Carol Caton

Carol L.M. Caton, Ph.D. (B.S. Columbia; Ph.D., Medical Sociology, Yale) has held faculty appointments at Yale University School of Medicine, SUNY-Downstate Medical School, and the College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University. Dr. Caton is currently Professor of Sociomedical Sciences (Psychiatry and Public Health), College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University. Dr. Caton has served as Principal Investigator and Director of a NIMH-funded P30 ACISIR, the Columbia Center for Homelessness Prevention Studies (CHPS), a mental health services research center focused on the development of interventions to prevent chronic homelessness. Scholars from various departments and schools at the NYSPI/Columbia campus and at other research centers in the region have been involved in this multidisciplinary effort, which also included providers, consumers, and policy makers in the areas of homeless services, housing, and mental health care.

Dr. Caton has had a long-standing interest in homelessness and mental illness, and has received considerable external funding for research in this area. Dr. Caton is the author of three books, including "The Open Door: Homelessness and Severe Mental Illness in the Era of Community Treatment (Oxford University Press, 2017) and she has published extensively on schizophrenia, homelessness, and dual disorders. She participated in the development of Uniting for Solutions Beyond Shelter, the New York City plan to end chronic homelessness. Dr. Caton has presented her work at numerous national and international forums, including the United Nations, and she has served on the research advisory boards of the New York City Department of Homeless Services and the National Alliance to End Homelessness.