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Fact Sheet on NARSAD
NARSAD, The World's Leading Charity Dedicated to Mental Health Research, strives to reduce the pain and debilitation of mental illness through its leadership in funding scientific research on the causes, treatments and prevention of serious psychiatric disorders.
- NARSAD is the largest donor-supported philanthropy for psychiatric research in the world. It is registered as a 501(c)3 public charity, organized for the purpose of raising and distributing funds for research. NARSAD receives no government funds; it relies solely on the contributions of individuals, foundations and corporations.
- Since 1987, NARSAD has awarded over $219 million in research grants to 2,502 scientists in the U.S. and 26 other countries for the study of depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, childhood disorders and numerous other psychiatric conditions.
- The extensive research NARSAD supports is made possible by the generosity and commitment of thousands of donors and volunteers around the country.
- NARSAD funds research through a diversified grant program that launches the careers of young investigators, sustains the independent research of mid-career scientists and advances breakthrough research by senior scientists.
- NARSAD’s Scientific Council, an all-volunteer group of 103 leading neuroscientists, including two Nobel laureates, steers the organization’s research grants program in every important area of brain and behavioral science through its review and recommendation of research proposals.
- Brain and behavioral disorder research, the focus of NARSAD’s grant portfolio, has accelerated over the past 20 years to the point of shaping treatment and prevention strategies for some mental illnesses.
- Most recently, in partnership with the National Institute of Mental Health, NARSAD has sponsored Schizophrenia Research Forum (SRF), an innovative new website. SRF is designed to accelerate research on schizophrenia, the most complex and challenging of mental illnesses, by encouraging information-sharing among mental health researchers worldwide.
- NARSAD’s public-education activities make it a leading resource for patients and their families on cutting-edge developments in the understanding and treatments of psychiatric disorders. NARSAD regularly presents free, public symposia and lectures on mental health research in locations around the country, such as New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Los Angeles, St. Louis, and Palm Beach and Sarasota, Florida.
- In 2005, NARSAD received the highest rating given by Charity Navigator, an independent evaluator of charitable organizations in recognition of its outstanding financial performance. In addition, NARSAD consistently receives an A+ rating from the American Institute of Philanthropy for the efficiency and effectiveness of its programs.
Fact Sheet on Prevalence of Mental Illness
- An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. This figure translates to 57.7 million people.
- Mental-health disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada for people ages 15 to 44.
- Approximately 20.9 million or about 9.5 percent of American adults have a mood disorder in any given year. The greatest disability for people during their most productive years, ages 19 to 45, is depression.
- Bipolar disorder affects approximately 5.7 million American adults, or about 2.6 percent of the U.S. population age 18 and older in a given year.
- Approximately 2.4 million or about 1.1 percent of American adults have schizophrenia in a given year.
- In 2004, there were 32,439 suicides in the United States. More than 90 percent of people who kill themselves have a diagnosable mental disorder, commonly a depressive disorder or a substance-abuse disorder.
Source: National Institute of Mental Health, 2007
Additional Background on NARSAD
Mental illnesses, such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, are the second leading cause of death and disability in the world, surpassed only by heart disease. Yet, the amount of research dollars directed to improving the understanding and outcomes of these diseases is abysmal. In developed countries, barely 25 percent of government research spending goes to the study of psychiatric disorders. In the rest of the world, funding for mental illness is almost non-existent.
(Source: World Health Organization)
Beginnings
- NARSAD was founded with one clear goal: to ensure that the best research scientists would receive funding in order to accelerate scientific progress in the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses. NARSAD was initially conceived, developed and supported by an alliance of organizations: the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, the National Mental Health Association, the National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association and the Schizophrenia Research Foundation. The commitment of these organizations and their members quickly elevated NARSAD to the most important private mental health research organization ever created.
- NARSAD began awarding grants in 1987 as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression. Since then, it has distributed more than $219 million in research grants to scientists throughout the world, and today supports research on a broad range of brain and behavior disorders.
Scientific Council
- The cornerstone of NARSAD is the Scientific Council, a group of leaders in the key disciplines of psychiatric brain disorders, who volunteer their time and talent to develop research policy and review grant proposals.
- The Scientific Council was formed in 1986 with Herbert Pardes, M.D., as president, and Nobel Prize winner Julius Axelrod, M.D., as honorary chairman. The council was originally composed of 24 scientists. Today, Dr. Pardes, president and CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, still heads the Scientific Council, and its membership has grown to 103 scientists. The group’s range of expertise allows it to cover every important aspect of brain and behavior science, and gives NARSAD the capability of analyzing and selecting grant applications from the full breadth of the field of brain and behavior research.
Research Grants Program
- NARSAD’s grant-making process guarantees that the most promising psychiatric research gets funding support. Each year, NARSAD invites scientists from all over the world and at different stages of their careers to submit extensively detailed proposals for research projects.
- NARSAD supports research at different levels through three grant-making programs. Young Investigator Awards are given to scientists just beginning their research careers, often post-doctoral fellows or assistant professors, who receive one- or two-year grants of up to $30,000 per year. In 2007, NARSAD awarded 222 such grants. Independent Investigator Awards are designed for scientists at the associate professor level or equivalent, many of whom are former Young Investigators, who receive $50,000 per year for two years. This mid-level award program gave 44 grants in 2007. Distinguished Investigator Awards are one-year grants of $100,000, reserved for senior scientists, typically full professors, who are involved in breakthrough research. In 2007, 23 such grants were awarded.
- NARSAD is known for funding leading-edge research and for its success in launching and nurturing the research careers of talented young scientists, who often go on to secure larger government grants and other funds for their work. In the field of psychiatric research, receiving a NARSAD research grant is considered a mark of distinction.
Fields of Research
- NARSAD funds basic and clinical research on a broad range of neurobiological disorders, such as: schizophrenia and schizophrenia spectrum disorders, depression (and its subtypes), bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders, substance abuse, suicide, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's (in relation to psychiatric brain disorders), memory disorders, neuroethics, Tourette's syndrome, personality disorders, including borderline personality disorder (BPD), premenstrual dysphoric disorder, stress, body dysmorphic disorder and depersonalization disorders.
Organizational Growth
- Since it began giving grants in 1987, NARSAD has awarded over $219 million, funding 3,238 research projects at 418 leading universities, teaching hospitals and medical research centers throughout the United States and in 26 other countries.
- The return on NARSAD’s investment has been enormous. NARSAD support has allowed scientists to publish important findings in the most prestigious medical journals, where their results are shared with other researchers, clinicians and the public. NARSAD grants also make it possible for researchers with new ideas to easily change research direction, which can be expensive. The support allows scientists to collect enough preliminary data to obtain subsequent funding for larger studies.
- To keep pace with the rapid advances and changes in research, NARSAD has broadened the scope of projects it funds and increased the number of grants it awards. Some exciting new directions include exploring the interrelatedness of various psychiatric brain and behavior disorders, determining the precursors and profile of early onset signs and symptoms, and developing earlier intervention strategies for improved outcomes. This expansion has accelerated the development of new treatments and shed light on the biological, environmental and genetic underpinnings of psychiatric disorders.
- Scientists who have received NARSAD grants over the past 20 years are shaping psychiatric research throughout the world. Among their findings, highlights include an elucidation of the pathways of memory; an understanding of the relationship between stress and anxiety; links between environmental insults during pregnancy and development of schizophrenia and between father’s age and risk of schizophrenia; the development of new screening methods and interventions for children at risk for mental illness; and the genetic link between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. (Click here to view current NARSAD research projects.)
Bios of NARSAD’s Primary Spokespersons
Geoff Birkett, President & CEO
Geoff Birkett is the president and CEO of NARSAD. Prior to joining NARSAD, Mr. Birkett was global vice president of marketing for AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals, based at the company’s U.S. headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware. There, he was in charge of AstraZeneca’s neuroscience and oncology portfolios. He joined the company in 1992.
A native of England, Mr. Birkett began his career as a biochemist before entering pharmaceutical sales and marketing more than 20 years ago. Earlier in his career, he worked at Eli Lilly and Company and Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals. He studied at Newcastle Upon Tyne University and Henley College in England and Insead University in France.
Hal Hollister, Former Board Chair
Hal Hollister has been closely involved with the NARSAD since its earliest days. He has served several terms on the board of directors, and with his wife, Patsy, founded NARSAD Artworks in 1989 to educate the public about mental illness through art created by persons with mental illness.
Based in California, Mr. and Mrs. Hollister continue to operate NARSAD Artworks, actively acquiring, exhibiting and selling art around the country to benefit NARSAD. Mr. Hollister heads the NARSAD of Greater Los Angeles committee, which, in June, will host a fundraising gala for NARSAD and an educational symposium on advances in mental health research.
In his professional life, Mr. Hollister was a highly successful executive at FMC Corporation, holding several prominent positions. In New York, he opened an export sales office for FMC’s petroleum equipment division. Soon after, he was posted to Europe, where he was responsible for product sales throughout Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Returning to the United States, he took over worldwide marketing for all of FMC’s oil equipment products, and, before retiring, ran the company’s manufacturing division in California.
Mr. Hollister holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in petroleum engineering from Stanford University. He also served in the U.S. Navy.
Herbert Pardes, M.D., Scientific Council President
Herbert Pardes, M.D., has served as president of NARSAD’s Scientific Council since its formation in 1987. Today, the Scientific Council is composed of 89 of the country’s leading neuropsychiatric scientists. Dr. Pardes is charged with guiding the Scientific Council in setting research policy for NARSAD and in the thorough review and selection of applications for research funding.
Dr. Pardes is president and CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and has an extensive background in health care and academic medicine. His origins are in the field of psychiatry, and he chaired three departments of psychiatry before becoming Vice President for Health Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He is nationally recognized for his broad expertise in education, research, clinical care, and health policy, and as an ardent advocate for support of academic medicine.
Dr. Pardes served as director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and U.S. Assistant Surgeon General during the Carter and Reagan Administrations (1978-84). He has also served as president of the American Psychiatric Association (1989).
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