FCM Grand Rounds: San Francisco’s Approach to Improving Behavioral Health Services
February 3, 2023
As we navigate multiple, intersecting public health crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic racism, homelessness, and the opioid/fentanyl overdose epidemic, there is unprecedented need for mental health and substance use care in the City. Dr. Kunins will share how the San Francisco Department of Public Health is growing and transforming behavioral health services to expand access to timely, equitable, and well-coordinated care.
Dr. Hillary Kunins is the Director of Behavioral Health Services and Mental Health San Francisco at the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH). In 2021, she joined SFDPH from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) where she served as the Executive Deputy Commissioner of Mental Hygiene from 2019 to 2021 and as the Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Use from 2012 to 2019.
At DOHMH, Dr. Kunins led the reimagining of New York City’s public health approach to substance use and served as the DOHMH lead for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $60 million HealingNYC initiative to address the overdose epidemic. She has dedicated her career to creating health equity through science-based public health and healthcare programs and policy for people with behavioral health concerns, including substance use disorders and serious mental illness.
Dr. Kunins received her MD and MPH from Columbia University and her MS in Clinical Research from Einstein College of Medicine. She completed her primary care-internal medicine residency and chief residency at Montefiore/Einstein. Dr. Kunins is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians and of the American Society of Addiction Medicine.