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For immediate release
NARSAD’s Fourth Annual St. Louis Symposium on Mental Health Research
to Take Place Sunday, March 25th, 1 to 5 p.m.
Free event to feature recent findings by
leading researchers on causes and treatments of mental illnesses
(Great Neck, NY-
) — On Sunday, March 25th, residents of the St. Louis area will have a chance to learn about up-to-the-moment research on mental health being conducted by four leading experts on depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and genetic predisposition to mental illness.
The scientists will be featured speakers at the fourth annual St. Louis Mental Health Research Symposium sponsored by the Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation and NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association. NARSAD is a nonprofit organization that raises funds to accelerate research on mental illness. The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation provides funding for programs assisting people with mental illness.
The March 25th symposium, which takes place from 1 to 5 p.m., will be held at The Ritz Carlton Hotel, 100 Carondelet Plaza, St. Louis. The event is free and open to the public, but space is limited and reservations are recommended. To reserve a seat, call NARSAD at 800-829-8289 or e-mail events@narsad.org.
The symposium will feature presentations by four scientists who have each received grants from NARSAD to further their research on psychiatric disorders. Two of the researchers, Todd S. Braver, Ph.D., and Dan Haupt, M.D., are on the faculty of Washington University. The symposium presenters and their presentations include:- A New Way to Rehabilitate People with Schizophrenia -- Todd S. Braver, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychology, Washington University.
Dr. Braver and his colleagues have developed a set of intervention techniques that have improved the cognitive abilities of older adults. He will discuss how he is adapting those techniques for people with schizophrenia, the most debilitating of mental illnesses. With onset typically in adolescence or early adulthood, schizophrenia dramatically compromises cognitive control, those brain processes involving memory, attention, perception, action, problem solving and mental imagery that guide thought and behavior. Thanks to progress in the past 20 years in understanding the brain mechanisms of cognitive control, Dr. Braver has been able to develop a focused instructional training that should help rehabilitate people with schizophrenia.
- How Genes and Environment Combine to Cause Psychiatric Illnesses -- Howard Gershenfeld, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Psychology and Integrative Biology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical School at Dallas.
Psychiatric illnesses are regarded by geneticists as complex; they arise out of a combination of genetic and environmental factors, which vary from individual to individual. Some people have some of the risk factors, but do not suffer from mental illness. Dr. Gershenfeld will discuss his theory that psychiatric illnesses result from many “small effect” genes, each of which, considered separately, adds modestly to a person’s risk for becoming ill. When considered as a group, a number of variant genes, which may differ only slightly from comparable genes in unaffected people, combined with an individual’s interactions with the environment, result in clinically observable psychiatric illness. Dr. Gershenfeld and others are trying to untangle this complex web of causality, unique to each person who suffers from a psychiatric illness.
- Impact of Bipolar Disorder on Brain Development in Young People -- Melissa P. DelBello, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.
Bipolar disorder most commonly begins during adolescence. Dr. DelBello will discuss how bipolar illness takes hold at a sensitive period in neurodevelopment and may have significant long-term implications on brain maturation. Understanding this process more fully, she believes, will clarify how current treatments for bipolar disorder affect the developing brain, and could, eventually, lead to new and better treatments.
- Psychiatric Medicines and Risk for Heart Disease and Diabetes -- Dan W. Haupt, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine.
Patients with severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia, tend to have more risk for developing heart disease and diabetes than the general population. Psychiatric medications, especially antipsychotic medications, can worsen pre-existing risk factors. The matter is particularly serious because patients with mental illness frequently take several medications capable of modifying these risk factors. Dr. Haupt will discuss the problem and suggest that better management of drug regimens can improve health outcomes in schizophrenia patients.
Moderating the panel of speakers will be Robert R. Freedman, M.D., an expert on the causes and treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, who is professor and chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Pharmacology at the University of Colorado at Denver Health Sciences Center.
NARSAD is the largest donor-supported organization in the world devoted to funding scientific research on psychiatric illnesses. Since its inception in 1987 as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, NARSAD has awarded $199.3 million in research grants to 2,284 scientists in the United States and 25 other countries for the study of depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, ADD/ADHD, autism and many other adult and childhood disorders and conditions.
Based in St. Louis, the Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation is a private grantmaking organization that focuses on alleviating mental illness through education, research and direct care. NARSAD is among the foundation’s grantees. The late Sidney R. Baer, Jr., who established the foundation in 2000, was a member of the family that started the Stix Baer & Fuller department store chain. He suffered from schizophrenia.
“The Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation is thrilled to collaborate with NARSAD again in organizing this symposium on mental health research,” said George Handran, a trustee of the foundation. “This symposium provides a rare opportunity for the people of St. Louis to learn about some of the most promising, up-to-the-moment research on mental illness.”
“We are very proud to present Dr. Freedman and these other outstanding scientists, who’ve all received grants from NARSAD to support their vital research,” said Constance E. Lieber, president of NARSAD.
 
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