HAROLD P. HALPERT, DrPH ’66, MPH ’64 (1913-2007) came to Johns Hopkins as a graduate student from the National Institute of Mental Health, where he directed a research grants program to develop coordinated approaches to the treatment of the mentally ill.
Dr. Halpert and his wife, SYLVIA HALPERT, were interested in mental health issues and committed to furthering research to understand and treat mental health problems. Sylvia Halpert, who held a PhD in social research, died in 1998 just after the Halpert’s made their commitment for this professorship. She was employed for many years at what is now Children’s Hospital in Washington, DC, taught at Howard University, and maintained a private practice in psychotherapy.
Held by Joseph J. Gallo
JOSEPH J. GALLO, MD, MPH, is the Sylvia And Harold Halpert Professor In Mental Health in the Department of Mental Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Gallo works on risk factors and epidemiology of depression in late life, primary care and mental health, and the intersection of physical and mental health.
A major focus of his research concerns the way depression is expressed among older adults. Using the data from the NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area surveys he carried out a series of studies using novel statistical modeling (the MIMIC model) to explore how depression presents differently among older adults than younger persons. Another major area has involved treatment of depression in primary care settings including medical comorbidity.
Dr. Gallo is the director of the Mixed Methods Research Training Program (MMRTP) for the Health Sciences. In addition, he co-directs the Johns Hopkins Alzheimer’s disease – Resource Center for Minority Aging Research. He has mentored junior faculty to K23s, K01s, and several R-level grants, and is highly sought as an advisor to students at the graduate level in public health, medicine, psychiatry, and nursing. In recognition of his mentoring, he was awarded a K24 from NIMH and is a mentor in the NIMH Advanced Research Institute in geriatric mental health. In 2008, he received the first Steven Banks award for excellence in mentoring in public mental health from the American Public Health Association. In 2023, he received prestigious awards for mentoring from both the School of Public Health and the School of Medicine at Johns Hopkins.
Dr. Gallo joined the faculty of the Bloomberg School as an associate professor in 1993. He earned his MD in 1982 from the Pennsylvania State University and his MPH in 1991 from the Bloomberg School.
