Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center
Neuroimaging Center
Clinical Unit Based Research
Mailman Research Center
Shervert H. Frazier Research Institute
Clinical Trials
Inventions for License
Research News
Research Update 2006-2007
Research Overview
Administration

RESEARCH UPDATE 2004

McLean Courtyard
McLean Hospital courtyard with the Mailman Research Center on the right.
Research Leadership: A Continuing Tradition
When McLean Hospital established laboratories of pathology and psychology and opened facilities for the study of microbiology and chemistry in 1888, they were the first such laboratories for scientific investigation within the Massachusetts General Hospital. They also were the first research laboratories within the clinical setting of any psychiatric institution in the United States.
Today, McLean's research program remains based on a union of clinical and laboratory resources for the study of psychiatric disorders. 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 major psychiatric disorders. Research requiring special technical procedures is performed in the Mailman Research Center, the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Research Center and the Neuroimaging Center, all on the grounds of the hospital. Research facilities encompass more than three acres of floor space (126,500 square feet), including three buildings (Oaks, the Mailman Research Center and the Neuroimaging Center) entirely devoted to research.
Our research addresses psychiatric illness in all age groups of patients and occurs in all treatment settings, from inpatient units to residential centers to ambulatory services. McLean's Institutional Review Board is monitoring more than 300 active clinical studies involving more than 4,700 study subjects, most of whom were inpatients or outpatients at the hospital.

Funding of Research

The largest portion of revenue for research at McLean is from peer-reviewed, competitively obtained federal grants; more than 70 percent of our funding comes from this source. There are, in addition, growing ties between academe and industry and McLean, which filed for its first patent less than 20 years ago, currently owns 42 patents - 12 of which are under license or are in licensing negotiations. Several licensed inventions are beginning to generate annual maintenance and royalty payments and expected revenues from these sources are projected to grow to $1 million annually over the next few years. Applications are in process on more than 30 additional patents.

Some of our most novel research, as well as training opportunities for young investigators, is supported by donations from private donors. McLean has established several new research projects and fellowships on the basis of gifts.

Contents:

  • Cover Page
  • Page 1 - A letter from Research Administration and the President
  • Page 2 - Research Leadership: A Continuing Tradition / Funding of Research
  • Page 3 - An Overall Glance at McLean Research / Achievement through Collaboration
  • Page 4 - Advances Aid in the Assessment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in Children
  • Page 5 - Growth in Research Imaging
  • Page 6 - Planning for the Future / Bipolar Disorder and Schozophrenia
  • Page 7 - A new hypothesis for Bipolar Disorder / Psychology Research Laboratory
  • Page 8 - Aging, Alzheimer's and Other Neurodegenerative Disorders / Alzheimer's and Insomnia
  • Page 9 - Turbulent Teens / Brain Development and Disorders of Childhood
  • Page 10 - Depression and Anxiety Disorders / Understanding Memory
  • Page 11 - Treating Substance Abuse / ADARC
  • List of Principal Investigators at McLean
  • The Power of Private Philanthropic Support
McLean Hospital is the largest psychiatric facility of Harvard Medical School, an affiliate of the Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of Partners HealthCare.
We'd like to hear from you. If you have comments or questions about McLean, or would like further information on specific initiatives mentioned in this report, please email PA@mclean.harvard.edu.
Research Update is a collaborative project produced by Research Administration, Peter Paskevich, MA, vice president; and the McLean Hospital Public Affairs Office: Cynthia Lepore, director. Designer: Valerie Bessette. Photographers: Jim Harrison and Jeff Thiebauth.