ANN ARBOR, MI – Thomas Carli, M.D., a University of Michigan psychiatrist who devoted his career to transforming the way mental and physical health care are delivered, has died at the age of 59.

Carli, who was an assistant dean and associate professor of psychiatry at the U-M Medical School, died late on Friday, Dec. 9 at the University of Michigan Hospital after severe complications from treatment for a rare form of cancer.

He is remembered by colleagues as a man driven to improve the way patients with chronic illnesses of all kinds are cared for, and to integrate care for mental illnesses with that for physical illness.

John Billi, M.D., associate vice president for medical affairs for the U-M Health System, calls Carli’s untimely death a major loss for health care and for patients.

“Tom was dedicated to the care of the seriously mentally ill, the uninsured, the chronically ill, and those with complicated illness that our complex health systems are not well designed to care for,” he says. “He was dedicated to nothing less than redesigning how healthcare can and must be delivered better, centered on the needs of the patient. His efforts to help the Health System, the state, and our country inspire those of us left behind to keep his vision and help make it come to pass. His insight, compassion and optimism will be missed by patients, colleagues and friends.”

U-M Medical School dean Allen S. Lichter, M.D., adds, “His passing is a profound loss for all. His vision for improving the health of the chronically ill and underserved will continue to inspire and motivate others who deliver patient-centered care."

Carli’s credentials include leadership of many programs launched by the U-M Health System that created new ways to serve patients locally and regionally, and participation in state and national initiatives. A past president of the Michigan Psychiatric Society, he was a member of the Michigan Mental Health Commission, appointed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm to advise on the problems and opportunities facing the state’s mental health system.

He was founding medical director of the UMHS Medical Management Center, which has re-shaped the way thousands of patients with depression, heart disease, asthma, diabetes, stroke and other chronic illnesses are cared for at U-M Health System. He co-developed and served as founding medical director for Partnership Health, a joint program between UMHS and Ford Motor Company that acts as the health insurance plan for Ford salaried employees, focused on chronic illnesses.

His leadership in disease management helped make U-M one of only ten sites selected to participate in a national initiative designed to improve the quality and coordination of care for all Medicare participants.

Says U-M Health System CEO and U-M executive vice president for medical affairs Robert Kelch, M.D., “We have lost one of our very best and most caring physicians. We will remember Tom in many ways — compassionate physician, superb teacher, and advocate for improving health, especially of those less advantaged. He continuously enriched our personal and professional lives and served as a leading role model for everyone in the Health System.”

Carli was recently named Director of Community Programs and Public Policy for the U-M Depression Center, the nation’s first comprehensive center devoted to treatment, research, education and public policy in depression and related disorders.

John Greden, M.D., the center’s executive director, and U-M psychiatry chair, says, “Tom was a wonderful friend, colleague, advocate, teacher, clinician, husband, and father. He possessed boundless energy, an inveterate curiosity, and a breadth of interests. During the past decade he became a respected voice for transformation of health care in our nation.”

Carli helped create, and functioned as the founding medical director of, the Washtenaw Community Health Organization, an innovative program jointly operated by UMHS and Washtenaw County that provides for the medical and mental health needs of the mentally ill and underinsured in Ann Arbor, Mich. and surrounding towns. He was also recently named medical director of the Washtenaw Health Plan, a program that serves the county’s uninsured residents. Both efforts are considered models for the nation.

In an effort to help more physicians adopt the most proven practices in caring for patients with major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia, Carli chaired the Michigan Mental Health Evidence-Based Practice Initiative, funded by the Ethel and James Flinn Foundation of Detroit. In October, the initiative announced it had awarded grants to six health systems across the southern tier of Michigan to help them implement tools that will automatically aid physicians in providing the most up-to-date care for such patients.

Carli also served as medical director for behavioral health at M-CARE, the managed care organization owned by UMHS that has more than 200,000 members in southern Michigan in commercial and Medicaid plans. As well, he served on the U-M’s Pharmaceutical Benefit Oversight Committee, which overhauled the prescription drug benefit for the university’s tens of thousands of faculty and staff in a way that served patients better while also containing costs. He co-chaired a UMHS group aimed at improving medication prescribing practices across the Health System He also taught health policy and healthcare reform to medical students, social work students, residents and faculty.

Carli received his undergraduate degree in psychology from Wayne State University in 1968 and graduated from the University of Michigan Medical School in 1972. After completing his residency and chief residency at the U-M and the University of British Columbia, Carli worked in emergency psychiatry at the U-M and then practiced psychiatry for four years in Ann Arbor.

Recruited by Greden to a full-time position on the U-M psychiatry faculty, he spend more than two decades leading various clinical and administrative initiatives within the department. From 1995 to 2001, he headed the Michigan Center for Diagnosis and Referral, one of the nation’s first academic managed behavioral health care organizations.

Carli is survived by his wife, Laura Nitzberg, MSW, a faculty member in psychiatry and social work at the U-M, and by their daughter, Anna, 15, as well as by his sons Tatha, age 32, and Nikos, age 30, from his previous marriage, and by his daughter-in-law, Kimberly (Stec) Carli, as well as many loving friends and colleagues. A memorial service is being arranged and will be announced later this month. In lieu of flowers contributions can be made either to The Anna Carli Education Fund, c/o the U-M Medical School, M7319 Med Sci I, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-0624, or The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, 51 Locust Ave., Suite 201, New Canaan, CT 06840

Written by Kara Gavin

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