Elizabeth Lin, MD, MPH
Affiliate Investigator
Group Health Family Physician
206-287-4264
lin.e@ghc.org
Recent publications
Curriculum vitae (CV)
Research interests and experience
- Mental health: depression and anxiety from teens to seniors; depression and arthritis; depression and diabetes; collaborative care
- Chronic illness management: innovative teamwork in care for diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and depression; enhancing medication adherence and self-care
- Aging & geriatrics: mind-body well-being; physical activity; depression; chronic illness management (arthritis, diabetes)
Elizabeth Lin's experiences as a Group Health family physician motivate her research interests. She is intimately aware of the challenges that both patients and providers face. This awareness helps her design and implement pragmatic studies aimed at improving primary care.
A seasoned physician-scientist, Dr. Lin has been practicing medicine for nearly 30 years and conducting research for 25. As a Robert Wood Johnson Fellow in 1983, she teamed up with Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) investigator Michael Von Korff, ScD, and affiliate investigator Wayne Katon, MD, of the University of Washington (UW), to being studying depression treatment in primary care. This longstanding collaboration—which continues today—yielded a series of important studies showing that stepped, collaborative care improved depression outcomes in primary care. With these and other colleagues, Dr. Lin has also contributed to important findings on links between depression and chronic physical conditions, such as arthritis and diabetes. In 2003, a Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) study that Dr. Lin co-led was in the news. In the study, reorganizing primary care to improve depression treatment resulted in elderly patients experiencing less arthritis pain, enhanced functioning, and overall improved quality of life.
With these compelling results in hand, Dr. Lin acknowledges that the real challenge lies in implementing these changes in the care-delivery system. This is typically a painstaking process, yet she appreciates the opportunity to do research in a health care system dedicated to transforming and delivering optimal health services. And she is enthusiastic about helping push dissemination forward. In the same vein, she helps ensure that the studies she works on are designed to minimize impact on participating clinical staff and facilities—and to maximize the potential for putting research into practice.
Dr. Lin also brings a strong global health perspective to her work. In 2008, she co-led publication of findings from the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health Survey demonstrating a strong link between depression and diabetes worldwide. News of this relationship poignantly illustrates how intertwined chronic mental and physical illnesses are. Fluent in several languages, Dr. Lin has also participated in many volunteer medical assistance missions around the world.
Despite this busy agenda, Dr. Lin continues to see patients at Group Health. She is also a clinical professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the UW.
Recent publications
Katon W, Lin EH, Von Korff M, Ciechanowski P, Ludman E, Young B, Rutter C, Oliver M, McGregor M. Integrating depression and chronic disease care among patients with diabetes and/or coronary heart disease: the design of the TEAMcare study. Contemp Clin Trials. 2010 Jul;31(4):312-22. Epub 2010 Mar 27. PubMed
Heckbert SR, Rutter CM, Oliver M, Williams LH, Ciechanowski P, Lin EH, Katon WJ, Von Korff M. Depression in relation to long-term control of glycemia, blood pressure, and lipids in patients with diabetes. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 Jun;25(6):524-9. Epub 2010 Feb 24. PubMed
Katon WJ, Lin EH, Williams LH, Ciechanowski P, Heckbert SR, Ludman E, Rutter C, Crane PK, Oliver M, Von Korff M. Comorbid depression is associated with an increased risk of dementia diagnosis in patients with diabetes: a prospective cohort study. J Gen Intern Med. 2010 May;25(5):423-9. Epub 2010 Jan 28. PubMed
Young BA, Von Korff M, Heckbert SR, Ludman EJ, Rutter C, Lin EH, Ciechanowski PS, Oliver M, Williams L, Himmelfarb J, Katon WJ. Association of major depression and mortality in Stage 5 diabetic chronic kidney disease. Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2010;32(2):119-24. Epub 2010 Jan 12. PubMed
Ciechanowski P, Russo J, Katon WJ, Lin EH, Ludman E, Heckbert S, Von Korff M, Williams LH, Young BA. Relationship styles and mortality in patients with diabetes. Diabetes Care. 2009 Dec 10. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed
Lin EH, Rutter CM, Katon W, Heckbert SR, Ciechanowski P, Oliver MM, Ludman EJ, Young BA, Williams LH, McCulloch DK, Von Korff M. Depression and advanced complications of diabetes: a prospective cohort study. Diabetes Care. 2010 Feb;33(2):264-9. Epub 2009 Nov 23. PubMed
Katon W, Russo J, Lin EH, Heckbert SR, Ciechanowski P, Ludman EJ, Von Korff M. Depression and diabetes: factors associated with major depression at five-year follow-up. Psychosomatics. 2009;50(6):570-9. PubMed
Katon W, Russo J, Lin EH, Heckbert SR, Karter AJ, Williams LH, Ciechanowski P, Ludman E, Von Korff M. Diabetes and poor disease control: is comorbid depression associated with poor medication adherence or lack of treatment intensification? Psychosom Med. 2009 Nov;71(9):965-72. Epub 2009 Oct 15. PubMed
Ludman EJ, Russo JE, Katon WJ, Simon GE, Williams LH, Lin EH, Heckbert SR, Ciechanowski P, Young BA. How does change in depressive symptomatology influence weight change in patients with diabetes? Observational results from the Pathways longitudinal cohort. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2010 Jan;65(1):93-8. Epub 2009 Oct 12. PubMed
Lin EH, Heckbert SR, Rutter CM, Katon WJ, Ciechanowski P, Ludman EJ, Oliver M, Young BA, McCulloch DK, Von Korff M. Depression and increased mortality in diabetes: unexpected causes of death. Ann Fam Med. 2009;7(5):414-21. PubMed
To view more publications, please see Dr. Lin's CV.