Adult
The Center's faculty focus on a range of issues related to adult depression.
Myrna M. Weissman, PhD
Dr. Weissman is a professor of epidemiology in the Department of Psychiatry, the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, and chief of the Division of Translational Epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Her research has focused on clarifying the rates and risks of mood disorders in families using methods of epidemiology, genetics, neuroimaging, and the application of these findings to develop and test empirically based treatments. Along with her late husband Gerald Klerman, she developed Interpersonal Psychotherapy, which now has over 135 clinical trials and is recommended in numerous treatment guidelines. Dr. Weissman participates in a variety of studies using epidemiologic methods, and she is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. In 2009, she was selected by the American College of Epidemiology as one of 10 epidemiologists in the United States who has had a major impact on public policy and public health. In 2016, she was listed as one of the 100 highly cited authors in Google Scholars Citation. In 2020, she won the Humanitarian Award from the Brain and Behavior Foundation for her work on depression and interpersonal psychotherapy.
Current Projects
1. Three Generations at High and Low Risk for Depression Followed Longitudinally: A Multi-Generation, 40-Year Longitudinal Study of Families at High- and Low-Risk for Major Depressive Disorder
Grant: R01 MH036197
Role: Principal Investigator
Description: This project examines whether three latent RDoC constructs instantiate mechanisms by which family history of MDD leads to negative outcomes in adulthood, test intergenerational transmission of RDoC constructs, and examine the long-term clinical course of depression by risk status.
2. Using Self-Reported Religiosity/Spirituality to Predict Mental Health Outcomes and Biological Correlates
Grant: John Templeton Foundation (Proposal #61330)
Role: Principal Investigator
Description: This project examines the pattern of relationships between our extensive religiosity/spirituality survey data and 5-year prospective clinical outcomes (e.g., depression) in our longitudinal, multigenerational cohort of families at high and low risk for depression, and (2) make predictions in terms of health and its associated neurobiological outcomes (e.g., cortical thickness) in the same cohort five years later employing magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques. A COVID survey is ongoing.
Recent Publications
Weissman, M. M. (2020). Big data begin in psychiatry. JAMA Psychiatry, 77(9), 967-973.
Weissman, M. M., Berry, O. O., Warner, V., Gameroff, M. J., Skipper, J., Talati, A., Pilowsky, D. J., & Wickramaratne, P. (2016). A 30-year study of 3 generations at high risk and low risk for depression. JAMA Psychiatry, 73(9), 970-977.
Weissman, M. M., Markowitz, J. C., & Klerman, G. L. (2018). The guide to interpersonal psychotherapy (Updated and expanded edition). Oxford University Press
Contact
Email: myrna.weissman@nyspi.columbia.edu
Phone: 646-774-6427
Office Address: 1051 Riverside Drive, Unit 24, New York, NY 10032