Scientist Spotlight

Paul Rohde, Senior Research Scientist

 

Paul Rohde, Ph.D.Paul Rohde, Ph.D., is a Senior Research Scientist at Oregon Research Institute (ORI), where he has worked since 1988. Rohde began his journey at ORI alongside his graduate advisor, Peter Lewinsohn, Ph.D., a renowned figure in depression research. “It was really good timing,” Rohde recalls, “Peter retired from the university to work here full-time, and brought me with him.”  What started as an early career opportunity became a life-long mission to develop innovative, evidence-based prevention and intervention programs with real-world impact.

Initially focused on adult depression, Dr. Rohde’s research interests evolved after working with colleagues to adapt adult treatment models for younger populations. Together, he and his fellow investigators focused their efforts on addressing mental health issues in adolescents. Reflecting on this work, Rohde noted, “The high school years are not always ‘the best years’ of someone’s life.”  His research has involved numerous studies on risk factors, treatment methods, and prevention strategies for depression. “I feel I can have a bigger impact because, while I’m not actually doing the interventions, we’re developing them and working on disseminating them.”

At ORI, Rohde worked with colleagues Eric Stice and Heather Shaw to develop two landmark programs: the Blues Program and the Body Project.

The Blues Program, a depression prevention initiative for adolescents, has been implemented in schools and clinics nationwide. Designed as a six-hour intervention, the program stands out for its efficiency, making it accessible to more young people. “A lot of the other programs work perfectly well, but they’re 15 to 20 hours, so they just take a lot longer,” Rohde shares. The Blues Program’s effectiveness led to its adoption in the UK by Action for Children, which has rolled it out to tens of thousands of teenagers.

The Body Project is a dissonance-based eating disorder prevention program targeting high school and college-aged women. Through discussions and activities led by trained peer educators, the Body Project encourages participants to challenge harmful societal pressures and unrealistic beauty standards. With the support of organizations like the Girl Scouts and partnerships with entities like Dove Beauty, the program has reached over 8 million young women worldwide, empowering them to build healthy self-esteem and body image.

A defining aspect of Rohde’s work is its focus on evidence-based applications, a necessity for adoption in public schools, health systems, and other community settings. His research also works to explore the rising challenges young people face with social media and technology. Rohde notes that adolescent depression rates have seen troubling increases that align with the advent of smartphones and, more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic.  When speaking about his eating disorder research, he relates, “Young women used to feel pressure from magazines that would arrive once a month. Today, with social media and influencers … it’s all the time and constant.”  These insights about the changing landscape continue to guide his work as he and his colleagues adapt their programs to better serve the evolving needs of today’s youth.

Rohde emphasizes the importance of teamwork in scientific research and finds ORI’s collaborative atmosphere particularly beneficial as it fosters cross-disciplinary insights which have been crucial to the success of his work. “[Collaboration] is so important. This kind of work you cannot do by yourself … It’s great to have teams of people that complement each other” says Rohde. This collaboration has not only driven the success of his programs but also inspired in Rohde a commitment to mentorship and supporting young scientists as they navigate the challenges of academic and applied research. “I want our work to keep going and I also want to build the field,” he shares.

Throughout his career at ORI, Dr. Paul Rohde has exemplified how rigorous research can be translated into practical, life-changing programs. He notes, “In research, you have to be a little bit more on the cutting edge of things, so that’s been really fun and rewarding.” His work on the Blues Program and the Body Project, among others, has touched millions of lives and his commitment to developing accessible, effective prevention and treatment programs remains unwavering.