminate the survey processes and results beyond VAPS.
Dr. Simpson is a clinical psychologist. In addition to maintaining a small clinical practice through the VAPS Addiction Treatment Clinic she is active in providing research mentoring to clinical psychology interns and post-doctoral fellows. She received her PhD in clinical psychology at the University of New Mexico where she trained as an addiction psychologist under Dr. William Miller, and she completed post-doctoral training at the University of Washington under the late Dr. G. Alan Marlatt.
Grants and Funding
An Evaluation of MBSR and CBT for Veterans with Chronic Pain
Role: PI
Approximately fifty percent of Veterans report chronic pain. Management of chronic pain is often compounded by other life problems, including depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Use of opioids for pain management entails risk of harm, and effective non- pharmacologic approaches to chronic pain management are needed. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) and group Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Chronic Pain (CBT-CP) are programs that teach skills to improve functionality and quality of life for people with chronic pain. However, studies of MBSR and the group form of CBT-CP for chronic pain remain limited. In the proposed trial, MBSR will be compared to CBT-CP and usual care, with assessment of pain interference and other outcomes at 6-month follow-up. If MBSR and group CBT-CP are shown to be effective in improving outcomes, it would support use of these modalities for chronic pain.
Funder: Veterans Administration
NIH Reporter: NIH website
Understanding Mental Health Problems and Health Risk Behaviors among LGBT Veterans
Role: Co-PI with Keren Lehavot
LGBT Veterans have faced a long history of stigma, discrimination, and exclusionary policies that were intended to exclude them from military service. Despite recent shifts in policy and increased staff trainings, existing evidence suggests that this group is at high risk for health disparities, particularly with respect to mental health and health risk behaviors. While informative, the research to date has been limited in several respects: cross-sectional designs, collapsing LGBT subgroups, severe lack of data on some subgroups, problems with identifying a comparison group, and lack of data on risk and protective factors and care experiences. This prospective cohort study will fill these gaps, recruiting and conducting surveys online with 1,600 Veterans to identify health disparities, test a conceptual model of prospective risk and protective factors, and assess VA utilization, barriers to care, and treatment preferences. Data from this study will inform future intervention efforts to achieve health equity for LGBT Veterans.
Funder: Veterans Administration
NIH Reporter: NIH website
Recent Publications
2024
Fortney JC, Ratzliff AD, Blanchard BE, Ferro L, Rouvere J, Chase E, Duncan MH, Merrill JO, Simpson T, Williams EC, Austin EJ, Curran GM, Schoenbaum M, Heagerty PJ, Saxon AJ. Collaborating to heal addiction and mental health in primary care (CHAMP): A protocol for a hybrid type 2a trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Sep 23;146:107700. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107700. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 39322115.
Fortney JC, Ratzliff AD, Blanchard BE, Ferro L, Rouvere J, Chase E, Duncan MH, Merrill JO, Simpson T, Williams EC, Austin EJ, Curran GM, Schoenbaum M, Heagerty PJ, Saxon AJ. Collaborating to heal addiction and mental health in primary care (CHAMP): A protocol for a hybrid type 2a trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Sep 23;146:107700. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107700. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 39322115.
Simpson TL, Achtmeyer C, Batten L, Reoux J, Shofer J, Peskind ER, Saxon AJ, Raskind MA. Naltrexone augmented with prazosin for alcohol use disorder: results from a randomized controlled proof-of-concept trial. Alcohol Alcohol. 2024 Jul 21;59(5):agae062. doi: 10.1093/alcalc/agae062.
PMID: 39270736.
Fan CA, Upham M, Beaver K, Dashtestani K, Skiby MM, Pentel KZ, Rhew IC, Kauth MR, Shipherd JC, Kaysen D, Simpson T, Lehavot K. Recruiting Sexual and Gender Minority Veterans for Health Disparities Research: Recruitment Protocol of a Web-Based Prospective Cohort Study. JMIR Res Protoc. 2023 Oct 2;12:e43824. doi: 10.2196/43824. PMCID: PMC10580138.
PMID: 37782536.
Ritchey KC, Yohannes AM, Locke ER, Chen S, Simpson T, Battaglia C, Trivedi RB, Swenson ER, Edelman J, Fan VS. Association between self-reported falling risk and risk of hospitalization for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Respir Med. 2023 Dec;220:107466. doi: 10.1016/j.rmed.2023.107466. Epub 2023 Nov 18.
PMID: 37981244.
Locke ER, Thomas RM, Simpson TL, Fortney JC, Battaglia C, Trivedi RB, Gylys-Colwell J, Swenson ER, Edelman JD, Fan VS. Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Exacerbations and Patterns of Care Seeking. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2024 Apr;21(4):559-567. doi: 10.1513/AnnalsATS.202303-287OC.
PMID: 37966313.
Chen JA, Shofer J, Barnes ML, Livingston WS, Upham M, Simpson TL. Military Sexual Trauma As a Risk Factor for Treatment Non-Response from an Online, Self-Management Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment for Women Veterans. J Interpers Violence. 2024 May;39(9-10):2214-2237. doi: 10.1177/08862605231216722. Epub 2023 Dec 11.
PMID: 38073465.
Fortney, J.C., Garcia, N., Simpson, T.L. et al. A systematic review of social support instruments for measurement-based care in posttraumatic stress disorder. Curr Psychol 43, 20056–20073 (2024).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-024-05799-8.
Littman AJ, Jeon A, Fort CL, Dashtestani K, Korpak A, Kauth MR, Shipherd JC, Jasuja GK, Wolfe HL, Neira PM, Caballero J, Garcia S, Williamson C, Collongues B, Simpson TL. Receipt of Gender-Affirming Surgeries Among Transgender and Gender Diverse Veterans. J Gen Intern Med. 2024 Jul 26. doi: 10.1007/s11606-024-08917-1. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 39060784.
Blakey SM, Alsobrooks AK, Morgan-López AA, Kruskamp N, Simpson TL, Daughters SB, DuBois CM, Huang JS, Evans J, Serrano BN, Calhoun PS, Beckham JC, Elbogen EB. Behavioral activation for veterans with co-occurring alcohol use disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder: Basis and methodology for a pilot randomized controlled trial. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Aug 24;146:107670. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2024.107670. Epub ahead of print.
PMID: 39186971.
