BRAIN & BEHAVIOR RESEARCH FOUNDATION 2020 ANNUAL REPORT Awarding research grants to develop improved treatments, cures, and methods of prevention for mental illness. BBRF is the world’s largest private funder of mental health research grants, supporting transformative discoveries in order to develop improved treatments, cures, and methods of prevention for our loved ones. Mission The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation is committed to alleviating the suffering caused by mental illness by awarding grants that will lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research. Vision To dramatically improve the lives of those living with mental illness, ultimately enabling them to live full, happy, and productive lives. CONTENTS What We Support 3 The Klerman & Freedman Awards 24 Leadership Letter 4 Striving Toward Cures Through Research 26 BBRF Grants Are Making a Difference 6 2020 International Mental Health 30 Research Virtual Symposium BBRF Scientific Council 8 The Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health 31 2020 Leading Research Achievements 11 Research Partners Program 36 BBRF Grants 16 Team Up for Research 44 2020 Grants by Illness 18 2020 Donor Listing 46 2020 Young Investigators Institutional Affiliations 22 Financial Summary 70 What We Support BBRF funds research in the following areas: Addiction, ADHD, Anxiety, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline “ Together we can Personality Disorder, Depression, Eating Disorders, dramatically OCD, PTSD, Schizophrenia, and Suicide Prevention. improve the lives of those living with mental illness and Our Scientific enable more people Council to live full, happy, The high quality of the research we fund is made and productive possible by the BBRF Scientific Council. This group lives.” of 183 prominent mental health researchers, led by Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D. Dr. Herbert Pardes, reviews each grant application BBRF President & CEO and selects the most promising ideas with the great- est potential to lead to breakthroughs. The Scientific Council guides the Foundation to fund creative and impactful basic, translational, and clinical research Our operating expenses are covered relevant to the whole spectrum of mental health. by separate foundation grants. Research for Recovery 30+ 70k+ $418M+ 5,000+ years donors awarded researchers For more than 30 years Our 70,000 donors Since 1987 the Grants have been given the Brain & Behavior have joined together in Foundation has awarded to more than 5,000 Research Foundation the great challenge of more than $418 million leading scientists has fostered new modern medical science to fund more than 6,000 around the world. research pathways — overcoming mental grants. and transformative illness. breakthroughs. Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D. Herbert Pardes, M.D. Geoffrey Simon President & CEO President, Scientific Council Chair, Board of Directors The COVID-19 pandemic has touched all our lives— greatest chance of advancing the field and paving the way especially people with psychiatric conditions. They’ve had for better treatments, cures, and methods of prevention. significantly higher rates of COVID-19 infection and worse outcomes. BBRF is a collaboration—between generous donors and dedicated scientists—and the research we fund together According to the Centers for Disease Control and has been innovative, visionary, and transformative. Prevention (CDC), the number of adults experiencing depression and anxiety has quadrupled in the past year. To date, BBRF has provided more than $418 million in The long-term effects of COVID-19 on the brain are just research grants to more than 5,000 scientists around the starting to come to light. Particularly troubling is evidence world. We are proud to report that in 2020 BBRF funded that there may be mild—but very real—brain damage more than $18 million in research grants across a broad that occurs in many survivors. This is leading to cognitive, spectrum of brain illnesses including: Addiction, ADHD, behavioral, and psychological problems. Anxiety, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, Depression, Eating Disorders, OCD, Psychosis, One of the bright spots in a very difficult year is scientific PTSD, Schizophrenia, as well as Suicide Prevention. research. It was research and development that brought us the vaccines now combating the COVID-19 pandemic. One reason that research funded by BBRF has such The ability of research scientists to create and bring great impact is because we do not limit our focus to one multiple vaccines to market within months, not years, illness or condition. Another reason is because 100% of underscores the real power of scientific research, built on every dollar donated for research is invested in our years of diligent work by scientists around the world. research grants. We can do this because our operating expenses are covered by separate foundation grants. Although research scientists have developed vaccines This means that when you donate a dollar for research and therapies to control the pandemic, they haven’t that dollar goes directly to the scientist. found instant solutions to the mental health and behavioral problems that are on the rise, particularly BBRF grantees are chosen by our world-renowned post-pandemic. For that we still need research—now Scientific Council. Led by Dr. Herbert Pardes, the more than ever. Council is comprised of 183 scientists who rigorously evaluate every grant application, identifying the most The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF) is promising, high-quality science. Research proposals are funding that research. BBRF supports brain research submitted from around the world. The Council carefully from the very beginning of a research scientist’s career, selects those with the greatest potential for significant from his or her first novel idea. Our Young Investigator breakthroughs. This past year the Council evaluated grants provide the seed funding young researchers need more than 1,000 grant proposals and awarded 150 to pursue their hypotheses, concepts, and strategies that Young Investigator two-year research grants for $35,000 our independent Scientific Council believe have the per year. 4 ANNUAL REPORT 2020 Over the past 30+ years, BBRF grants have been the The Brain & Behavior Magazine continues to inform springboard for young scientists to get new ideas readers of the most important advancements in scientific off the ground, create improved treatments and research. This is supplemented by eNews, a weekly email new methods of prevention. This crucial funding newsletter that features the research of BBRF grantees, generates preliminary data that often leads to prizewinners, and Scientific Council members. Through additional funding from the National Institutes these and other efforts, we aim to share information with of Health (NIH). BBRF grantees usually then go you as often as possible about what is happening in the on to receive sustained grant support from other labs, and about work that is carrying new knowledge and sources (bother federal and private) that on average insights from bench to bedside. has equaled 10 times the original research grant BBRF also produces the public television series, “Healthy amount. This “multiplier effect” is a vital part of Minds,” which is broadcast on public television stations what makes BBRF the largest private funder of around the nation and can be viewed mental health research grants. online at www.bbrfoundation.org/ BBRF research is playing a vital healthy-minds-tv. The series aims to role in some of the most important Innovative decrease stigma and prejudice by advances impacting people with providing useful information to the mental illness and their families right scientists. Novel public about psychiatric conditions now. These include: Rapid-acting and treatments as well as cutting-edge antidepressants; Non-invasive brain ideas. Cutting edge research advancements. stimulation to treat depression, OCD and PTSD; Computer-guided research. At the heart of the Brain & Behavior cognitive remediation for enhanced Research Foundation’s unprecedented recovery in schizophrenia; and success funding innovative and impactful potentially lowering a child’s mental research is collaboration. Our shared illness risk via maternal choline supplements. These are goal of a world free from debilitating mental illnesses relies transformative developments that brain science has first and foremost upon you, our donors—in partnership achieved over the past 20 years. with the scientists chosen by the BBRF Scientific Council— who transform support into improved treatments, cures, Many significant BBRF-funded research results were and methods of prevention for our loved ones. published in papers in leading psychiatric and medical journals during 2020. This annual report features our Working alongside the BBRF Board, Scientific Council, “Top 10” Leading Research Achievements by BBRF and our donors is an honor, and we thank you for your grantees, prizewinners & Scientific Council members dedication to our mission. We continue to be inspired in the past year. This illustrates a cross-section of the by the magnitude and scope of the discoveries that remarkable progress being made by investigators we are being made by the scientists we fund together and have funded. These important advancements, as well appreciate your ongoing generous support. as other scientific discoveries, reflect how BBRF helps Sincerely, people who live with mental illness. This year BBRF awarded its Outstanding Achievement Prizes in Mental