The Reporter: April 1998, Vol.9, No.2
NARSAD Sets New Record with $17 Million in Grants

The National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) has set a new record for giving with its 1998 research grants, announced in March. Nearly $17 million was distributed to 146 new research projects—10 from Columbia Health Sciences—and 159 continuing grants. That sum is the largest amount NARSAD has awarded. “The selected research projects represent an extraordinary group of efforts on the frontiers of our knowledge of brain function and behavior,” says Dr. Herbert Pardes, vice president and dean and president of NARSAD's scientific council. “They will advance both our basic knowledge and treatment capabilities in many of the most complex and least understood aspects of mental illness.” Columbia is one of 16 institutions to receive NARSAD grants this year. Following Harvard, Columbia Health Sciences received the largest number of grants. NARSAD gives two kinds of grants: established investigator and young investigator. Young investigator award recipients are Dr. Tova M. Ferro, postdoctoral research fellow in psychiatry; Dr. Jay A. Gingrich, postdoctoral clinical fellow and assistant in clinical psychiatry; Dr. Daniel B. Herman, associate research scientist and lecturer in psychiatry; Dr. Dah-Ren Hwang, assistant professor of medical sciences in medicine; Dr. John G. Keilp, associate research scientist in psychiatry; Dr. Ramin Parsey, postdoctoral clinical fellow in psychiatry; Dr. Bruce Parsons, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry; Dr. Susan L. Patterson, postdoctoral research fellow in the Center for Neurobiology & Behavior; Dr. Stuart N. Seidman, assistant in clinical psychiatry and postdoctoral clinical fellow in psychiatry; and Dr. Ping Wu, postdoctoral research fellow in public health. NARSAD is the largest private international philanthropic organization supported by public contributions. Its funding focuses are on research into the causes and potential treatments of such mental health disorders as schizophrenia, depression, and related severe psychiatric disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorders and autism.