Mehul Mankad, MD
Program: Psychiatry Residency (2002 alumnus)
Current roles:
- Chief Medical Officer, Alliance Health
- Adjunct Assistant Professor, Duke University School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences
Location: Morrisville, NC
Being asked to share my thoughts about the transformation of community psychiatry in North Carolina during the COVID-19 crisis is humbling. After completing my residency at Duke 18 years ago, I had the privilege of serving on the faculty for a little more than a decade and a half. As many former residents and faculty can attest, I received more from Duke than I gave. The skills forged in the crucible of that institution could not be replaced by attendance at some CME conference or from a journal article.
So when the opportunity arose to help lead a quasi-governmental managed Medicaid organization, Alliance Health, I knew that much of my experience would be transferable. Alliance, along with its sister Mediciad managed care organizations in North Carolina, is slated to convert to integrated behavioral and physical health. I thought I was signing on to the opportunity of a lifetime—the chance to leverage the Duke approach to mind and body with the needs of a vulnerable population … and four months into my tenure, a global pandemic occurred.
Individuals who receive Medicaid or are uninsured experience seismic struggles in their daily lives with a frequency that should foster respect in all of us. Helping to shift the infrastructure of the Medicaid system to a flexible system of care that continues to support a deserving population was no small task. The reliance of our organization on my general medical knowledge became an essential factor in our response. Being the only member of our leadership team who had attended medical school thrust me into a position to leave my comfort zone of psychiatry and renew the mantle of being a physician. I was also the only member of the leadership team to have personally delivered care via telepsychiatry while I worked at the Durham VA Healthcare System. Personal experience with what does and does not work in the field is irreplaceable.
Participating in this joint effort to serve the community brought me in closer contact with many wonderful Duke psychiatry alumni. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Carrie Brown, MD, MPH, Chief Medical Officer, Behavioral Health and Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services; Alex Spessot, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Monarch; Nora Dennis, MD, Medical Director, Monarch; Beth Pekarek, MD, Medical Director, Daymark; and countless others who work tirelessly in this domain.
Read other alumni reflections on their work and life in COVID-19 times.