The Division of Epidemiology at the New York State Psychiatric Institute was established on July 1, 2007 as a consolidation of several existing divisions in epidemiology within the Institute.  The mission of this new division is to reduce the burden of psychiatric disorders through research, education, and service. The research mission involves studying the risk of psychiatric disorders and related disability associated with genetic, social, and environmental factors and developing interventions and programs to reduce these risks.  It also encompasses educating eh public regarding mental health issues and informing public policy.  Research methods cover the range of epidemiology and include but are not limited to genetic studies, clinical trials, clinical and community epidemiological surveys including trend analyses, secondary analysis of health care utilization data to assess the incidence and describe the course of psychiatric disorders, develop and test primary prevention and treatment interventions, and analyze social systems and health care delivery patterns. The educational mission includes the training and development of students and young investigators to promote interdisciplinary collaboration, generate and interpret epidemiologic information, and contribute to the reduction of psychiatric disease burden.  The service mission involves providing service as advisors and consultants to health professionals, health organizations, and agencies at the state, national and international levels. 

The Division of Epidemiology operates under the leadership of Myrna Weissman, Ph.D.  Many members of the Division are involved in projects in several areas.  Collaborations exist within and outside of the Division as well as with other sites throughout the United States and abroad.  Such collaborations provide opportunities for integrating new research tools, particularly in imaging and molecular genetics, into new and ongoing epidemiological studies.

The Division is organized into four related areas of research concentration: 1) genetics/high risk research, 2) epidemiology/health services, 3) prevention/therapeutics, and 4) international mental health.  Key resource people in these areas are listed within each area. The research mission of the Division is facilitated by core resource support in administration (Karl Fritch), data management and subject tracking (Phil Adams, Ph.D.), biostatistics (Priya Wickramaratne), and statistical genetics (David A Greenberg, Ph.D. and Susan E Hodge, D.Sc.)

Genetics/High Risk Research:  Drs. Greenberg and Hodge lead a unit in Mathematical Genetics and a training grant in the Genetics of Complex Disorders within the Division. Their research uses linkage analysis, segregation analysis, and related strategies to advance understanding of how genes have an impact on psychiatric and neurobehavioral disease and to develop new innovative statistical approaches to genetic problems.  Dr. Weissman is engaged in a three generation study of familial patterns of psychiatric and behavioral problems from childhood to adulthood of offspring at high and low risk for depression that involves brain imaging and genetic studies.  She also leads several genetic studies involving clinical characterization and DNA collection of large samples of subjects with mood and anxiety disorders and controls.  She is a resource for methods to collect large samples for genetic studies of psychiatric disorders. 

Epidemiology/Health Services:   Patricia Cohen, PhD and Alan Brown, MD provide key resources in epidemiological research. Dr. Cohen’s work focuses on assessing determinants of personality disorders and other psychiatric disorders and includes a long-term longitudinal survey that probes course and course-affecting aspects of psychiatric disorders and genetic associations with psychiatric disorders in a large cohort from the general population.  Dr. Brown provides leadership in research on the identification of prenatal determinants of risk for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and autism in large and well-characterized birth cohorts.  He is also examining the relationship between early life risk factors and structural and functional brain abnormalities in schizophrenia utilizing MRI, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and neurocognitive assessments, and characterizing developmental trajectories that are related to prenatal experience and predictive of these psychiatric outcomes.  Molecular genetic studies in these birth cohorts are ongoing and future research in genetics is planned.

Clinical epidemiological studies of mental disorders and service needs of adults in low income primary care settings are led by Myrna Weissman, PhD and Mark Olfson, MD.  Yuval Neria, Ph.D. leads a study on the effects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the risk and persistence of post-traumatic stress disorder in a large primary care sample.  Jeffrey Johnson, Ph.D. conducts epidemiological research on adolescent mental health and risk factors associated with the development of mental disorders during adolescence and adulthood.

Health services research expertise is provided by Dr. Olfson whose research spans practice-based and secondary analysis of mental health service delivery with a focus on pharmacoepidemiology. This work addresses aspects of treatment effectiveness, quality of care, and clinical decision making in the delivery of community mental health services.  Dr. Roderich Wallace applies mathematical modeling to understand cultural systems, displacement of minority populations and other social issues.  Stephanie Kasen, PhD is conducting research on individual and social factors that influence aging, depression, and well-being in a large random sample of adult women followed over three decades in a multi-wave study.

Prevention/Therapeutics:  Laura Mufson, PhD is engaged in therapeutics research.  Her research focuses on developing strategies to implement evidence-based psychological treatment in community settings.  A large ongoing study involves using experimental methods to compare the effectiveness of group interpersonal therapy delivered by mental health professionals in public school-based clinics with usual care for depressed children and adolescents.  Helen Verdeli, Ph.D. contributes expertise in the prevention of major psychiatric disorder.  Her research focuses on a therapeutic intervention for children at high risk for bipolar disorder.  The Division also maintains an active collaboration with a research center within the Division of Child Psychiatry that develops and tests evidence-based mental health interventions in community settings.  The Principal Research Core and the Research Network Core of the Child Center Grant funding this work is led by Drs. Myrna Weissman and Mark Olfson, respectively.

International Mental Health: The Division also has active projects in international mental health research.  Drs. Verdeli and Richard Neugebauer have modified and tested interpersonal psychotherapy within a group format for depressed adults in Uganda and Dr. Verdeli has ongoing clinical trial collaborations in Goa, Greece, China and Kenya.  Dr. Neugebauer has assessed the prevalence of major depressive disorder and civil war related post-traumatic stress syndromes among Rawandans.  Dr. Brown is conducting epidemiological and genetic research on risk factors for autism and schizophrenia in a national birth cohort in Finland, and is collaborating with colleagues in Sweden on similar questions.