Tami Mark, internationally recognized substance abuse and mental health expert, joins RTI International

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC— Tami Mark, Ph.D., has been named senior director of behavioral health at RTI International.

In this role, she will collaborate with federal and state agencies to improve their behavioral health treatment systems through research, data analytics, technical assistance, and policy development.

 “Substance use disorders and mental illness are responsible for much hardship in society, yet many people don’t get the treatment they need. Understanding the treatment options that are most cost-effective and accessible are key aspects of financing behavioral health services,” said Gary Zarkin, PhD., vice president of RTI’s Behavioral Health and Criminal Justice Research Division. “These financing issues are especially important to understand as the government has mandated parity between behavioral and physical health care and insurers consequently are providing more substance abuse and mental health coverage than ever before—something that is long overdue in the United States.”

Mark joins RTI from Truven Health Analytics, an IBM Company, where as vice president she led a multimillion dollar business unit that provides data analytics, technical assistance and consulting to federal and state government agencies.  

She has more than 25 years of experience and is the author of more than 90 peer-reviewed journal articles and several government reports, including being a contributing author on the recently-released Surgeon General’s report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. She has previously served as senior director of analytic strategies at Thomson Reuters, associate director at MEDSTAT, and an adjunct assistant professor at Johns Hopkins University. Mark is also a visiting scholar at Brandeis University.

Mark also has served on technical expert panels for the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, SAMHSA and other organizations.

She holds a doctorate degree in health economics from Johns Hopkins University, a master’s degree in business administration from Loyola College, and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Amherst College.