This issue of In Focus features multiple articles on mental health issues pertaining to public health, workforce diversity, psychiatric and behavioral research, health equity, and ORWH’s mission areas. Our cover story discusses mental health disparities, the lack of diversity in the mental health workforce, and Federal initiatives addressing these issues. Rita Valentino, Ph.D., Director of the Division of Neuroscience and Behavior at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), discusses sex differences in the onset and progression of substance use disorders and in the treatment of these disorders. We also examine how socioeconomic and pandemic- related stressors increase women’s likelihood of developing mental illness, as well as the benefits of integrating prenatal and mental health care for Black pregnant women.