Brought to you by the Depression Is Real Coalition, The Down & Up Show is dedicated to the reality of depression. Our hosts will talk with some of the world's top experts on depression, as well as people who have been impacted by this illness. The reality of depression is that it is a debilitating and potentially deadly medical condition that affects more than 15 million Americans every year. The other reality of depression is that there is hope.

Dr. Margarita Alegría, PhD

Director, Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research (CMMHR)

Margarita Alegría, PhD, is the director of the Center for Multicultural Mental Health Research (CMMHR) at the Cambridge Health Alliance. She is a professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and currently serves as the principal investigator of three National Institutes of Health-funded research studies. Dr. Alegría's published work focuses on the improvement of health care services delivery for diverse racial and ethnic populations, conceptual and methodological issues with multicultural populations, and ways to bring the community's perspective into the design and implementation of health services. Dr. Alegría also conducts research that will contribute to an understanding of the factors influencing service disparities, and testing interventions aimed at reducing disparities for ethnic and racial minority groups. Her other work has highlighted the importance of contextual, social, and individual factors that intersect with nativity and are associated with the risk for psychiatric disorders. In conducting this work, she has actively mentored numerous students and junior investigators. As a result of her contributions to her field, Dr. Alegría received the 2003 Mental Health Section Award of the American Public Health Association, the 2006 Greenwood Award for Research Excellence, and the 2007 Latino Mental Health Scientific Leadership Award from New York Medical School. In 2008, she received the Carl Taube Award, from the Mental Health Section of the American Public Health Association, and, in 2009, she received the Simon Bolivar Award from the American Psychiatry Association. She is a member of the Institute of Medicine's Public Health Board and recently finished a term as chair of Academy Health.