BRENT P. FORESTER, MD
- Harvard title(s): Instructor in Psychiatry
- McLean title(s): Director Mood Disorders Division, Geriatric Psychiatry Research Program and Site Director, Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Core Clerkship, McLean Hospital
- Email: bforester@mclean.harvard.edu
- Telephone: (617) 855-3622
- Fax: (617) 855-3246
- Office Address: South Belknap 308
- Degree(s):
- 1988 BA Dartmouth College
- 1992 MD Dartmouth Medical School
- Residency:
- 1995-1996 Chief Resident, Adult Psychiatry, The McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA
- 1993-1996 Resident in Adult Psychiatry, The McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA
- 1992-1993 Intern in Medicine, The Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA
- Fellowship:
- 1997 Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Geriatric Psychiatry
- Board Certifications(s):
- 2008 American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Geriatric Psychiatry, Recertification
- 2007 American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Psychiatry, Recertification
- 1998 American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Geriatric Psychiatry
- 1997 American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Psychiatry
- 1996- New Hampshire License Registration
- 1994- Massachusetts License Registration
- Clinical Interests: Geriatric Psychiatry: Late Life Depression, Alzheimer's Disease and related disorders, Geriatric Bipolar Disorder
- Bio:
My first passion in geriatric psychiatry is to improve the care of patients with late life psychiatric disorders.
Clinical Care and Teaching in Geriatric Psychiatry
After recruitment back to McLean in 2002, I have served as Medical Director of the Geriatric Neuropsychiatry Unit (GNU) engaged in clinical work and administrative oversight of an 18 bed unit dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of older adults with dementia complicated by behavioral disturbances. I have worked with the McLean Geriatric Psychiatry Fellows, the PGI MGH-McLean Psychiatry Residents and Harvard Medical Students as they rotate on the GNU. This work has included daily supervision of clinical care and didactic lectures. I have also interviewed geriatric patients with each of the residents and students at a local clinical care retirement community to provide them with a broad view of mental health issues facing aging adults. Finally, I have been invited to numerous local, regional and national meetings to present a clinical and evidence-based perspective on the pharmacological management of patients with dementia and behavioral disturbances.
I was chosen to become site director at McLean Hospital for the Harvard Medical School Psychiatry clerkship beginning in July, 2007. I am particularly interested in this position as a result of my national experience with the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry as chair of a subcommittee on Undergraduate Medical Education. Our goal is to expand the exposure of medical students to the range of careers in geriatric psychiatry.
Geriatric Psychiatry Research
Extensive clinical geriatric psychiatry care has fostered a deepening curiosity of clinical research in geriatric psychiatry. My clinical research experience has involved psychopharmacology trials in bipolar disorder, geriatric depression and the management of agitation in patients with dementia, including a partnership with community colleagues in long term care to study the use of divalproex for the behavioral symptoms of dementia. From 2001-2006, I served as co-Principal Investigator in an NIMH RO-1 award studying the effectiveness of health management and skills training for older adults with severe mental illness. Upon my return to McLean Hospital in 2002, I began a collaboration with the McLean Hospital Brain Imaging Center, under the mentorship of Drs Perry Renshaw and Bruce Cohen, and began studies of brain imaging (including magnetic resonance spectroscopy) in late life depression and bipolar disorder. This work has stimulated my interest in further understanding the biochemical basis for geriatric mood disorders and searching for relevant biochemical markers of treatment response. I was awarded a NARSAD grant in 2004 to study geriatric depression and an investigator initiated grant in 2006, to study geriatric bipolar depression. These studies are providing pilot data for a career development award (K23) application to NIMH to develop expertise in translational research focused on utilizing MRS to study treatments for geriatric mood disorders. In July, 2007, I began the Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts Institute of Technology Clinician Investigator Training Program (CITP) fellowship that will allow me to further purse this area of research over the next two years. In March 2008, I was awarded a second NARSAD Junior Investigator Award to study the use of Coenzyme Q10 in Geriatric Bipolar Depression and its effects on the forward rate constant of creatine kinase using Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy. - Curriculum vitæ: (PDF format)
- Publications: (Selected)
- Forester BP, Streeter CC, Berlow YA, Tian H, Wardrop M, Finn CT, Harper D, Renshaw PF, Moore CM. Brain lithium levels and effects on cognition and mood in geriatric bipolar disorder: a lithium-7 magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2009 Jan;17(1):13-23.
- Forester BP, Finn CT, Berlow YA, Wardrop M, Renshaw PF, Moore CM. Brain lithium, N-acetyl aspartate and myo-inositol levels in older adults with bipolar disorder treated with lithium: a lithium-7 and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. Bipolar Disord. 2008 Sep;10(6):691-700.
- Links: Interview with Dr. Forester