Joseph J. Parks MD

Joseph Parks, MD, serves as Director of the Missouri Institute of Mental Health, Distinguished Research Professor of Science with the University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Parks serves as President of the Medical Director’s Council of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors. He practices psychiatry on an outpatient basis at Family Health Center, a federally funded community health center established to expand services to uninsured and underinsured patients in the Columbia area.

Dr. Parks recently served as the Division Director for the Division of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services for the Missouri Department of Mental Health and is currently the Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Parks has authored or coauthored a number of original articles, monographs, technical papers, and reviews on implementation of Evidence Based Medicine and Pharmacy Utilization Management and behavioral treatment programs. His work has appeared in several journals including the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Psychiatric Practices, Psychiatry Quarterly, Manual of Clinical Emergency Psychiatry, Behavioral Interviews, Hospital and Community Psychiatry, and Advanced Studies in Nursing. In 2006 Dr. Parks received the American Psychiatric Association Bronze Achievement Award for a program controlling pharmacy costs by improving prescribing practices.