RESEARCH OVERVIEW 2005
An Overview of Research at McLean
The History of Research at McLean Hospital
McLean Hospital was founded in 1811 by Charter from the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a division of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Scientific investigation at McLean Hospital dates back to 1888, when the Hospital established laboratories of pathology and psychology and facilities for the study of microbiology and chemistry. These were the first research laboratories within the Massachusetts General Hospital system. They were also the first establishment of research laboratories within the clinical setting of a psychiatric institution in the U.S.A., and possibly the world: a radical innovation for its time and prophetic of the scientific advances to come.
An early research laboratory at McLean |
Now spanning three centuries, the McLean research program is still based on a unique confluence of clinical and laboratory resources for the study of psychiatric disorders. Today, McLean research is performed not only in specialized laboratory and brain imaging facilities, but in all of our clinical programs, addresses psychiatric illness in all age groups of patients, and occurs in all treatment settings from inpatient units to residential centers to ambulatory services. Research is focused on understanding and improving the treatment of the illnesses seen most often in our patients, including schizophrenia, major mood disorders, substance abuse, neurodegenerative diseases (including Alzheimer's, Huntington's, and Parkinson's disease) and psychiatric disorders of children. Research requiring special technical procedures is performed in the Mailman Research Center, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, or the Neuroimaging Center, all on the grounds of the Hospital. Research facilities encompass more than three acres of floor space (126,500 net square feet), including three buildings (Oaks, the Mailman Research Center, and the Neuroimaging Center) entirely devoted to research. No other psychiatric hospital or university department of psychiatry in the world contains a comparable range of laboratory, brain imaging, and clinical research facilities dedicated to the study of the major psychiatric disorders.
From its foundation, the central tenet of research at McLean has been to integrate the benefits of scientific investigation into clinical care and training. A hallmark of McLean research is its synthesis of scientific and clinical expertise and its involvement of a high proportion of patients and staff. A recent review indicated that 80% of funded research at McLean is for research projects or programs requiring patients as subjects. At present, McLean's Institutional Review Board (the committee charged with reviewing, approving, and overseeing all human subject research at McLean) is monitoring more than 350 active clinical studies (many of these studies are multi-year) involving more than 4,700 study subjects, most of whom were inpatients or outpatients at the Hospital. Furthermore, many patients who are committed to research participate in several studies or return on repeated occasions for longitudinal studies.
Martin Teicher meets with clinical researchers in the Developmental Biopsychiatry Research Program |
Investigators working at McLean today are physicians, psychologists, pharmacists, and nurses with advanced scientific training, PhDs in the basic sciences, and MD-PhDs in fields including 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. Similarly, location of McLean research in a clinical setting, ensuring proximity of investigators and clinicians, has produced many successful collaborations between laboratory scientists and clinical investigators. In fact, three of every four McLean investigators are themselves clinicians, and their work is ideally sited to provide for their personal involvement with patients who have the disorders they study.
The unique strength of research at McLean, and its particular mission, lies in providing opportunities for a diverse group of clinician-scientists using state of the art research design and technology to interact in the study of the brain in health and illness. In addition, the faculty and the clinical and research facilities at McLean Hospital provide unique opportunities for young investigators and trainees to learn scientific techniques that can be applied to psychiatric disorders.
Current Psychiatric Research, Scope and Funding
Over the years, McLean, with its confluence of research, educational programs and clinical care, has developed one of the world's most productive centers for psychiatric research. Currently, McLean maintains both the largest research program in any private psychiatric hospital in the country and the largest psychiatric research program at any affiliated hospital, department or school of Harvard University. The strength and size of McLean research is illustrated by the fact that the on-campus research program today involves more than 450 full and part time faculty and staff, including many prominent clinician-scientists, thirteen of whom are Professors at Harvard Medical School. In addition, we have three Emeritus Professors.
The Division of Research Grants of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) annually publishes a ranking of funded research, and, as in previous years, the strength of McLean Hospital's research program was mirrored in the statistics. Among all 3,181 institutions which receive funding from NIH in 2004, McLean is ranked 158th in monies received, placing McLean in the top 5 percent for funding, nationally. Moreover, McLean is ranked 14th in the nation among the 124 independent hospitals which have NIH funded research programs. This latter statistic is particularly impressive because McLean is a psychiatric specialty hospital with a research program devoted exclusively to neuroscience, while these rankings compare McLean to all hospitals, including general hospitals with much broader research missions. In fact, McLean is one of only 60 hospitals in the country which receive over $1 million in NIH grants and contracts yearly. In the past few years, McLean Hospital has grown into a larger recipient of federally funded research than the Wistar Institute, the University of Delaware, the Rand Corporation, Texas A&M, and the Joslin Diabetes Center.
In 1888, McLean research was initiated with a $600 allocation from the Board of Trustees. Today, almost all research at McLean is funded through externally awarded grants. Despite increasing competition for limited grant monies, McLean continues to achieve strong and growing research support, with a total of $48.1 million in external funding in FY2005 (see Exhibit 1). Total research funding in FY2006 is projected to exceed $50 million. The largest areas of funding by disease studied are substance abuse, psychotic disorders & schizophrenia, mood disorders, aging and neurodegeneration, and child & adolescent studies, which together account for almost three quarters of all programmatic support (see Exhibit 2). Of this total, excluding gifts and interest income, $17.9 million in grants and contracts were awarded to the twenty-five research departments which make up the Mailman Research Center, $9.7 million to the four research programs in the Neuroimaging Center, $7.7 million to the thirteen clinical, unit-based research programs, and $6.7 million to the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center (see Exhibit 3). In the Mailman Research Center, half of the research revenues were awarded to just four research departments: the Neuroregeneration Laboratory, The Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center, The Pre-Clinical Pharmacology Laboratory, The Psychiatric and Molecular Neuroscience Laboratory, and the Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory (see Exhibit 4).
The largest source of revenue for research at McLean is peer-reviewed competitively obtained federal grants, and 72% of our total funding (82% of our awarded funding) derives from this source (see Exhibit 5). Smaller sources of funding include foundation grants and gifts, industrial grants and contracts, private donations, interest on gifts, and royalty payments from licensed intellectual properties.
Intellectual Property Protection
Reflecting the developing ties between academe and industry, McLean, which had its first patent issued less than 20 years ago, currently owns 56 issued U.S. patents. Since late 1980s, there have been 163 inventions formally reported to the Office of Research Administration. Of these, 89 are still active, and 22 have been licensed to for-profit companies. In addition, McLean is the owner of another 9 inventions that were donated by Eastman Kodak Company in 2003, which have been licensed to the start-up company commercializing McLean's M-MAT technology for diagnosis of ADHD. All in all, including the Kodak cases, McLean has 98 active patent cases, 31 of which are licensed. Several licensed inventions are beginning to generate annual maintenance and royalty payments, and expected revenues from these sources are projected to grow to $500,000 annually over the next few years.
Because McLean is an academic institution, many of our patents are "early stage," that is, inventions that need further development before they are commercializable. The quality of our patent portfolio was recognized twice recently, however:
McLean Hospital was awarded $25,000 from the Partners HealthCare Research Accelerator Program, for the purpose of funding further research that would be useful to move a technology closer to commercial and clinical utilization. The awards were given to Drs. Cecile Beguin, William Carlezon, Bruce Cohen, and David Lee for their invention "Salvinorin Derivatives for treatment of depression" to help fund additional proof of concept studies and to support the chemical synthesis of additional derivatives of salvinorin, and to Drs. Martin Teicher and Susan Andersen for their invention "Steroid Conjugates" to fund synthesis of steroid conjugates and initial animal testing to provide early proof of efficacy.
Dr. Renshaw and Mr. Rohan were awarded $25,000 from the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center to fund research leading to the commercialization of their invention "Treatment of Depression with Magnetic Fields." The technology, which uses low field magnetic stimulation (LFMS), is an electromagnetic field treatment that is being investigated for antidepressant therapy. Dr. Renshaw and Mr. Rohan will use this grant to enable the first clinical test, which could serve as a springboard for the formation of an independent start-up company.
We are also expecting royalty revenues shortly from the commercial sale of Kudzu as a nutriceutical which reduces alcohol consumption, and from the market launch of our MMAT technology, the first objective assessment of a psychiatric disorder (ADHD).
Research revenues that are unrestricted in use (such as royalty payments) are particularly valuable as stabilizing resources to the hospital, and to the research enterprise. Although the research program at McLean has done well financially as well as scientifically, research in a teaching hospital does not recover its full overhead (indirect costs), and McLean is no exception. Revenues generated from licensing our intellectual properties help offset this indirect cost shortfall.
Collaborations
As is true everywhere, research at McLean Hospital cannot progress without a constant sharing of ideas and information. And, in fact, collaboration across disciplines and facilities is typical of research at McLean. In a recent survey, 90% of McLean grants over $100,000 involved investigators from more than one laboratory; and 75% involved investigators from more than one of our major research centers or groups (that is, the MRC, ADARC, Neuroimaging Center or clinical units). An example of the power and attractiveness of such collaborations is provided by the ongoing support by the Stanley Medical Research Institute of a Center for Bipolar Disorder Research at McLean. Starting from an initial collaboration between investigators in the McLean Neuroimaging Center and the Psychiatric Epidemiology Program on work to identify treatable chemical and functional changes in brain associated with abnormal mood states, the Center now includes laboratory and clinical components for new drug development and testing. Additional funding committed through the end of this year has more than tripled the initial $250,000 per year annual award.
Ole Isacson and the researchers of the Center for Neuroregeneration Research |
The Center for Neuroregeneration Research, directed by Ole Isacson, Dr. Med. Sci., is another example of collaborative success. The Center is a designated NIH Udall Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence and has project sites at Harvard Medical School, the New England Regional Primate Center and the Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as the McLean site. The Center is also a part of the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair based at the Longwood Medical area and collaborates with a number of researchers throughout the region on pre-clinical and translational research of neuropsychiatric disorders.
McLean researchers have frequent and ongoing collaborations with colleagues at other institutions in the areas of neuroimaging (Harvard Medical School, MGH, MIT, The Joslin Diabetes Center, The University of New Mexico, Tufts University), substance abuse (Brown University, Northeastern University, HMS, The University of Cincinnati, The University of Connecticut, The Southwestern Medical Center, The University of Rochester, MGH, The University of North Carolina, Temple University, Natural Pharmacia Inc., Boston University, The New York Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene), developmental disabilities (The National Alliance for Autism Research, Tufts University), disorders of childhood (Cambridge Health Alliance, Tufts University), schizophrenia (The State University of New York, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University, Boston University School of Medicine, Brandeis, The University of Texas, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center), mood disorders (Lund University (Sweden), The Dana Farber Cancer Institute, The University of Massachusetts Medical School), aging and neurodegeneration (MGH, the University of Ferrara (Italy), Rhode Island Hospital, The University of Cincinnati, The Michael Stern Parkinson's Research Foundation, The New York Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, The Rogers Veteran's Memorial Hospital, The University of Maryland), bipolar disorder (Brigham and Women's Hospital, Wellesley College), the Human Brain Project (The University of Minnesota), and outcomes research (Harvard School of Public Health).
Recent Developments
The research program at McLean has seen a remarkable period of growth in the past ten years, and many years have been characterized by some major expansion or renovation of research space. Beginning with the completion of the Biochemistry Laboratory in the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center (ADARC) in the early nineties, in fairly rapid progression we opened the East Wing Addition to the Mailman Research Center (MRC), completed the ADARC Clinical Inpatient Unit, and renovated and expanded the Neuroimaging Center. This multi-year modernization of our research infrastructure was a $35 million commitment to the future, and was paid for by federal and foundation grants, philanthropic gifts, and hospital funds.
In the past year we have embarked on a modernization and renovation program designed to upgrade our existing infrastructure. While none of the projects approached the scope of the East Wing Addition to the MRC of the renovations to the Neuroimaging Center, we did spend more than $2 million in 2005 to relocate the Psychology Laboratory to new quarters in the Centre Building and to renovate space in the MRC to accommodate the Laboratory of Genetic Neuropharmacology. This new initiative is being headed by Uwe Rudolph, Dr.Med., who was recruited earlier this year from the University of Zurich to establish a laboratory for creating animal models of neuro-psychiatric illnesses. This new initiative is expected to take the knowledge gained from the human genome project and apply it to a better understanding of the genes that are suspected of being responsible for a variety of psychiatric illnesses by studying the behavior of animals that either lack completely, overexpress, or have subtle mutations associated with the genes in question.
Other capital projects completed in the past year include infrastructure upgrades (In the Oaks Building: new flooring, air conditioning, hot water system, as well as replacing a rooftop compressor unit. In the MRC: a new steam sterilizer, upgrades to the elevators, window replacements on the first floor. In the NIC: power conditioning equipment and the replacement of two rooftop compressors) and renovations (In the MRC, renovation of additional lab space for the Neuroregeneration Laboratory on the ground floor, and renovation of refrigeration space on the first floor, renovation of additional shared behavioral testing space, and renovation of new shared cell culture space. In the NIC, renovations to the ground and first floors for additional office space).
- The Neuroimaging Center
The hospital's faith in the success of the Neuroimaging Center's resident research programs appears well founded. In its thirteen years of existence, the Center's annual research revenues have increased from $50,000 (1992) to $9.7 million. A testament to this continuing success of the Neuroimaging Center lies in the fact that the number of ongoing research projects on such central themes as schizophrenia and alcohol and drug abuse continues to expand rapidly, and imaging research has extended into important new areas, such as the study of psychiatric disorders of children and the elderly, studies of depression and bipolar disorder, and studies of neurodegeneration and aging. Beyond the $9.7 million in awarded revenues granted to the Neuroimaging Center research departments in FY2005, substantial additional revenues have been awarded to McLean investigators at the MRC, the ADARC, and in clinical research programs for work done at the Neuroimaging Center.
The Brain Imaging Center currently has three MR scanners. The most recent scanner, added in 2003, is the Siemens "Trio" MRI system, a 3T scanner which added high performance functional MRI (fMRI) capabilities for clinical and research use. The Trio complements the existing 1.5T General Electric "Signa" MR system that provides routine clinical scans and fMRI scanning for existing studies, and the 4T Varian "INOVA" system which provides high end research studies in spectroscopy and imaging. Numerous research and clinical fMRI studies are ongoing, focusing on substance abuse, geriatrics, and the evaluation of medications, among other topics.
Funding has been secured and locations are being evaluated for a fourth magnet, a Varian 9.4Tesla ultra-high field strength small bore animal magnet to further complement our existing scanning capabilities. The magnet was ordered in March of 2005, and with an eighteen month manufacturing timeframe, installation should be complete by January, 2007.
- The Mailman Research Center
The importance of the expanded and modernized Mailman Research Center lies in its capacity for the growth of new neuroscience research at McLean, and the revitalization of established programs. The MRC's research laboratories have grown from ten departments in 1997 to the twenty-five presently configured. These new laboratories and their expanded capabilities were carefully crafted to optimize the research potential of the overall basic psychiatric neuroscience program in the MRC by building on existing strengths, enhancing new avenues of exploration, and fostering increased collaborations. Proof that this has been successful is the fact that the MRC is once again at capacity and receiving awarded research support of $16.6 million a year, a 273 % increase since 1996. With the generous support of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, the Medication Development Laboratory in the Bipolar Disorders Research Program is now in its fourth year. Directed to the identification of new pharmacotherapies for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, the program builds on the strength of translational research at McLean, and merges the talents of the MRC's best benchtop basic neuroscience researchers with our clinician researchers.
While the MRC's research has grown remarkably over the past decade, the techniques used by our scientists have also grown more sophisticated. No field is growing faster than molecular genetics, and recognizing this, we have successfully concluded a national search to recruit leadership for this new initiative, focusing on transgenic animal modeling of psychiatric illnesses. This program is the 25th and newest research department in the MRC. As part of that process, a major renovation to the first floor of the MRC was recently completed to accommodate the benchtop, behavioral, animal housing and cell culture facilities needed by this program (for details see the beginning of this section, on page 9).
- The Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center
Substance abuse, which affects the majority of our patients, whatever their primary illness, has been a major research focus at McLean for many years. Our Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center (ADARC) remains at the forefront of nationally recognized research programs, having been continuously funded by competitively obtained, peer reviewed, federal grants and contracts since its founding more than a quarter century ago. This comprehensive and cohesive research center is based on the premise that substance abuse reflects a complex interaction between the individual, the abused drugs, and society.
The multidisciplinary approach of ADARC investigators is mirrored in the overall goals of the program: to improve understanding of the many determinants of drug abuse and alcoholism; to develop more effective treatment and prevention programs; to evaluate the behavioral and biological consequences of chronic substance abuse and dependence in preclinical models and clinical studies; and to train young scientists about the causes, consequences, and informed treatments of substance abuse.
- Clinical Unit-Based Treatment Research
McLean investigators have long recognized the need to develop better diagnostic procedures and treatments for psychiatric disorders, and our staff were leaders in the revolution which introduced illness specific pharmacological treatments in the 1950's and 1960's. This tradition continues as McLean clinicians remain deeply involved in the development and testing of new generations of drugs.
Medications under trial at McLean in collaboration with major pharmaceutical companies include agents for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, substance abuse, and Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative diseases. Twenty principal investigators presently oversee more than thirty new clinical trial agreements funded this year by pharmaceutical companies, and in total we have almost fifty active industrial-sponsored clinical trials ongoing. In addition, we have numerous federal grants and contracts to study the actions of investigational new drugs. These trials of novel medications give our patients access to treatments not yet available elsewhere and demonstrate the successful efforts of our clinical investigators to remain at the forefront of their field.
In addition to participating in trials of medications developed by pharmaceutical companies, our clinicians are developing medications suggested by laboratory and clinical findings arising from studies at McLean. Currently, eleven new treatments for psychiatric illnesses, including mood disorders, psychosis, dementia, and substance abuse, are under examination, and are funded by federal grants, foundations and private donations. Many of these new treatments are from natural sources, or are from compounds which would not have been pursued by private industry.
Clinical trials are among the fastest growing segments of our research, with revenues of $2.9 million in FY 2005. Research on psychosocial aspects of treatment, including the relative benefits of inpatient, residential, and outpatient treatment and on the outcome of psychosocial and psychopharmacologic treatment also continues to increase at McLean.
Translational research linking scientific advances to clinical care has always been one of McLean's greatest strengths, as mirrored in several initiatives with direct benefit to our patient population. These include a pilot research collaboration between McLean and a community agency which focuses on rehabilitation, a computerized device that will aid physicians in the accurate diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorders in children, a clinical test that may detect early Alzheimer's disease, and a highly successful early intervention program in the Boston public schools studying the identification of depression and prevention of suicide in Middle-School age children.
Planning for the Future
This is a time of enormous excitement in brain research: a time in which the new technologies of neuroimaging, molecular biology, and computer analysis applied in conjunction with the established fields of psychology, epidemiology, genetics and pharmacology give promise that brain function in health and disease may finally be understood. Fulfilling this promise, however, requires many commitments: for adequate space, equipment, staff, organization and financial resources.
We will have many opportunities in the next few years to chart a course for McLean research in the 21st Century. We are presently exploring options which include: the development of a centralized Clinical Trials Research Center which could provide pharmaceutical companies with an opportunity to more quickly vette trial opportunities to McLean staff as well as provide our younger clinicians with mentoring opportunities from established researchers; a further expansion of the benchtop research space at McLean by relocation of the Mental Health Sciences Library and renovation of the 7,000 square feet of space gained into laboratory; renovations to Pierce Hall to provide enhanced seminar capabilities; and collaborative opportunities for expanded partnerships with pharmaceutical and drug development companies on promising ventures.
In the coming years, McLean will continue to focus its work on understanding and treating the major psychiatric and related brain illnesses. To achieve our goals, we must obtain the most current research tools and update our laboratory facilities; we must support our active, established investigators and continue to recruit and train a new generation of clinical scientists; and we must maintain and enhance communication and collaboration between the many clinicians and investigators who bring complementary expertise to their academic work at McLean.
These tasks require increasing effort, but we have considerable success to show for our dedication. Our recent progress in research speaks eloquently to the creativity and productivity of investigators at McLean. Our attention to facilities and technology is demonstrated in our ongoing commitment to provide our researchers with the equipment, instrumentation and infrastructure they need in the MRC, Oaks, and the NIC, homes to state-of-the-art laboratories and imaging technologies and a faculty recognized as world leaders in their fields.
A benefit of the rapid, ongoing growth of research at McLean is an increased interest on the part of private sector entities to partner with McLean on joint ventures. We are in the process of negotiating with biotechnology and pharmaceutical development companies to form business alliances that could be quite supportive to the Hospital as a whole, and quite beneficial to the research enterprise. Several of these ventures will become operational in the near future.
While these initiatives hold great promise, we must continue to search for mechanisms to maintain year-to-year funding for research, which is now heavily based on short term grants and contracts. Supplementary research revenues derived from royalty payments for our intellectual properties will likely become a significant stabilizing factor to our research program in the near future, but a fiscally sound research program relies on a diversified revenue portfolio that is not overly reliant on any one funding source. Investigators have broadened their sources of support to include foundation awards and industrial contracts as well as federal grants and have doubled the number of their applications to all sources in the last ten years. In this fashion, they have increased their support, but at an unwarranted cost in time spent writing applications rather than performing research. In addition, the increasing competition for funding is reducing the attractiveness of careers in psychiatric research for our young trainees. For this reason, the population of active investigators is growing older, on average, nationwide.
To address these problems, with the help of generous friends of the Hospital, we have been raising donations to support research at McLean. Over 80% of the gift and pledge donations typically given annually to McLean Hospital are dedicated to the support of research. In part, these monies have been used to help offset the capital costs associated with the Mailman Research Center addition and renovations, the Neuroimaging Center renovation, and other major capital projects. In addition, they support the ongoing costs of newly recruited investigators. These monies are also used for partial support of established investigators and for innovative pilot projects which, because they are too novel in concept or too early in completion, cannot yet be supported by Federal grants.
The hospital now has six annual established scholarships for young investigators: the Rossano Mind, Brain & Behavior pre-Doctoral Summer Fellowship (supporting pre-doctoral students working with McLean researchers), the Adam Corneel Young Investigator Award (supporting basic or clinical psychiatric research), the Psychosocial Fellowship (supporting clinically directed research), the Rappaport Mental Health Research Scholar Award (supporting basic or applied neuropsychiatric research), the Andrew P. Merrill Memorial Research Fellow (supporting research into bipolar disorder), and the Eleanor & Miles Shore HMS Fellowship (supporting the development of a research career by women in medicine).
Additionally, the Philip L. Isenberg Fellowship Fund, supported by gifts from former trainees, is given to support young scientists and clinician investigators who are training for careers in psychiatric research and education.
Two Harvard Medical School-based fellowships also support promising young researchers at McLean: The Maria Lorenz Pope Fellowship, for the benefit of physicians who wish to pursue a career in academic psychiatry, and the John A. Kaneb Young Investigator Award to provide one or two years of support to young investigators with interests in affective disorders or who perform basic laboratory research.
The quality and competitiveness of our trainees was demonstrated by the granting of several new Young Investigator Awards to McLean research fellows this year from NARSAD, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. NARSAD also supports the research program of three other established investigators at McLean. In addition, McLean is the recipient of two highly prestigious NIH training grants. Jack Mendelson, M.D., directs a training program on alcohol and drug abuse, and Scott Lukas, Ph.D., directs a curriculum on substance abuse and imaging.
As it has grown, McLean has kept its critical balance between basic and clinical research. It has also maintained the broad scope of its research and increased integration between subspecialty areas of research and between research and clinical work. Success thus far is illustrated by the range, complementarity and synergism of the neuroscience projects ongoing at McLean That this success will continue has been ensured by the outstanding research programs directed by our researchers in the Mailman Research Center, the Neuroimaging Center, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center, our clinician researchers in Unit-Based Research, and by our three focused research initiatives: The Stanley Bipolar Disorders Research Center, the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center and the Neuroregeneration Research Center. Continued progress will be ensured by recruiting and supporting additional investigators devoted to psychiatric research as the need and opportunity arises, maintaining adequate space and facilities for basic and clinical research, and providing core resources for research support and data sharing to investigators of different disciplines.
The work of the research community at McLean Hospital addresses a great need. We have no less a mission than performing the nation's highest quality program of research in psychiatry. Research at McLean has been successful and its programs remain strong. McLean intends to keep its research enterprise stable and productive and to remain in the forefront of programs seeking a deeper understanding and better treatment of psychiatric illness, now and in the future.