FEATURE
DR. DAVID &
VALERIE CASEY
Excellence in
Mental Health
I
n these days of nonstop digital and virtual interaction, it’s notable to find
professionals whose focus is less tech and more face-to-face. Dr. David
Casey, chair of the University of Louisville Department of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences, and Valerie Casey, director of the University of Louisville
Women’s Center, work both separately and together to empower individuals
and improve lives, one person at a time.
The couple met as UofL undergraduates and married the weekend after David
Casey’s graduation from medical school there. In residency at the University
of Washington in Seattle, David became interested in geriatric psychiatry. His
appreciation of the wisdom and insights of older adults began while growing
up in Louisville, where his grandmother helped care for him.
“She was a remarkable person,” he says – who couldn’t read or write and
never travelled far from where she was born, but nevertheless was wise about
the world. As a psychiatrist, David helps older patients coping with diseases
like Alzheimer’s to achieve a better quality of life, and works with their families
to navigate the challenges they face. Equally important, he says, he helps future
doctors at the UofL School of Medicine learn to work with older patients, in-
stilling in the elderly, “a sense of hope, empowerment and control.”
Dr. Casey introduced the field of geriatric psychiatry to Kentucky. He has
lectured and published extensively, and performed research in a number of
areas, especially Alzheimer’s disease and depression in the elderly.
Under Valerie Casey’s leadership, the UofL Women’s Center likewise promotes
advocacy and empowerment by mentoring and educating women, some with
limited backgrounds and resources, to successfully transition into the work-
force. The Center provides opportunities and support for students, faculty and
staff to forge their own paths and identities, and to become leaders themselves,
encouraging and standing up for others in Louisville and beyond.
The Caseys have extended their focus on empowerment to victims of hu-
man trafficking. Valerie explains that the I-71/I-65 corridor is a pipeline for
forced prostitution and labor, often involving young, disadvantaged girls and
women. David notes that human trafficking is a risk factor for mental health
issues like depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and addiction,
disproportionately affecting women.
Several years ago, the issue came to the attention of the Women’s Center
through then student Gabby Dralle, who had taken a course on human traf-
ficking with Dr. Theresa Hayden in the UofL Department of Criminal Justice,
and wanted to increase awareness about the problem. Now director of the
North Violence Prevention Center at Northern Kentucky University, Dralle was
encouraged by Valerie – her primary mentor, Dralle says – to help organize