Zephon D. Lister

Dr. Zephon D. Lister is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling and Family Sciences at Loma Linda University and is the Director of the Systems, Families and Couples PhD program in the School of Behavioral Health. As a family/social scientist, he has focused his research on the recursive relationships between family dynamics and chronic health conditions, integrated behavioral health (IBH) and global mental health.

He leads several projects examining the integration of behavioral health services into low-resourced contexts and improving the quality-of-life among individuals/families living with chronic disease. Internationally, he has examined how to use task-shifting as a capacity building strategy for mental health in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Nigeria, Samoa and Sierra Leone, and vaccine uptake in Sierra Leone. He has has published and presented nationally and internationally on these topics and serves as a peer reviewer for SAMSHA and several professional journals. Clinically, he is the coordinator of integrated behavioral health services for the Loma Linda Sickle Cell Disease Center and provides clinical oversight to students providing IBH services for the SAC Health System, the largest specialty-based and teaching health center Federally Qualified Healthcare Center (FQHC) in the United States, which serves individuals within San Bernardino County.