[Winter 1998; Vol.25 No. 3]
Maryland Psychiatric Research Center Receives $5.4 Million Grant
The University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Maryland Psychiatric Research Center has been chosen as the site of a federally funded Specialized Mental Health Intervention Research Center. One of three centers funded nationwide by the National Institute of Mental Health to focus on schizophrenia, the MPRC is slated to receive $5.4 million over the next five years.
The Intervention Research Center will evaluate the relative effectiveness of new drugs and drugs still in development for treating schizophrenia. New anti-psychotic medications have recently been approved for schizophrenia, but little is know about how these drugs compare with each other, explains William T. Carpenter, Jr., MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the MPRC. Carpenter is principal investigator for the research program. Researchers will study the effectiveness of the drugs, not only in controlling symptoms of psychosis, but in moderating the more subtle but serious long-term effects of schizophrenia, such as impairments in thinking and emotional expression. The IRC will support a program of investigation of adjunctive treatments for these latter impairments.
Researchers will use the latest in neuro-imaging techniques to study the exact nature of drug effects in the brain. “We hope that what we learn will enable us to develop new targets for drug therapy and effective treatments for the cognitive and emotional impairments that profoundly alter the ability of a person with schizophrenia to function and participate fully in society,” says Carpenter. University of Maryland School of Medicine faculty at the MPRC are internationally recognized as leaders in basic and clinical schizophrenia research, committed to translating scientific discoveries into practical applications, the MPRC director says “The Intervention Research Center award will help us bring science closer to the everyday arena of clinical care.”
MPRC Faculty named to National Academy of Sciences
Dr. William T. Carpenter, Jr., MD, professor of psychiatry and director of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC), and Dr. Carol A. Tamminga, MD, professor of psychiatry and deputy director of MPRC, have just been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, effective October 1, 1998. Members are elected on the basis of professional achievement and of demonstrated interest, concern, and involvement with problems and critical issues which affect the health of the public. Established in 1970, the Institute of Medicine, of the National Academy of Sciences, is broadly based in the biomedical sciences and health professions, as well as related aspects of the behavioral and social sciences, administration, law, the physical sciences, and engineering. The Institute is concerned with the protection and advancement of the health professions and sciences, the promotion of research and development pertinent to health, and the improvement of health care.