Affiliated Graduate Program Faculty Member

Dr. Crystal is Board of Governors Professor of Health Services Research; Associate Director for Health Services Research; and Chair of the Division on Aging and AIDS Research Group at the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research. At the Institute he directs the Center for Health Services Research and the AHRQ-funded Center for Education and Research on Mental Health Therapeutics (CERTs), a federally-funded center that develops and analyzes evidence on safe and judicious use of psychotropic medications. Dr. Crystal's research interests focus on mental health services; safety and effectiveness of prescription medication; children's mental health; Medicaid policy; quality improvement; and other areas of health policy and pharmacoepidemiology has had national impact. He is a frequent adviser to federal and state health agencies, congressional committees and foundations, and has served on many NIH and AHRQ study sections and advisory committees. His more than 300 research articles, books and reports have been extensively cited both by researchers and in federal and state policy documents, and have been referenced by more than 7900 papers in the scientific and medical literature. Dr. Crystal's recent work includes directing a major FDA/AHRQ funded multicenter study of comparative safety and effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs in children, adults and the elderly, and a study for the Institute of Medicine on ADHD diagnosis and treatment. Dr. Crystal's work in comparative safety also includes the development of consensus treatment guidelines for maladaptive aggression in youth, and external review of Texas' prescribing parameters for foster care youth. This year, Dr. Crystal became the first investigator in New Jersey to be awarded a grant from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), for a 3-year, 4-state study on "Comparative Effectiveness of State Psychotropic Oversight Systems for Children in Foster Care."