Behavioral Health Research at Denver Health
In the Denver Health Office of Research, we support research to advance quality of care and health care processes and outcomes. Our services improve care delivery with both high-quality data and community engagement.
Psychiatry and psychology research at Denver Health focuses on research for patients with mental, addictive, behavioral and emotional disorders. Research pushes back the obstacles of ignorance about the causes of mental disorders, brings to bear on patient care scientifically informed treatment, and creates an environment of critical thinking essential for clinical training. We are home to a diverse faculty across a variety of disciplines and interests dedicated to improving mental health across the lifespan.
Explore how our behavioral health researchers are making a difference:
Christian Thurstone, MD, MS
Chair of Behavioral Health & Correctional Care, Denver Health; Professor of Psychiatry, University of Colorado School of Medicine
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Dr. Christian Thurstone is Chair of Behavioral Health at Denver Health and professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. A board-certified general, child and adolescent, and addiction psychiatrist, his work focuses on adolescent substance treatment.
Dr. Thurstone started Denver Health's Substance Abuse Treatment, Education and Prevention (STEP) Program in 2003 and has developed and studied interventions for adolescents with substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions. His pragmatic research focuses on optimizing treatment, improving access to care, and eliminating disparities. He and his team developed a manualized treatment for adolescent substance treatment disorders, called impACT, which is available through CAM Academy.
A Lieutenant Colonel in the Colorado National Guard and medical consultant to the National Football League, Dr. Thurstone brings leadership experience across civilian, military, and athletic settings. His work advances Denver Health's mission as a learning health system by connecting clinical care, research, quality improvement and education.
Dale Terasaki, MD
Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of Colorado
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Dr. Dale Terasaki is a board-certified addiction specialist who focuses his research on novel interventions and outcomes for patients with alcohol and substance use disorders. He has a particular interest in the potential use of ketamine and psychedelic therapies delivered in medical settings.
Clinically, he works as an attending physician on the Denver Health inpatient addiction consult service. He has published widely on topics including alcohol use disorder pharmacotherapy, intravenous ketamine therapy, complex opioid use disorder management, harm reduction, and addiction medicine education.
Cole Haskins, MD
Medical Director, Psychiatric Emergency Services; Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
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Dr. Cole Haskins is an assistant professor and board-certified adult psychiatrist at Denver Health, where he serves as Medical Director of the Psychiatric Emergency Services. He completed MD/PhD training in epidemiology at the University of Iowa, and psychiatry residency at the University of Colorado through the Pathways Resident Research Track. He has over a decade of experience in clinical epidemiology, with publications spanning mental health disparities, pharmacoepidemiology, treatment adherence, and health services research.
Dr. Haskins' research currently focuses on emergency psychiatric care for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people and underserved groups, with an emphasis on utilizing emergency care settings as an opportunity for connection to long-term mental health and substance use disorder treatment. Related quality improvement and research projects include characterizing AI/AN patients' care needs in emergency psychiatry, examining culturally specific facilitators and barriers to successful transition from acute to outpatient and residential substance treatment, and identifying factors that increase connection from Denver Health's inpatient adolescent unit to outpatient substance care for youth with opioid use disorders.
In July 2026, he will begin the Scholars in Clinical Outcomes Research (SCORE) Fellowship through ACCORDS at the University of Colorado.
Learn more about our Behavioral Health research projects
Substance Abuse Treatment, Education and Prevention (STEP)
The aim of the STEP Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) is to provide intensive support and structure while helping youth begin to understand their relationship with substance use and struggles with mental health. Learn more about our STEP Program.
Family-Oriented Resilience, Growth, and Empowerment (FORGE)
The FORGE program's research team examines facilitators and barriers to behavioral health and substance use prevention services for families impacted by caregiver substance misuse. Our team's approach focuses on developing research questions and methodologies grounded in the lived experiences of patients and families, providers, and administrators across the system of care and broader community.
Pediatric Emergency Department and Urgent Care (PEDUC)
The PEDUC Psychology Service, in collaboration with our partners in the Department of Emergency Medicine, is evaluating impacts of their program, pediatric suicide screening and prevention efforts, and health-related social needs screenings and referrals to care navigation within our institution.
Psychedelic Research
Psychedelic research investigates the use of compounds like psilocybin alongside psychotherapy to treat severe mental health disorders.
- Dale Terasaki, MD, founded the Denver Health Psychedelics Forum to discuss scientific, clinical, and policy changes among interested staff.
- Dr. Terasaki conducted a clinical trial that included the use of psychedelic-dose ketamine for alcohol use disorder.
- Our team is exploring research on attitudes toward psychedelics among Latino/a patients at Denver Health.
- Multiple behavioral health staff are exploring whether and how our patients can access psychedelic treatments via Colorado's evolving Natural Medicine Program.
Additional Behavioral Health Research
To read more Behavioral Health research publications in the National Library of Medicine, please click here. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) was formed in 1988 as a division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Denver Health's Office of Research
At Denver Health, we connect research to care. Our learning health system approach means that discovery, innovation and evidence are embedded into everyday practice. Patients benefit directly from science-informed care, and our community gains from mission-driven work that advances equity, quality and outcomes. Explore more of our research at Denver Health.
