19 faculty members receive awards for research on brain disorders

Five Yale researchers have received Independent Investigator grants totaling almost $500,000 from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD).

The goal of NARSAD’s Independent Investigator Program is to provide support for scientists at the critical juncture between initiating independent research and achieving sustained funding. The Yale researchers will each receive a two-year grant of about $100,000 to continue research on a variety of brain disorders. They are Meenakshi Alreja, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and neurobiology; Nashatt Boutros, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry; Larry Davidson, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry; Paul Lombroso, M.D., associate professor in the Child Study Center; and Bita Moghaddam, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and neurobiology.

In addition, NARSAD has awarded 14 Young Investigator grants totaling $840,000 to scientists at Yale. NARSAD is the largest nongovernmental organization funding research in brain disorders worldwide.

Each of the researchers will receive an award of $60,000. The researchers and their areas of interest are Amit Anand, M.B.B.S., assistant professor of psychiatry, bipolar disorder; Kevin L. Behar, Ph.D., research scientist in psychiatry, depression; Robert Andrew Chambers, M.D., postdoctoral fellow in psychiatry, schizophrenia; Kristin K. Haga, Ph.D., postdoctoral associate in psychiatry, post-stroke depression; Fiona M. Inglis, Ph.D., associate research scientist in neurology, schizophrenia; Joan Kaufman, Ph.D. ’90, assistant professor of psychiatry and in the Child Study Center, child/ adolescent and adult-onset depression; Fusun Kilic, Ph.D., associate research scientist in pharmacology, depression; Jaakko A.S. Lappalainen, M.D., Ph.D., instructor in psychiatry, depression; Daniel H. Mathalon, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, schizophrenia; Adrian Preda, M.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, schizophrenia; Gerard Sanacora, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of psychiatry, depression; Gerald W. Valentine, M.D., resident in psychiatry, depression; Sheila Wang, Ph.D., associate research scientist in psychiatry, post-traumatic stress disorder; and Zoran Zimolo, M.D., Ph.D., assistant clinical professor of psychiatry, bone loss in patients with schizophrenia and depression.