Condition: Depression
Ann Vander Stoep
Personal Statement
| As a child psychiatric epidemiologist, I conduct research about the etiology of child and adolescent mental health conditions and about the effectiveness of interventions that are designed to address these conditions. I co-direct the Developmental Pathways Research Program, the centerpiece of which is the Developmental Pathways Project, a longitudinal study of a cohort of 521 adolescents recruited as 11-12 year-olds from Seattle public middle schools. Members of the cohort are currently undergoing their eighth assessment that has followed their mental health and associated factors from early adolescence through young adulthood. DPP has contributed to our understanding of the development of co-morbid depression and conduct problems, as well as antecedents and consequences of problem substance use. I have collaborated with intervention researchers to develop and test school-based interventions to address mental health problems that interfere with academic performance and social well-being and to conduct randomized controlled trials of interventions that extend the reach of child mental health services to underserved communities. I teach public mental health research methods to graduate students at the University of Washington and to faculty and trainees with an research interest in mental health at the University of Nairobi in Kenya. I provide research mentorship to many UW masters and doctoral students in epidemiology and health services and to junior faculty in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. |
Eileen Twohy
I am a clinical psychologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital and UW Medicine, where my work primarily consists of clinical care and teaching. My two areas of focus are the provision of effective, trauma-informed treatment for youth and families in suicidal crises and the promotion of equitable access to behavioral healthcare.
Lorin Boynton
Personal Statement
My primary interests are Nutrition and Lifestyle Psychiatry, Cultural Psychiatry and the interface of Religion and Spirituality with Psychiatry. I love guiding patients to achieve healing using a domains of health approach- addressing Nutrition, Sleep, Relaxation, Movement and Connectedness/ Purpose.
Paul Borghesani
Personal Statement
| I am an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM). As a past recipient of a Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) award, I completed his MD-PhD in the Harvard/MIT Program of Health Sciences and Technology with his thesis work in development neurobiology. After completing residency training at UWSOM, I was awarded a KL2 career development grant and went on to publish in the field of structural and functional neuroimaging with an emphasis on neural changes with aging. I am board certified and currently work as a staff psychiatrist at Harborview Medical Center (HMC) where I am the Medical Director for the Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES). I am also the Director of Psychiatry Clerkships at the UWSOM, coordinating clinical education in psychiatry cross the 5 state WWAMI region (WA, WY, AL, MT and ID). In this capacity, I routinely lectures to primary care providers and residents on suicidality, psychosis, psychopharmacology and drug abuse. |
John Neumaier
Personal Statement
My clinical interests include diagnosis and psychopharmacology of complex mood and anxiety disorders and psychosis. My research program investigates the molecular neuroscience of behavior using animal models with a focus on the involvement of the serotonin system and the neurocircuitry and plasticity involved in stress and addiction.
My lab uses rat and mouse models to investigate stress and addiction mechanisms. The lab is unusual because we pursue a very broad range of methods, including molecular, cellular, neuroanatomical, and behavioral levels of organization. We have focused on serotonin receptors historically but increasingly we are using novel molecular and genetic tools to dissect the involvement of key neural circuits in behavioral models of stress and/or addiction.
The main strategies include a range of behavioral models, intersectional transgenic and viral-mediated gene transfer manipulations of gene expression, neuropharmacology, engineered receptors (DREADDs), fiber photometry, calcium imaging, two-photon microscopy, RNAseq and RTqPCR (using RiboTag pull-down). We are trying to push the envelope in developing and using methods that allow us very precise manipulations or readouts from specific pathways such as the projections from nucleus accumbens to ventral tegmentum or lateral habenula to dorsal raphe nucleus. We are also exploring the role of microglia, the innate immune cells in the brain, during early stages of drug and alcohol withdrawal in advance of typical activation of neuroinflammation.
Molly Adrian
Personal Statement
My program of research is broadly aimed at understanding processes involved in the etiology and treatment of self-injury, including nonsuicidal self-injury and suicide attempts, in adolescents. I utilize longitudinal cohort based datasets (Developmental Pathways Research Program; VanderStoep & McCauley), cross-sectional epidemiological data (Washington State Healthy Youth Survey), and adolescents recruited from inpatient psychiatry unit (PIs: Adrian & Sim) to examine genetic, environmental, and individual contributions to prediction of the spectrum of self-injurious behavior during adolescence.
In addition to employing a developmental psychopathology approach to the study of self-injury, I also work towards identifying core components of effective treatments for youth at risk for self-injury. In the context of NIMH-funded clinical trial to understand efficacy of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), I have provided leadership for the recruitment and assessment arms of a clinical trial for youth who repetitively self-injure and involved in the treatment team for DBT arm of intervention (Collaborative Adolescent Research on Emotions and Suicide; PIs Linehan, McCauley, Berk, Asarnow). I am also interested in improving suicide assessment by incorporating adolescents social media information in predictive machine learning algorithms and applying these methods in clinic and school settings.
Jürgen Unützer
Personal Statement
My work focuses on the integration of mental health services and general medical care and on translating research on evidence-based mental health interventions into effective clinical and public health practice. I have published over 300 scientific papers and I am the recipient of numerous federal and foundation grants and awards for my research on integrated behavioral health care. I work with national and international organizations dedicated to improving behavioral health care for diverse populations. I have served as Senior Scientific Advisor to the World Health Organization and as an advisor to the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health.
