Lisa Callahan, PhD

Lisa Callahan is a Senior Research Associate at PRA, where she is engaged in research on behavioral health and the justice system; provides technical assistance to SAMHSA grantees; and delivers trauma training to justice professionals across the county. Dr. Callahan’s research topics include both adult and juvenile mental health courts, the incompetency process, the impact of Medicaid expansion on jail recidivism, and programs to enhance school safety. Dr. Callahan first started working at PRA when it was founded in 1988 to 1990. Prior to that, she worked in the research bureau for the New York State Office of Mental Health. Dr. Callahan is Professor Emerita from The Sage Colleges where for 18 years she taught courses in criminal justice and mental health and developed the MA Forensic Mental Health Program. She returned to PRA in 2008. Dr. Callahan received her Ph.D. (1983) in Sociology from The Ohio State University. She completed an NIMH Post-Doctoral Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Sociology and Psychiatry (1985). In addition to her current work, Dr. Callahan has conducted studies on the insanity defense, conditional release, the death penalty, the implementation of mental health training with correctional officers, and psychiatric patients’ right to refuse treatment, all resulting in various publications and presentations.