ACISR for Pediatric Psychiatry Disorders

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposal outlines four cores that will work with another towards the following goals: 1) To promote and develop efficacy studies in disorders of interest to investigators of the Center where the evidence-based support for interventions remains substantially deficient and where "export" into the field would be premature. 2) To study of transportability and effectiveness of interventions or methods of evaluation for which there is substantial evidence-based support, to real world settings. 3) To identify problems in the methods used in intervention research with children and adolescents. 4) To work with basic-scientists to investigate whether state of the art imaging and genotyping methods can be used to identify the mediators of treatment response. 5) To train new intervention researchers; and 6) to take a scientific and advocacy leadership role in promoting and disseminating intervention research. The cores are as follows: Principal Research Core (M. Weissman), will set the research agenda for the center. The PRC will consultant, develop and conduct studies aimed at developing intervention (psychosocial, pharmacological, and combination) knowledge for disorders of interest to the center. It will exercise this influence by consultation services, training activities and a pilot funding mechanism which will solicit, review, shape, implement and monitor projects with the potential to advance the scientific aims of the center. The Operations Core's (B. Waslick) primary tasks are to attend to the necessary administrative issues as well as to promote and implement several aspects of the scientific program including recruitment of subjects for research protocols, screening, administration of a core battery of measures, overall scientific and training agenda developed in the PRC. The Research Network Development Core (P. Jensen) will develop an infrastructure that will permit a variety of research activities to be conducted in existing community based services: school based clinics and pediatric practices with an interest in mental health problems. These provide ideal settings to take intervention approaches that have good clinical trial-based efficacy support and study their effectiveness in real world settings. The Research Methods Core (D. Shaffer) will conduct or sponsor measurement projects that are pertinent to the center's goals and will draw into the center basic scientists who will, for the first time, study some possible modifiers of treatment response.