VISN 1 MIRECC Staff: Eric Hermes, M.D.
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Eric Hermes, M.D.
Dr. Eric Hermes received his Doctorate of Medicine from the University of South Florida College of Medicine in 2000. He completed a transitional internship in the U.S. Air Force and served for six years as a flight surgeon in Korea, England, Qatar, and Ohio. Dr. Hermes went on to complete a residency in psychiatry and a NIMH-funded program of research in chronic mental illness at Yale University in 2012. He then completed an additional year of research training through the VISN 1 New England MIRECC. Dr. Hermes is currently a Mental Health Services Investigator for the VISN 1 New England MIRECC and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine. Along with investigating recent trends in VA mental health care utilization, he is interested in evaluating current approaches to the use of pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic therapies in real-world clinical settings as well as the implementation and evaluation of novel treatments. His recent work has focused on assessing how providers use pharmacologic agents, such as second-generation antipsychotics and sedative-hypnotics in real-world clinical practice, especially in contexts where use may be complicated by side-effects, such as obesity, or driven by less well-documented clinical problems such as insomnia. The recent surge in the development of computer-based therapies has provided Dr. Hermes with the opportunity to evaluate the implementation and outcomes of this novel therapeutic platform and as a potential augmentation or substitute to pharmacologic treatment. Current projects include:
- Technology use and interest in computerized psychotherapies among substance abuse treatment seeking Veterans.
- Piloting an internet-based therapy for sleep problems in a population of Veterans with substance use disorders.
- Examining internet-based therapy use among Veterans using data from the VHA electronic medical record.
- Comparing the pharmacotherapy among homeless and non-homeless Veterans with serious mental illnesses.
- Evaluating the increasing number of Vietnam Era Veterans with a diagnosis of PTSD who use VHA services.