Photo

Palo Alto resident Alex Sox-Harris, a researcher whose work aims to improve mental-health care, is one of 100 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the nation's highest honor for beginning researchers, White House officials announced last week.

The awards, established by President Clinton in 1996, honor individuals selected from federal departments and agencies for their "pursuit of innovative research at the frontiers of science and technology" and commitment to community service.

Sox-Harris, 46, works for the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System and is one of just two award recipients chosen from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Winning scientists and engineers receive grants for up to five years of research in support of critical government missions, according to a White House press release. Recipients will be honored in a ceremony at the White House this fall.

"These extraordinarily gifted young scientists and engineers represent the best in our country," President Obama said in a press release. "With their talent, creativity, and dedication, I am confident that they will lead their fields in new breakthroughs and discoveries and help us use science and technology to lift up our nation and our world."

"It's a tremendous honor," Sox-Harris said this week. "The money part of it would be nice, just to free me up from writing grants (for the research), but the recognition and going to the White House are really thrilling."

Sox-Harris said he has yet to learn the amount of his award.

His research focuses on the development and validation of treatment quality within the VA and other health care systems. Sox-Harris has investigated current standards of quality used in mental health systems and found a disappointing lack of connection to patient improvement.

"In order to have a health care system that provides high-quality, patient-centered and efficient care, health care systems need valid measures of health care quality," Sox-Harris said in an e-mail. "Our research is focused on developing and validating measures of mental health care quality that will allow stakeholders to identify high- and low-performing facilities and create accountability around particular patient-care practices."

In addition to his work with the VA Center of Health Care Evaluation, Sox-Harris is also a statistician for the VA Center for Bone and Joint Rehabilitation and a member of the Washington Circle Public Sector Workgroup for Substance Use Disorder treatment.

Although 46, Sox-Harris' career in science is in its early stages. He earned a master's degree in statistics from Stanford University in 2001 and a doctorate in counseling psychology from Stanford School of Education in 2004. He completed his clinical psychology internship and pre- and post-doctoral health services research fellowship at VA Palo Alto.

Before returning to school at age 30, Sox-Harris was a wilderness guide for the National Outdoor Leadership School for 11 years, leading trips in Alaska, Mexico and South America, he said.

Sox-Harris moved to Palo Alto in 1997 and is active in the community as a Cub Scout volunteer. He is also an avid runner, participating in 50- and 100-mile ultramarathons.

A handful of researchers affiliated with Bay Area institutions, including two at Stanford University and one at UC Berkeley, are also recipients of the award.

The Department of Defense nominated Stanford's Xiaolin Zheng, assistant professor of mechanical engineering, and Oliver Fringer, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering, for the award. Zheng's research focuses on the synthesis and assembly of nanomaterials while Fringer focuses on the application of numerical models to environmental flows.

A full list of honorees is available at www.whitehouse.gov.