Carla Gerber is a Licensed Clinical Social worker and Clinical Research Manager at Oregon Research Institute. Carla’s passion for over 30 years has been to provide early intervention for and prevention of schizophrenia and other major mental illnesses so that young people can maintain healthy, successful lives. She has provided direct clinical care, developed new innovative programs, and participated as local principal investigator for large multi-site research projects.

Carla is establishing a new Early Psychosis Innovation Center (EPIC) at ORI with a participatory leadership model for program development and implementation.  She believes that people with lived experience and their families bring a unique perspective and expertise, and she is committed to support opportunities for program participants to pursue careers in research and treatment of serious mental illness.

Carla currently serves as Oregon Research Institute Site PI for Early-phase Schizophrenia: Practice-based Research to Improve Treatment Outcomes (ESPRITO), Enhancing the ESPRITO RO1 Application by Addition of the STEP Clinical Program, and Implementing Science to Reduce Hospitalizations in Early Phase Schizophrenia.