InInPsPsVol Twoyy • Summerchch 2007 16 Researchers Receive NARSAD Young Investigator Awards Sixteen Columbia Psychiatry researchers have been Marianne Gorlyn, PhD, seeks to understand the stress selected by NARSAD: The Mental Health Research response in people who attempt suicide. Dr. Gorlyn Association to receive a 2007 Young Investigator will use violent video game play as a novel stress Award. NARSAD is the world's leading donor-supported induction paradigm to characterize changes in organization dedicated to funding research on cognitive, cardiovascular and biochemical functioning psychiatric disorders. Each of the scientists will that emerge under such provocation. receive $60,000 from NARSAD for the next two years to advance specific research projects: David Kimhy, PhD, plans to study arousal and paranoia in schizophrenia to learn whether arousal precedes paranoia or is the result of it. Working with paranoid schizophrenia patients and normal controls, Dr. Kimhy and his group have designed methods to closely follow daily functioning. Diane Alix Klein, MD, will test mifepristone as a possible treatment for anorexia nervosa, a disorder for which no single medication has proved effective. Dana Lizardi, PhD, is working on a method for improving treatment for suicide, a major danger for people with psychiatric illness. The goal of Dr. Seated, left to right: Rachel Marsh, Christina Mangurian, Lizardi’s project is to develop an intervention to Joanna Steinglass, Marianne Gorlyn enhance treatment engagement of suicidal patients. Standing, left to right: Andrew Gerber, Jeffrey Miller, Antonio Montavani, Jason Scalia, David Kimhy, Ardesheer Talati Christina V. Mangurian, MD, seeks to determine In This Issue whether behavioral therapy can reduce obesity in Andrew J. Gerber, MD, PhD, will study brain dysfunc- Hispanics patients taking antipsychotic medication. tion in panic disorder and how these brain changes 2 .....New Recruits The Hispanic population is at greatest risk of obesity respond to psychotherapy. Two novel imaging methods in the U.S. will be used to look at the brain while the subject is 3 .....Tick-Borne Diseases performing a task indicating when regions of the brain Antonio Mantovani, MD, PhD, will test repetitive tran- Research Center are more or less active. scranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the treatment 4 .....NARSAD Names New President Gray Matters at Columbia 4 .....Kolb Legacy Gray Matters, a family foundation in New York and ness,” said Farah Moinian. “We believe that research on 5 .....Awards & Recognitions London led by Farah Moinian and her sister Shirin mental illness is truly the science of hope,” she added. Moinian, announced the creation of a $250,000 6 .....Grant News research fellowship at the Columbia University Medical Center Department of Psychiatry on May 2nd. The Gray 7 .....Clinical Services Matters fellowship will focus on the genetic underpin- nings of schizophrenia with the hope that expanded 8 .....Department Reading List research will lead to better treatment and ultimately a cure. The fellowship awardee to be announced in the spring of 2008 will benefit from the multi-disciplinary expertise and collaboration of the department’s Lieber Columbia Department Center for Schizophrenia Research. of Psychiatry “We are proud that our partnership with Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry. Under the lead- From left: Farah Moinian, her mother Vajihe Soleymani, Dr. New York State ership of Dr Jeffery Lieberman, Gray Matters will fund Jeffrey Lieberman, Sylvia Nasar, author of A Beautiful Mind Psychiatric Institute a bright young researcher in the genetics of mental ill- and Shirin Moinian. NewNewRecruitsRecruits Naihua Duan Thomas (Tom) Smith Dr. Naihua Duan, formerly of Dr. Thomas Smith joined the Message from the UCLA Departments of department as Director of Psychotic Disorders Services Chairman and Director Psychiatry and Biostatistics, joined the department on May in April after six years as 1 as the Director of the Medical Director at the The Nobel Laureate Julius Axelrod once Columbia affiliate Hall-Brooke Division of Biostatistics. As a said that, “Ninety-nine percent of the Behavioral Health Services in Columbia alumnus (MA in Mathematical discoveries are made by 1% of the Westport, Connecticut. In this capacity, he will Statistics, 1975), he is excited to “come home scientists.” I would like to think that lead the newly opened Lieber Clinic for and make a contribution to his alma mater.” He a substantial proportion of that 1% Comprehensive Care of Schizophrenia on E. noted that Dr. Lieberman’s commitment to come from Columbia. We have stellar 60th street as well as the Schizophrenia developing biostatistics as a priority area in the Research Unit (SRU) and outpatient researchers and elite clinicians who are department was the deciding factor in his schizophrenia clinic at PI. leaders in their fields. We are fortunate decision to accept the offer to lead the to have an unrivaled wellspring of talent Biostatistics Division. Prior to moving to Hall-Brooke, Dr. Smith was in our trainees and junior faculty who Director of Continuing Care Services at the have the potential to advance our A “practicing biostatistician,” as he describes Weill-Cornell Campus of New York-Presbyterian knowledge base. However, to succeed himself, Dr. Duan's primary objective is to build Hospital. His career has focused on recovery and rehabilitation and the impact of cognitive they must have adequate support at a strong division that excels in collaboration the critical early stages of their career. deficits on functional capacity and learning and consultation. He encourages researchers to abilities of people with schizophrenia. That embrace the “cradle through maturity model,” The traditional sources of support that work now will help the Lieber Clinic realize one that is, collaborating with biostatisticians early we have relied on for the career devel- of its key aims: assisting patients in enhancing on in the research process, beginning with opment of trainees and junior faculty their recovery through rehabilitation and research design and conceptualization. Based independent living skills. The Clinic, unlike are contracting severely. The current on his previous experience, this model can help others serving individuals with schizophrenia, economy has markedly constrained the improve the quality and efficiency of research will focus more on addressing the cognitive NIH budget and changes in mental studies and avoid potential problems. deficits that characterize the disorder. This is health care financing over the past two the most frustrating aspect of treatment and decades have placed great pressure on He is keenly interested in recruiting high-caliber recovery, said Dr. Smith: “The most recent clinicians, making it more difficult to biostatisticians who excel both in collaboration schizophrenia research shows that it is the develop skilled psychiatrists in the and in methodological research. As he prepares cognitive deficits that limit functioning in much needed subspecialty areas to recruit several new faculty members in the society, not the paranoia or hallucinations.” including consultation-liaison, emer- coming years, Dr. Duan welcomes the input At the Psychiatric Institute, he will reorganize gency, geriatrics and child psychiatry. of investigators to help him prioritize the the psychosis clinical services, which include sub-specialty areas of biostatistics needed for To supplement the traditional sources the SRU and its companion outpatient clinic. the department. of support for career development for The SRU doubled in size in July, greatly expanding its capacity to support research on junior faculty, we are pursuing fundrais- Dr. Duan is a graduate of Columbia University, the biology and treatment of schizophrenia. ing activities and private philanthropy. where he earned is MA in Mathematical The outpatient clinic at PI will be expanded Some funds will support aspiring Statistics, and of Stanford University, where he to support studies of the effectiveness of researchers in their training to establish earned his PhD in Statistics in 1979. His work new antipsychotic medications as well as themselves as independent investigators has spanned a broad range that includes health pharmacologic agents developed to enhance and sustain pilot studies of new and services research, clinical trials, HIV prevention cognition. Dr. Smith also plans to continue his innovative projects. Other funding will research and environmental health. His expertise prior research on recovery from psychosis. help trainees who want to pursue spe- has, in the past, contributed to work carried out cialized clinical training for careers in A native of Michigan, Dr. Smith attended by a number of our faculty including Drs. Anke Wayne State University School of Medicine in hospital-based clinical care and teach- Ehrhardt and Hector Bird. Detroit and completed his residency at the ing. Information about funding opportu- University of Chicago Medical Center. During nities at Columbia Psychiatry are avail- his tenure at Cornell he held a number of able at www.ColumbiaPsychiatry.org leadership positions and developed an externally and from our Office of External funded clinical research service for psychotic Relations Director Laurie Flynn, disorders at the Westchester Division of New (212) 543-5799. York-Presbyterian. Dr. Smith has published extensively on recovery from psychosis and is a recipient of a National Institute of