Marleen Wong, assistant dean and clinical professor of field education at the USC School of Social Work, has been appointed to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Advisory Council for three years, beginning Aug. 1.

The 12-member panel of experts meets regularly to advise the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services and SAMHSA's administrator on a wide range of public health matters related to prevention, treatment and recovery support services. Specific areas of focus include substance abuse, mental illness, trauma and justice, military families, health reform and health information technology.

"I felt very honored to receive the invitation letter from Secretary (Kathleen) Sebelius and excited about being able to participate in the deliberations on SAMHSA's eight strategic initiatives," Wong said. "The USC School of Social Work is involved in all of these initiatives, and my hope is to bring not only my work and experiences to the National Council but also to those faculty colleagues who contribute so much to the knowledge base in these areas."

Recognized by the White House as one of the "pre-eminent experts in school crisis and recovery" and the "architect of school-safety programs" by the Wall Street Journal, Wong has developed mental health recovery programs, crisis and disaster training for school districts and law enforcement in the United States, Canada, Israel and Asia for the past 30 years.

She currently serves as principal investigator for the USC/Los Angeles Unified School District/RAND/UCLA Trauma Services Adaptation Center for Resilience, Hope and Wellness in Schools, a community-based research partnership that developed the Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools that uses group intervention to relieve symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and general anxiety among children. As part of this partnership, Wong is also co-principal investigator with USC School of Social Work Professor Ron Astor on a project to modify an intervention teachers and other non-clinical professionals at military-connected schools use for students exposed to trauma.

Wong also serves as the school's principal investigator, in partnership with the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, on the SimCoach U.S. Army-funded project, a virtual human designed to motivate troops and their significant others to empower themselves with regard to their healthcare and personal welfare.