Group Health psychiatrist Greg Simon has been a driving force in mental health research at Group Health Research Institute (GHRI) since the early 1990s. With a knack for finding effective real-world strategies, he consistently pursues a rigorous and diverse research agenda, helping improve mental health treatment at home and abroad.

Dr. Simon has led several studies showing that simple, relatively inexpensive care management programs can significantly improve the lives of people with mood disorders—both at Group Health and in clinics serving low-income urban patients in developing countries. In 2004, the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported findings from Dr. Simon and colleagues showing that phone-based care management and psychotherapy are effective treatments for depression, in part because they included vigorous outreach to people who may not otherwise seek or follow through with treatment. His research with colleagues in Chile found that organized programs to improve depression treatment had even greater benefit in a disadvantaged urban clinic there than they do in more advanced settings in the United States.

Dr. Simon is especially interested in developing and studying programs that empower patients to become more active partners in their care and to achieve a full, rewarding life—not just a decrease in symptoms and side effects. He frequently partners with the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), the nation's largest patient-run organization for people living with mental health conditions. He also chairs their scientific advisory board.

Other areas where Dr. Simon has made key contributions include obesity and depression, health plan coverage for antidepressants, the impact of mood disorders in the workplace, and suicide risk. In 2007, he shed new light on speculation that some antidepressant medications increase suicide risk: Dr. Simon's analyses showed that the pattern of suicide attempts after starting antidepressants was the same as the pattern after starting psychotherapy—suggesting that suicide risk has little to do with specific effects of medication.

Dr. Simon's success as a physician scientist is notable. Recognized among the greater Seattle area's best doctors in 2006 and 2007, he has also been thrice honored for his contributions to mental health research and care, with two awards coming from the American Psychiatric Association in 2002 and another from the DBSA in 2005. Dr. Simon serves as editor for the mood disorders section of Current Opinion in Psychiatry and for the Cochrane Collaboration's depression and anxiety review group. He also sits on the editorial board for General Hospital Psychiatry and Psychological Medicine. He has practiced adult psychiatry in Group Health's Behavioral Health Service since 1990 and holds an appointment as a research professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington.

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Recent publications

Ludman E, Simon GE, Ichikawa LE, Operskalski BH, Arterburn D, Linde JA, Jeffery RW, Rohde P, Finch EA. Does depression reduce the effectiveness of behavioral weight loss treatment? Behav Med. 2010;35(4):126-34. 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. 2009 Oct 12. [Epub ahead of print]. PubMed

Simon GE, Ludman EJ, Rutter CM. Incremental benefit and cost of telephone care management and telephone psychotherapy for depression in primary care. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2009;66(10):1081-9. PubMed

Patel V, Simon G, Chowdhary N, Kaaya S, Araya R. Packages of care for depression in low- and middle-income countries. PLoS Med. 2009;6(10):e1000159. Epub 2009 Oct 6. PubMed

Simon GE, Ludman EJ. It's time for disruptive innovation in psychotherapy. Lancet. 2009;374(9690):594-5. PubMed

Simon GE. Practical lessons from effectiveness trials of care management and psychoeducation for bipolar disorder. J Clin Psychiatry. 2009;70(8):e28. PubMed

Widome R, Linde JA, Rohde P, Ludman EJ, Jeffery RW, Simon GE. Does the association between depression and smoking vary by body mass index (BMI) category? Prev Med. 2009 Nov;49(5):380-3. Epub 2009 Jul 30. PubMed

Simon GE, Arterburn DE. Does comorbid psychiatric disorder argue for or against surgical treatment of obesity? Gen Hosp Psychiatry. 2009;31(5):401-2. Epub 2009 Jul 3. PubMed

Simon G. Review: second-generation antidepressants have similar effectiveness, but specific adverse effects differed. Evid Based Med. 2009;14(3):82. PubMed

Simon GE. CBT improves maternal perinatal depression in rural Pakistan. Evid Based Ment Health. 2009;12(2):45. PubMed

To view more publications, please see Dr. Simon's CV.

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