Dr. John Brekke joined the University of Southern California (USC) School of Social Work faculty in 1984. Prior to assuming an academic appointment, Dr. Brekke had a number of clinical positions working with persons diagnosed with severe and persistent mental illness in inpatient and outpatient settings.

Since 1989, Dr. Brekke has been the principal investigator on five longitudinal studies funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, one funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, and he received a mid-career K-Award from NIMH. His work focuses on the improvement of community-based services for individuals diagnosed with severe mental illness and on developing biosocial models for enhancing treatment effectiveness.

Dr. Brekke is the associate dean of research at the USC School of Social Work. He is the past director of the Hamovitch Center for Science in the Human Services, and in 2001 was installed as the Frances Larson Professor of Social Work Research. He does extensive grant reviewing for federal agencies and was a standing member of the Services Research Scientific Merit Review Committee at NIMH for six years.

He publishes in the most highly ranked journals in social work, psychology, and psychiatry. In 1994, Dr. Brekke received the “Armin Loeb Achievement in Research Award” from the International Association of Psychosocial Rehabilitation Services; in 1999, he received the “Excellence in Research Award” from the Society for Social Work and Research; and in 2010, he received an Investigator Award in Health Policy Research from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.