NeTReF Fellowship

NeTReF Image

NeTReF

Neuropsychiatry Translational Research Fellowship

In collaboration with
Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine & Harvard Medical School, VA Boston Healthcare System is launching a
PG V-VI Neuropsychiatry Translational Research Fellowship

If interested in applying for Academic Year 2018-2019, please contact Dr. Ann Rasmusson and Dr. Gary Kaplan and you will be directed to next steps.

Director
Ann M. Rasmusson, MD, Psychiatry Liaison for PTSD Research & Education, VA Boston Healthcare System and National Center for PTSD, Department of Veterans Affairs, Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine  ann.rasmusson@va.gov; ann.rasmusson@gmail.com

Co-Director
Gary B. Kaplan, MD, Director of the Mental Health Service, VA Boston Healthcare System and Professor of Psychiatry and Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine  gary.kaplan@va.gov

Academic Site Directors

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine & Boston Medical Center:  David Henderson, MD, Professor and Chair of Psychiatry and Christina Borba, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor and Director of Research, christina.borba@bmc.org; david.henderson@bmc.org

Harvard Medical School & Massachusetts General Hospital:  Maurizio Fava, MD, Executive Vice Chair of Psychiatry and Slater Family Professor mfava@mgh.harvard.edu

Harvard Medical School & McLean Hospital:  Kerry Ressler, MD, Ph.D. Chief Scientific Officer and James and Patricia Poitras Chair in Psychiatry, kressler@mclean.harvard.edu

 

Overall Goal

A. Increase our understanding of the intersection between stress exposure (extreme, chronic or traumatic stress, in particular) and development of neuropsychiatric disorders (e.g., PTSD) and commonly co-occurring psychiatric, substance abuse and medical disorders.

B. Translate knowledge of the pathophysiology of these highly comorbid stress-related disorders into novel, individualized and more effective means of prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Specific Aims of the Fellowship Program are to:

  1. Train and educate graduates of 4-year psychiatry residency training programs in cutting edge interdisciplinary neuropsychiatric research methodologies aimed at advancing precision medicine for the prevention and treatment of mental health disorders and their frequently co-occurring psychiatric, substance abuse and medical complications.
  1. Inspire talented, innovative and collaborative clinician-scientists to support development of translational biomarkers of pathophysiological processes that contribute to neuropsychiatric disorder risk and chronicity. The field of neuropsychiatry is rapidly moving away from one-size-fits-all clinical trial designs that fail to identify important subpopulation characteristics that impact treatment efficacy. The field is moving toward use of individually variable biomarker profiles to: a) stratify and thereby de-risk and enhance the success of Phase II/ III clinical trials, and b) target already available and novel therapeutics to individual patients in the clinic.
  1. Enable timely acquisition of career-awards or other early stage funding to support promising clinician-scientists in development of research and clinical careers in precision neuropsychiatry.

 Academic Structure and Activities

A. Mentorship: Research and academic mentors will be carefully selected to align with the interests and training needs of Fellows. NeTReF mentors will be selected from the collaborating institutions and respective residency training programs including those associated with Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts General Hospital, McLean Hospital, and Harvard South Shore). See below.

B. Didactics: Research-related educational activities will be provided by an array of experts from across the collaborating institutions. Educational activities will include monthly in-person research presentations by Fellows, faculty members, and outside researchers. Seminars in scientific writing, grant writing, basic and more advanced biostatistics, clinical trial design, and other focused topics also will be offered. Additional academic resources and research activities abound at the collaborating institutions and can be accessed by Fellows. Biostatistics support needed for development of research presentations and grant development also will be provided.

C. Academic Affiliation: Fellows already affiliated with one of the collaborating academic institutions will remain affiliated with that institution if agreeable to the Fellow and institution. Either of two lines of VA Research Fellowship funding are available to these Fellows (see below).  Fellows new to Boston will be eligible for the VA Special Fellowship (see below) and will develop an academic affiliation, as appropriate, over the course of the Fellowship.

Fellowship Funding Lines

  1. VA Regular Fellowship Training Funds: This funding line enables the training of BU or MGH/McLean/HSS residents at VA Boston Healthcare System while remaining paid (in part) and affiliated with their respective residency training programs. Fellows will spending significant but varying amount of time at VA Boston Healthcare System participating in research projects with a VA-based collaborator or mentor, or training in relevant clinical sub-disciplines (e.g., diagnosis and treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder according to current clinical practices). Payment by VA is made to the affiliated academic institution for hours spent at VA.
  1. Special Fellowship Funds: This option, which funds 100% of the Fellow’s training, will be available to residents who might come from outside of the participating Boston psychiatry residency training programs or who may benefit from fulltime research and training with VA-affiliated mentors or collaborators. Participation in off-VA site research projects in which VA mentors collaborate with off-site academic investigators (e.g., imaging experts or experts in basic laboratory science) are possible as long as the equivalent of 24 hours per week are spent at VA in research or clinic activities. Fellows may also participate on VA time at VA-approved off-site locations officially approved for the conduct of VA-funded research (e.g., imaging sites or clinics having capabilities not available at VA).

NeTReF-VA Fellowship Funding Liaison: Andrew Budson, MD, ACOS for Education, VA Boston Healthcare System and Professor of Neurology, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
andrew.budson@va.gov

NeTReF-VABHS Clinical Services Liaison:  John Bradley, MD, Chief of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare Service and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School
John.Bradley7@va.gov

NeTReF Biostatistics Training Director:  Christina Borba, Ph.D., MPH, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine    christina.borba@bmc.org

NeTReF Grants Development Training Co-Directors:  Risa Weinberg Hawkins, Ph.D., VA Boston Healthcare System and Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine;  Suzanne Pineles, Ph.D., National Center for PTSD, Department of Veterans Affairs, VA Boston Healthcare System, and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
risa.weisberghawkins@va.gov; suzanne.pineles@va.gov

NeTReF Mentors:  Primary and secondary mentors will typically represent different disciplines or technical areas of expertise needed to support the design and execution of the Fellow’s translational research project(s).  

A. VA Boston Healthcare System

VABHS mentors have extensive experience supporting trainees on NIMH-funded K-21 and T32 awards, as well as VA CDA-I (one-year) and CDA-II (5-year) awards. VABHS primary and secondary mentors will be chosen to support the specific interests and skills development of NeTReF applicants. It is expected that VA mentors will collaborate with Off-VA site mentors. Potential VABHS mentors include Drs.:
Mark Bauer: health services research
Grace Chang: substance abuse risk and recovery
Joe DeGutis:  cognitive & neural mechanisms of face processing; attentional state and inhibitory/switch training in substance abuse; innovative assessment technologies (e.g. brief tablet-based cognitive testing)
Lynn DeLisi: Genetic predisposition/structural neuroimaging /treatment of psychotic disorders and comorbidities (e.g., PTSD and substance abuse)
Michael Esterman: transcranial magnetic stimulation; psychophysiology and cognitive test development; posttraumatic MRI/fMRI endophenotyping
Tara Galovski: Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) research; CPT augmentation trials
Jaimie Gradus: epidemiology; suicide & posttraumatic psychiatric/medical disorders; machine learning
Gary Kaplan: rodent models of blunt neurotrauma & PTSD; opiate effects on brain plasticity
Mark Logue: genetic, gene expression, and epigenetic markers of PTSD and related disorders
Christopher Miller: health services research and implementation science; team-based healthcare
Mark Miller: pharmacogenomics; latent structure of PTSD symptoms and comorbidities
Jasmeet Pannu-Hayes: fMRI of brain processes impacted in PTSD and involved in PTSD recovery
Kate Iverson:  health services research and implementation science; evidence-based screening and intervention for intimate partner violence and related traumatic brain injury among women.
Ann Rasmusson: neuroendocrinology/neuropsychopharmacology of PTSD & comorbid psychiatric, substance abuse & medical disorders; sex & reproductive phase impact on PTSD pathophysiology
John Renner: opiate dependence treatment and recovery
David Salat: structural imaging and brain biomarkers of PTSD, TBI and related disorders
Kevin Spencer: EEG studies of neural circuitry in psychotic disorders
Jennifer Vasterling: neurocognitive performance in PTSD
Mieke Verfaellie: cognition and associated neural processes in PTSD
Dawn Vogt: measurement and survey development; health services research
Risa Weisberg: primary care research and innovative treatment implementation
Erika Wolf: gene/epigenetic markers of PTSD, metabolic syndrome & accelerated biological/brain aging

*Additional secondary mentors in medical specialties are available for consideration in the development of projects involving psychiatric disorder-related medical comorbidities

Dr. Ann Rasmusson, Dr. John Bradley, and Dr. Gary Kaplan are available for consultation on mentorship matching at VABHS for interested NeTReF applicants

B. Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
The Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center Department of Psychiatry also will provide NeTReF mentorship opportunities in translational basic and clinical science. Potential NeTReF mentors include Drs.:

Lee Goldstein: rodent models of blast/blunt neurotrauma and chronic traumatic encephalophathy; disease mechanisms and new diagnostics and treatments for neurodegenerative disorders
David Henderson: risk factors for metabolic syndrome related to psychotropic medication usage
Snezana Milanovic: genetic, epigenetic and neuroimaging bio-markers of risk for psychopathology during pregnancy and infancy;
Chris Streeter:  controlled studies of Iyengar yoga and treatment of major depression
Wendy Qiu: molecular basis for interactions between Type II diabetes, depression & Alzheimer’s disease with a focus on geriatric populations; peripheral and neuroimaging biomarkers, bench molecular science
Huiping Zhang: genetic, epigenetic & pharmacogenetics of substance dependence and related disorders

*Other potential BUSM/BMC Department of Psychiatry faculty mentors conduct clinical trials in patients with schizophrenia or other psychotic disorders, and are engaged in research at the BUSM SpiVak Center for Clinical and Translational Neuroscience: https://www.bu.edu/neuro/research/centers/spivack-center/. For more BUSM/BMC research faculty, see https://www.bumc.bu.edu/psychiatry/psychiatry-research-center/ & See https://www.bumc.bu.edu/psychiatry/

Dr. Ann Rasmusson, Dr. Christina Borba, and Dr. Gary Kaplan are available for consultation on mentorship matching at BUSM/BMC for interested NeTReF applicants.

C. Harvard Medical School
The MGH/McLean Residency Training Program has an established and successful track record of mentorship of trainees through the NIMH-funded R25 Research Concentration program. PG1-IV Trainees in the R25 program are encouraged to match with the most suitable mentors drawn from a large list of available PIs (see website: http://mghmcleanpsychiatry.partners.org/research/research-faculty/). We plan to make available to the VA NeTReF fellows the same broad range of research mentorship options and PIs: Research Faculty | MGH/McLean Psychiatry mghmcleanpsychiatry.partners.org

On the McLean Hospital campus, fellows can find a broad range of mentorship opportunities in basic science, as well as clinical and translational science. NeTReF Mentors currently identified include Drs.:
William Carlezon: rodent models of stress and depression
Elena Chartoff: animal studies of stress and addiction
Shelly Greenfield: clinical studies in substance abuse and PTSD
Melissa Kaufman: clinical and behavioral studies in PTSD and related disorders,
Scott Lukas: human neuroimaging studies in stress and addiction
Diego Pizzagalli: physiology and neuroimaging in stress and depression
Kerry Ressler: basic and human studies on amygdala function in stress-related disorders
Rachel Ross: mouse and human studies of stress and feeding behavior
Isabelle Rosso: neuroimaging in PTSD

*For a complete list of all potential members, see: http://www.mcleanhospital.org/investigators

MGH Psychiatry can also provide a broad range of mentorship opportunities in basic, clinical and translational science. Currently identified NeTReF mentors include Drs.:
Eric Bui: clinical studies in PTSD and related disorders
Thilo Deckersbach: neuroimaging of depression
Eden Evins: translational studies in addiction
Maurizio Fava: clinical and translational studies in depression
Jodi Gilman: neuroimaging studies of addiction
Karestan Koenen: genetics and epidemiology of PTSD
Roger Pitman: translational and neuroimaging studies of PTSD
Amar Sahay: animal studies of hippocampal activation and stress, fear, and depression
Jordan Smoller: genetics of stress and depression

*For a complete list of all potential mentors, see: http://www.massgeneral.org/psychiatry/research/

Dr. Kerry Ressler (McLean Hospital) and Dr. Maurizio Fava (MGH) are available for consultation on mentorship matching for interested NeTReF applicants.

General Institutional Resources

A. VA Boston Healthcare System (VABHS)

  1. National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The NC-PTSD, comprised of six sites across the U.S., has been funded by Congress since 1989 to advance PTSD research and education in the service of the nation’s Veterans. The Women’s Health Sciences Division (WHSD) and Behavioral Science Division (BSD) are located at VABHS and support collaborative research regarding: a) PTSD pathophysiology, sex-differences, clinical/biological endophenotypes, and risk-resilience profiling, b) psychosocial and biological PTSD treatment development, and c) PTSD-related psychiatric, substance abuse and medical comorbidities. The latter encompass other anxiety and mood disorders, trauma-related psychotic disorders, sleep disorders, nicotine dependence, other substance abuse disorders, negative outcomes of neurotrauma, metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis, cardiovascular disorders, chronic pain, GI disorders, immune disorders, eating disorders and sex-specific conditions such as disorders of the prostrate gland, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, postpartum depression, pre-term birth, and post-menopausal disorders. Aligning knowledge bases, methodologies and research designs between medical researchers and neuropsychiatric researchers with knowledge of the neurobiology of stress and PTSD is likely to markedly enhance development of more efficient and effective treatments that address the shared neurobiology of these comorbid disorders. This approach is also likely to reduce risk for unintended off-target effects of medications developed within too narrowly construed disorder-specific frameworks.

 

  1. Translational Research Center for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Stress: The TRACTS program is a VA Rehabilitation Research and Development (RR&D)-funded Center of Excellence dedicated to the close characterization and longitudinal follow-up of a cohort of 500 deployed OEF/OIF/OND Veterans. Multi-modal assessments of TRACTS enrollees include diagnosis of lifetime and current DSM disorders, psychophysiology testing, neuropsychological testing, metabolic and general health profiling, PTSD-relevant plasma profiling, structural and functional neuroimaging, and genomics. The program was initiated in 2008, was renewed in 2013, and is up for renewal again in 2018 with a focus on translating knowledge so far gained into precision medicine interventions for PTSD, TBI and other comorbid conditions. A newly funded NC-PTSD, WHSD initiative will be expanding recruitment of women into the TRACTS program.
  1. Center for Healthcare Organization & Implementation Research: CHOIR, which was co-awarded to VABHS and Edith Norse Rogers VA in Bedford, is the largest VA Health Services Research & Development Center of Innovation nationally, encompassing all aspects of health services research and implementation science. CHOIR includes three major research foci, each of relevance to neuropsychiatry: mental health recovery and collaborative care, medication optimization, and health communications.  Studies utilize a wide variety of health services research methodology, including controlled trials, big data analysis, qualitative data, and implementation science strategies. CHOIR investigators include physicians, psychologists, health services researchers, economists, statisticians, anthropologists, and sociologists working in areas relevant to mental health, medicine, surgery, and related areas of healthcare. CHOIR’s implementation science expertise is particularly innovative and relevant to translational neuropsychiatry research, as it focuses on moving healthcare practices with an established evidence base into general clinical practice to achieve maximum impact on public health.
  2. Other On-Site VA Research Programs & Facilities: Basic Sciences. Fifteen full-time scientists and other part-time clinician researchers across VABHS investigate: (a) brain circuitry involved in sleep-wake regulation, functions of sleep and consequences of sleep loss; and (b) neural circuit abnormalities in rodent models of neuropsychiatric disorders such as PTSD, traumatic brain injury (TBI), schizophrenia, and opiate dependence. Brain Banking. The Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Research Center and the NCPTSD support the VA-BU-CLF brain bank for CTE, Alzheimer’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and PTSD located at the VABHS Jamaica Plain Campus.  Neuroimaging. The Neuroimaging for Veterans Research Center (NeRVe) allows on-site state-of-the-art functional and structural neuroimaging at the VA Jamaica Plain Campus. Epidemiology/Biostatistics, Clinical Trials, Sample Processing and Biorepository Support. The Massachusetts Veterans Epidemiological Research and Information Center (MAVERIC), located at the Jamaica Plain campus, includes the VA Cooperative Studies Coordinating Center and New England-wide clinical trials network, the Million Veteran Program (a national genomics project with >550,000 enrollees to date), and the MAVERIC Biorepository, which provides state-of-the-art processing, storage, and shipping of biological specimens for VABHS researchers.

B. Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center (BMC)

  1. Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine: BUSM is co-located with Boston Medical Center (BMC), Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) and the Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine on the Boston University Medical Campus (BUMC), located in Boston’s historic South End in close proximity to Boston’s low-income neighborhoods. These institutions share research resources and offer a robust environment for research scientists. BUSM began as the New England Female Medical College in 1848, the first medical school in the world to admit women, and was incorporated as Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in 1873. While BUSM is organizationally distinct from BMC, the School’s clinical chairs serve as chiefs of their respective services at BMC. This long-standing collaboration links education, research, and clinical service delivery in innovative ways. For example, BUSM and BMC are founding members of the Boston HealthNet, a network including 13 community health centers serving much of the city’s safety net population. BUSM’s commitment to community service was nationally recognized in 1995 by with the prestigious Outstanding Community Service Award of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). In addition to its emphasis on physician education in a community service context, BUSM is one of the major biomedical research institutions in the U.S. and home to one of the largest and most rapidly growing research programs among U.S. medical schools. In 2015, U.S. News & World Report ranked BUSM the 30th research medical school in the U.S., up 5 places since 2009.
  2. Boston Medical Center: BMC is a private, not-for-profit, 486-bed academic medical center with a mission to provide consistently accessible health services to all in need, regardless of status or ability to pay. Approximately 75% of BMC patients come from underserved populations, including low-income families, elders, people with disabilities, and immigrants. Seventy percent of all patients are from racial and ethnic minority populations, and 32% do not speak English as a primary language. BMC also serves a range of special populations, including people living with HIV/AIDS, pregnant HIV-positive women, survivors of torture, the homeless, high-risk obstetrical patients, children affected by HIV, failure-to-thrive children, children and adolescents at risk of obesity, individuals with mental illness, substance abusers, and dually-diagnosed individuals. BMC is the largest safety-net hospital in New England and supported more than 24,000 admissions and 1,000,000 patient visits in the past year. BMC is also recognized as a leader in groundbreaking medical research and supports many world-renowned researchers. The hospital oversees 594 research and service projects apart from BUSM research projects.
  3. The Department of Psychiatry at BUSM/BMC, which will provide primary clinical and administrative oversight for this fellowship, includes the Psychiatry Research Center, a human pharmacology laboratory, animal behavioral pharmacology laboratories, and sleep and cognitive science laboratories with molecular biology and genomics capabilities. Core facilities support neuroimaging, genetics, synthetic chemistry, bioengineering, photonics, molecular aging and development, and a general clinical research center. The Department of Psychiatry’s research initiatives encompass maternal and child mental health, serious mental illnesses, Veterans’ health and PTSD, addictions, Alzheimer’s, and refugee health. The Department has expertise in a range of research methodologies including basic science, clinical trials, qualitative and mixed-methods research, epidemiologic and epigenetic research, community-based participatory research, and bio-banking. The Department also hosts a data repository for normal participants with noninvasive brain stimulation, neuroimaging data, and CANTAB neuropsychological data. The Psychiatry Research Unit, located in the Doctor’s Office Building, Suite 1150, comprises 4,000 square feet of space dedicated to addiction psychopharmacology and other clinical trials. Research dedicated MagVenture, MagPro TMS and clinical research Neurostar TMS, and an Age channel ASA Lab System EEG with analytic software and a TechEn NIRS system are on the unit. Staffing includes a Director, Medical Director, and research psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses, and technical staff, each of whom has extensive experience with clinical trials. Statistical consultation is provided through a Psychiatry Department contract with the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology. Data management is provided by the Biometrics Core of the Boston University Clinical and Transitional Sciences Unit (CTSI).

C. Harvard Medical School (HMS): Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and McLean Hospital

  1. Harvard Medical School: HMS is one of the world’s preeminent institutions in medical education and research. The breadth and depth of its scientific and clinical disciplines are unsurpassed; it has nearly 8,000 faculty and 17 affiliated facilities. Those facilities participating in the NeTReF include:
  1. McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts (~10 miles west of Boston) is a major HMS teaching facility and maintains the largest program of research in neuroscience and psychiatry of any private psychiatric hospital in the U.S. A large program of clinical trials for new psychopharmacological agents allows patients access to many experimental medications before they’re generally available. The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program (ADATP) offers a continuum of care and development of research-based treatments that bridge basic science and clinical research. McLean researchers are physicians, psychologists, pharmacists, and nurses with advanced scientific training, PhDs in the basic sciences, and MD-PhDs in brain imaging, behavioral genetics, clinical pharmacology, electrophysiology, epidemiology, genetics, molecular neurobiology, medicinal chemistry, neuroanatomy, neurology, neurochemistry, neuropathology, pharmacology, physics, psychology and statistics. Collaboration among investigators from these complementary disciplines is common. As part of an ongoing Strategic Plan, McLean will eventually have a disease-based departmental structure. The McLean Hospital Brain Imaging Center (BIC) supports both human and animal (rodent and primate) imaging studies. Two prototype Low Frequency Magnetic Stimulation (LFMS) systems have been constructed at the BIC for use in studies of magnetic stimulation in affective disorders. LFMS effects in humans were first observed at the BIC, and the study of this phenomenon is being pursued by the BIC in human studies, as well as in collaboration with behavioral, neurobiological and biochemical laboratories at McLean Hospital. The Optical Imaging Laboratory also permits application of optical imaging to CNS function. Formerly known as the Biological Research Laboratory, the Mailman Research Center (MRC), which opened in 1946 and now home to 24 departments and one of the foremost neuroscience programs in the world.
  1. Massachusetts General Hospital: Located in the heart of Boston, MGH is the third oldest general hospital in the U.S., the largest teaching hospital of HMS, and largest hospital-based research program in the U.S. The MGH Department of Psychiatry is composed of 625 paid and volunteer physicians and psychologists who serve MGH patients and its neighborhood clinics, patients of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Mental Health, and referrals from many sources and locations for consultation, evaluation, and treatment. Department services include the Blake 11 inpatient service, a consultation service, psychiatry services within the MGH Emergency Department, and outpatient clinics.

The Depression Clinical and Research Program (DCRP), led Dr. Maurizio Fava, is one of the major clinical and research programs at MGH and a world leader in depression research. Dr. Fava and Drs. Andrew Nierenberg and Jonathan Alpert (associate directors) have served as mentors for several successful NARSAD, APA, and K-Award fellowship applications. The Bipolar Clinic and Research Program (BCRP) constitutes another major research group at MGH. Co-directors Drs. Andrew Nierenberg, MD, and Gary Sachs, MD, Medical Director Roy Perlis, M.D. MSc., and Director of Psychological Services Thilo Deckersbach, Ph.D., specialize in the combined psychiatric and psychosocial treatment of bipolar and related disorders. Ongoing research studies are reviewed in the weekly research meeting with PIs and coordinators. Senior investigators (e.g., Drs. Nierenberg and Perlis) are available for consultation to planned research projects. Other program directors (e.g., Dr. Fava) also provide intellectual support. Biostatisticians at Harvard School of Public Health Biostatistics Department provide statistical support.

The MGH/ HMS Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Functional and Structural Biomedical Imaging, located at the MGH East Campus in the Charlestown Navy Yard (~10-minute shuttle ride from MGH), provides cutting edge large bore (human) and small bore (rodent) neuroimaging, NMR spectroscopy, and PET imaging s. The Behavioral Testing Laboratory at the Martinos Center provides a quiet and controlled environment for neuropsychological testing, development and piloting of behavioral paradigms, and pre- and post-scan experiments with children and adults. Clinical exam rooms are equipped with physiological monitoring devices and supplies for blood draws. The Skin Conductance Research Laboratory (SCR) provides for safe recording of the SCRs in the 3T magnet. The Psychiatric Neuroscience Research Program (PNRP) of the MGH Department of Psychiatry is based within the Charlestown Navy Yard and implements fMRI, REST-ASL, morphometric MRI, MRS, MEG, ERPs and PET to study normal cognition and emotion, as well as psychiatric disorders, including ADHD, anxiety, mood disorders, OCD, PTSD, schizophrenia, dementia, Tourette’s, HIV+ related cognitive decline, and sleep disorders.