Michelle Durham, MD
Michelle is a triple boarded physician with national certification in Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, Adult Psychiatry, and Addiction Medicine. She comes to the Meadows Institute with expertise and experience working in the public sector with marginalized communities, having previously worked in a large public hospital serving individuals with co-occurring mental health and substance use issues who are disproportionately impacted by trauma, poverty, mental health, substance use, and family disruption. She has extensive experience across a continuum of mental health treatment settings including psychiatric emergency departments, mobile crisis teams, in home and outpatient clinics, and pediatric integrated care, and has also practiced in public and private settings serving both children and adults.
Michelle previously served as the Vice Chair of Training & Education at Boston Medical Center (BMC) Department of Psychiatry and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry & Pediatrics at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. While there she also served as principal investigator for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) funded grants as well as the co-investigator for TEAM UP for Children, a privately funded initiative to bring integrated care to Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs). Currently, she is voluntary Clinical Associate Professor of Clinical Sciences at the University of Houston Tilman J. Fertitta Family College of Medicine. For her contributions and dedication to the field of psychiatry, Michelle was appointed a Distinguished Fellow of both the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. She has provided expert evaluation and testimony for forensic civil and criminal cases, and has testified for the U.S. Senate HELP and Finance Committees to advocate for increase funding, workforce issues, access and parity in mental health and substance use treatment.
In her role, Michelle provides guidance and expertise to ensure the Institute’s work is grounded in contemporary, innovative, and evidence-based medical knowledge. She works closely with physicians and other clinicians across the organization to develop policy and practice guidance that reflect the needs and realities people and families face when affected by mental health and/or substance use issues.
She received her medical degree from Louisiana State University in New Orleans, Louisiana, completed her general psychiatry residency training at Boston Medical Center, and her child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut. She received her master’s in public health concentrating in health policy and management from the Emory Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, Georgia. Prior to completing her medical education, she worked as the Assistant Director for the Center of Excellence on Health Disparities at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia.
