Overview

The IU School of Medicine Evansville (IUSM-E) is addressing crisis‐level shortages in child mental health services and workforce needs. Born out of community assessments and regional input, the Mary O’Daniel Stone and Bill Stone Center for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry creates a world‐class center bringing clinical, educational and research leaders to the region. This project represents the 2nd phase in becoming a nationally known pediatric behavioral health hub. Crucial to its success is the hiring of psychiatrists, psychologists, nurse practitioners, social workers, and other paraprofessionals. Start‐up funding to assist clinical hiring is critical to ensuring children can access evidence‐based mental health screening and diagnosis, with emphasis on under‐resourced populations. READI funding will be used for clinical development. The Center includes creating a first‐of‐its‐kind national data analytics platform. This psychiatry data asset is led by IUSM-E and a network of 10,000 community‐based specialists and physicians. The real-world data platform will serve as a “living lab” providing experts the means to accelerate the discovery, research, and creation of innovative care solutions. The platform will enable our region to become a national leader in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric data analytics and build an AI-powered behavioral healthcare research & innovation ecosystem to fuel the growth of state‐wide entrepreneurial ventures. The project is expected to end in 2026.