Morgan Shields studies the quality and accountability of behavioral health care. Her research focuses on identifying and implementing strategies to improve the use of evidence-based practices, ensuring patient-centered care and promoting equity. Shields is particularly interested in the policy dimensions — such as payment and regulations — that can motivate and support quality improvement within the health-care system. One of her interests is the quality of inpatient psychiatry, an important and often overlooked area of health-care research. 

Her work has led to critical changes and sparked important conversations within health systems. Notably, her research on disparities in quality performance at the Veterans Health Administration prompted internal investigations and reforms. In 2019, the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health redesigned its critical incident monitoring system in response to her research findings. Additionally, her analyses exposed the discriminatory and systematic exclusion of psychiatric patients from national patient experience measurement, prompting national entities to address this oversight. Her expertise also is recognized in legal settings, where she has served as an expert witness. 

Shields earned her PhD from Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management. She also holds an MSc from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and received training in implementation science and community-academic research through a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania supported by the National Institute of Mental Health. Her research has been published in Health Affairs, JAMA Psychiatry, Medical Care and other publications.

Areas of focus:

  • Health services and policy 
  • Financing, payment and regulations 
  • Quality of crisis behavioral health care, patient-centeredness  
  • Trust in crisis behavioral health care  

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