Research
Welcome from the Director 
The Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (DPHB) offers outstanding research opportunities for residents. The Department’s research activities have remarkable breadth and depth, and our department is considered one of the most outstanding academic psychiatry departments in the country. We have excellent faculty who are known not only for their research and other scholarly activities but also for their collaborative spirit, accessibility to trainees, and dedication to research mentoring. These characteristics make Brown a terrific place for residents to do research.
Why do research as a resident? Research is exciting -- it’s about generating new knowledge, exploring unanswered questions, and moving the field forward. Doing research is extremely rewarding intellectually, and it ultimately improves the care and well-being of our patients. Getting involved in research during your residency will enhance your training and education. It may also help you meet your future career goals, whatever they may be. If you’re interested in a research career, doing research as a resident will be an invaluable experience and will set the stage for this rewarding career path. (Brown is also an outstanding place to get additional research training after residency; the department offers many fellowships which provide additional research training after residency to further prepare for a research career.) Getting involved with research as a resident will also be valuable if you decide to pursue other types of careers – for example, in academics, education, or administration.
In collaboration with Drs. Jane Eisen and Bob Boland, my goal is to make research accessible to all interested residents -- to help you learn about research, offer a wide range of research opportunities, and make research a valuable and rewarding part of your training. A research experience is optional, and it can be a large or small part of your training at Brown. Research opportunities include developing your own project with a faculty mentor or working with a faculty mentor on one of their studies. Residents are encouraged to publish their research findings and present them at local and national meetings. We also offer a research track to give interested residents increased opportunities to develop their research interests during residency training. Our goal is to tailor a research experience to each person, so it fits your needs and enhances your training experience.
If you have any questions about research opportunities at Brown, please feel free to call me at 401-455-6490 or email me at Katharine_Phillips@brown.edu. If you come to Brown for your residency, I look forward to meeting with you to discuss research opportunities in our Department and develop an exciting and rewarding residency experience for you.
DPHB Research Overview
The Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior (DPHB) at Brown has a research portfolio which is outstanding in terms of its breadth and depth. The research faculty are highly productive and have approximately $50,000,000 (direct and indirect costs for the 2008-2009 academic year) in sponsored research. This includes research awarded directly to Brown and to department faculty in the seven Brown-affiliated hospitals and Centers. A report by the University of Arizona listed Brown as one of the seven benchmark academic departments of psychiatry nationwide.
Currently, 100 faculty members are principal investigators on 304 research grants. Funding sources include the National Institute of Mental Health, National Cancer Institute, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, other foundations, and industry. A listing of current grants is provided in this CD in the section on DPHB research funding.
Research in the DPHB covers a very broad range of topics (see below). In addition to its historical strength in psychosocial research in mental illness and addictions, the department has substantially increased its research activity in biological bases of behavior and psychopathology. Much of the research done at Brown is interdisciplinary, involving strong collaborations between psychiatrists and psychologists within the department, as well as collaborations with pediatricians, primary care physicians, neuroscientists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, educators, epidemiologists, and economists outside the department. This research effort is highly disease-focused and translational, so that even more basic research efforts are closely tied to clinical issues and patient care.
Biological and behavioral investigations are a significant research focus and account for major grant-supported activities. In the area of Addictions and Substance Abuse, consolidated by the Brown Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies, basic biobehavioral mechanisms are examined as a means to develop new treatments for disabling addictions. Basic research into the pharmacology of alcoholism and molecular mechanisms of drug dependence has expanded toward developing new and innovative clinical interventions for addictive disorders.
Adult psychopathology research accounts for a diverse portfolio of investigations into mood disorders, anxiety disorders (e.g., OCD, PTSD, social phobia, panic disorder), personality disorders, somatoform disorders (e.g., body dysmorphic disorder), and other disorders. Many investigations focus on clinical trials of new treatments – from psychosocial treatments to pharmacotherapy to deep brain stimulation. The DPHB has a number of longitudinal studies on the naturalistic course and outcome of disease. Research on women’s issues is ongoing and is a strength at Brown.
Behavioral Medicine represents one of the largest and most comprehensive divisions of the DPHB and is coordinated by the Brown Center for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine. Ranging from biological investigations to public health concerns, this division is a prominent contributor to the field. Embracing the entire human life span, Behavioral Medicine investigates such topics as health promotion among women, the psychological effects of physical activity, addictions, cancer prevention, and cardiovascular risk.
The department also conducts laboratory studies in basic neuroscience. Research in molecular genetics, neuroimmunology, and cellular biology are crucial to psychiatric research. Although research in neuroscience and basic biobehavioral mechanisms focuses on molecular, cellular, and animal studies, this work shares the same focus on mental illness as the more clinically oriented sections of the department. There is a concentrated effort to conduct translational research which aims to bring the fruits of basic research to the clinic. An example of this work is research on neuronal and glial marker structure and their functions, which are relevant to Alzheimer’s disease and addictions. Another example is ongoing investigation of genetic and molecular mechanisms underlying disorders of cognitive development, such as autism and intellectual disability. The DPHB is one of the departments in the Brown Institute for Brain Science. The Institute is a unique interdisciplinary organization that promotes translational research on the brain and includes more than 90 faculty and 11 basic and clinical departments. The DPHB also has research collaborations with Brown’s MRI Research Facility, Genetics and Genomics Center, and Laboratories for Molecular Biology.
Children at risk for developing mental disorders are among the most vulnerable of our patients. Developmental studies are conducted in individual laboratories as well as Brown University Centers (Center for the Study of Children at Risk, Center for the Study of Human Development, and Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies). Areas of focus include basic behavioral research and clinical trials in depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders, and suicidality. Research on risk and vulnerability is examining strategies to identify risk factors and coping mechanisms during development. Risk factors include both biological predisposition (e.g., genetic factors, toxin exposure, prenatal trauma) and environmental factors (e.g., family characteristics, parental mental illness, and peer relationships). These individual and contextual risk factors are being examined in relation to school functioning, family and peer functioning, the development of psychopathology, and risk for HIV. Sleep and chronobiology are additional areas of research, with a focus on basic behavioral processes in circadian rhythms, pubertal effects, sleep patterns in infants, children, and adolescents, associations of alcohol use with sleep and circadian processes, and the role of sleep in clinical disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Psychosocial aspects of physical illness, including asthma and obesity, are also being studied.
Brown has approximately 40 research post-doctoral fellows a year and eight federally funded research training fellowships at the medical school that are affiliated with the DPHB. These consist of NIH-funded research fellowships in geriatric psychiatry and dementia, treatment research, child mental health, child and adolescent biobehavioral HIV research, cardiovascular behavioral medicine, and cancer. In addition, the Brown Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies sponsors an NIAAA-funded fellowship in alcohol treatment and early intervention research and a NIDA-funded post-doctoral research fellowship on substance abuse intervention outcome research.
The research in the department is conducted by outstanding faculty members who are nationally and internationally known for their research contributions, grant funding, publications, and honors and awards, as well as their other scholarly activities. While our faculty’s research and scholarly accomplishments are impressive, our faculty are also known for something else: their collaborative spirit, accessibility to trainees, and dedication to mentoring. Psychiatrists, psychologists, and members of other disciplines fruitfully collaborate with one another on a wide range of studies. Research faculty welcome the involvement of residents in their research and the opportunity to provide research mentoring. These characteristics make Brown an outstanding environment for residents and other trainees to obtain a research experience.
One of the DPHB’s outreach efforts is the Annual Research Symposium on Mental Health Sciences (Research Day). The symposium allows national leaders, the Rhode Island and regional community, and our faculty, residents, and trainees a venue in which to view and discuss the groundbreaking research being conducted in the department and beyond. Attendees usually include more than 350 faculty, residents, graduate students, and other trainees (including from departments of Neurology, Neurosurgery, Neuroscience, Psychology, and Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences) as well as members of the local and regional community. The program includes a distinguished panel of lecturers from within our department and a keynote address. Past keynote speakers include such distinguished scientists as Paul Greengard, PhD, 2000 Nobel Laureate and Vincent Astor Professor at the Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience at the Rockefeller University; Alan Schatzberg, MD, Kenneth T. Norris Jr. Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine; Husseini K. Manji, MD, past Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology and Director of the Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program for the National Institute of Mental Health; and Floyd E. Bloom, MD, Chairman of the Department of Neuropharmacology at the Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) in La Jolla, California. Additionally, the day includes a poster session where more than 100 posters submitted by our faculty, residents, and trainees are displayed.
Based on the success of Research Day, the DPHB also holds an annual “Teaching Symposium on Mental Health Sciences.” This symposium allows national leaders, the Rhode Island and regional community, and our faculty, residents, and trainees a venue in which to discuss the groundbreaking teaching and education issues being conducted within the department and beyond. The program includes a distinguished educator as the keynote speaker, a poster session, and didactic workshops for DPHB faculty, trainees, and others who are interested in educational issues.
Specific Research Opportunities for Residents
Research Opportunities Available at Brown
Brown is an outstanding academic institution with many research opportunities for interested residents. Our research faculty members are accessible and enjoy mentoring. Our goal is to help interested residents learn about and participate in research activities and to tailor research experiences to each resident’s interests and goals. A research training experience during residency can greatly enhance one’s training and learning experience. It can also help residents meet their future career goals, whether these goals focus on research or other academic activities.
The outstanding research faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior are highly productive and have approximately $50,000,000 a year (direct and indirect costs) in sponsored research (this includes research awarded directly to Brown and to departmental faculty in the seven Brown-affiliated hospitals and Centers). In addition to the department’s historical strength in clinical and psychosocial research on mental illness and addictions, the department has substantially increased research activity in biological bases of behavior and psychopathology. Ongoing research in the department covers a very broad range of topics. Much of the research is interdisciplinary, encompassing psychiatrists and psychologists within the department, as well as collaborations with pediatricians, primary care physicians, neuroscientists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, educators, epidemiologists, and economists outside the department.
Because of this high level of research activity, there are many opportunities for residents to get involved in research projects. Brown’s excellent faculty are renowned not only for their research and other scholarly activities, but also for their collaborative spirit, accessibility to trainees, and dedication to research mentoring.
A research experience is optional, and it can be a large or small part of a resident’s training at Brown. In collaboration with a research mentor, residents can participate in ongoing projects or initiate their own research project. A research elective is available during the PGY-4 year, which provides additional time for research. Residents may also attend a regularly held resident research seminar, journal clubs, research meetings in their mentor’s laboratory, or other seminars in the Brown University community that are relevant to their research interests. Residents are supported in carrying out and completing their project, and they are encouraged to publish their work and present their findings at local and national meetings.
Residency Research Track
An optional research track has been developed for the Brown University General Psychiatry Residency to give interested residents increased opportunities to develop their research interests during their training. Residents increase their involvement in the research track with each successive year. Residents may also pursue research interests without participating in this track.
The time-line for participating in research during residency is flexible and is tailored to meet each resident’s goals. For those who wish to participate in the research track, the following are suggested activities and a suggested time-line (although some residents choose a more accelerated time line).
PGY-1
During the PGY-1 year, residents select a research mentor. Residents are matched with a research mentor through meeting with the Residency Training Director for Research, meeting with faculty, understanding the resident’s interests and goals, and the resident’s becoming more familiar with the various projects being conducted in the department.
PGY-2
Residents meet on a regular basis with their selected research mentor, and they begin the process of developing a suitable research project. During this year, they attend a regularly held resident research seminar. This seminar is attended by residents on the research track and other residents who would like to attend. The research seminar is overseen by the Residency Training Director for Research, with the participation of additional faculty. The seminar covers a broad range of topics relevant to doing research. It includes didactic topics (for example, selecting a research topic, study design, ethics, writing a manuscript for publication) and career development issues. It also provides a forum for residents to discuss their research ideas and projects. Residents also attend a weekly journal club that is conducted by faculty at Rhode Island Hospital. They may attend additional meetings in their mentor’s laboratory or other seminars in the Brown University community. For example, the Brown Institute for Brain Science sponsors a seminar series.
PGY-3
Residents continue to work with their mentor on their research project(s). They may use one afternoon a week for research that the non-research track residents devote to their longitudinal outpatient clinic. Residents on the research track also continue to attend the resident research seminar, journal club, and other relevant meetings and seminars. In addition, they are encouraged to participate in relevant national research mentoring activities. They are also encouraged to present a poster at the department’s annual research day and at a national meeting.
PGY-4
Residents use a portion of their elective time to continue working on their research. They continue to attend the above-noted seminars and meetings plus an additional journal club, and they give a presentation of their work at the resident research seminar (they can also do this during the PGY-2 or PGY-3 year). They are encouraged to participate in relevant national research mentoring activities (for example, those sponsored by the APA). Residents prepare a poster(s) presentation based on the results of the project(s) they conducted during the PGY-3 and PGY-4 years, and they are encouraged to present this work at the department’s annual research day and at a national meeting (this may also be done earlier in training). Residents are encouraged to write up their results for publication in a journal, in collaboration with their faculty mentor (this, too, may occur in earlier years). For those residents for whom it would be appropriate, there is an additional opportunity to attend seminars being offered for federally funded research fellowships offered at Brown (see below).
Research Elective
The research elective rotation is an elective training experience during which residents gain additional knowledge, skills, and experience relevant to conducting research. This rotation enables residents, under the mentorship of a researcher faculty member, to develop and conduct a research project, learn research methods, and gain other research-related skills. The rotation requires an interest in research, a commitment to conducting a research project, a high degree of organization and efficiency, commitment to developing an analytic thinking approach, and a strong commitment to professionalism (in particular, adherence to ethical principles pertaining to research).
This rotation occurs during the PGY-4 year. The rotation is a minimum of one month and may be longer. Residents are encouraged to participate in research projects and other scholarly projects during other rotations at any time during their training; these activities are not the focus of the description presented here, which focuses on the research elective specifically. In most cases, residents who participate in the full-time elective described here will have had some involvement in research or related scholarly activity earlier during their training (although this is not required). Many residents who take this elective are participants in the residency research track. This optional research track (described above) gives residents an opportunity to develop their research interests throughout their training, usually beginning during the PGY-1 year. However, residents may participate in the research elective described here without participating in the research track.
The goal of this research elective is to enable residents to learn about research and participate in a research project that is tailored to each resident’s interests and goals. During this elective, residents learn about research methods and conduct a research project under the mentorship of a faculty researcher in the department. The resident, in consultation with their research mentor, will develop a research topic, do a literature search, develop study aims and hypotheses, and plan an appropriate study design. They will participate in other aspects of the project and ideally prepare the results for presentation and/or publication. Additional research-related topics such as the following will be addressed in most cases: quality assurance procedures, statistics and data analysis methods, ethical issues and human subjects’ protection (for example, informed consent and confidentiality), working as a member of a research team, and career development issues. The mentor and resident will focus on additional topics (e.g., writing and submitting grant applications), as determined by each resident’s specific interests and needs.
Residents interested in participating in this research elective will first meet with the Director of Residency Training for Research to discuss their ideas for the elective and to identify a potential research mentor, if the resident has not identified a mentor earlier in their training. After obtaining a mentor, the resident will develop a proposal for the research elective with their mentor and submit a project proposal, which will be reviewed by Drs Phillips, Eisen, and Boland as well as a member of the residency Policy Committee. The resident will receive feedback on their proposal and submit a revised proposal if necessary. (This same approval process is required for all research projects done during the residency.) The research project application form is appended to this document.
I. General Information About the Research Elective
Name of Rotation: Research Elective
Faculty Mentor: Director of Residency Training for Research
Contact Information: Katharine Phillips, M.D. (455-6490)
Coordinator: Roberta Swanson (455-6375)
II. Faculty
The Director of Residency Training for Research will oversee this rotation. In addition, each resident will have an individual research mentor in their area of interest.
III. Topics/Teaching Methods and Materials Used During This Rotation
Topics to be covered are based upon:
• The research interests of the resident.
• The mentor’s area of expertise.
• Topics to be covered will include selecting a research topic, conceptualizing a research project, determining study aims and hypotheses, and conducting a research project. The latter will include developing a study protocol/plan, and, if applicable to the project, subject recruitment and retention, data collection and analysis, and IRB issues. Additional topics include ethical issues and human subjects protection, quality assurance procedures, statistics and data analysis methods, communicating research findings (for example via a presentation or a publication), and issues related to developing an academic/research career. The mentor and resident will focus on additional topics (e.g., writing and submitting grant applications), as determined by each resident’s specific interests and needs.
Principal teaching methods:
• Meeting regularly with the individual research mentor (and mentor’s research team, if relevant)
• Meeting with the Director of Residency Training for Research initially and subsequently as needed
• Attending the resident research seminar
• Attending journal club
• Attending additional seminars if relevant to the resident’s research interests (for example, those sponsored by the Brown Institute for Brain Science)
Educational materials provided/referred to residents:
• Reading: Residents will do readings relevant to their research project, some of which will be assigned by their mentor. They will conduct a literature search relevant to their research project. They will also read material provided and discussed at the resident research seminar, journal club, and other seminars.
• Computer-assisted educational materials: All residents have access to full-text literature search and retrieval capacity through the hospitals’ computer networks.
IV. Specific Areas and Expectations
Residents are expected to regularly review:
• Published literature in their research project area
• Relevant literature on research methods, research ethics, and other relevant topics
• Reading as assigned by their mentor.
On this rotation, residents are expected to actively participate in a research project. In many cases, they will have begun this project earlier during their training; this rotation will enable them to work more intensively on their project. In most cases, some prior planning with the mentor will be expected. Emphasis will be given to having residents play a meaningful role in a project such that they will be in a position to present the work (e.g., orally or in poster form) and, ideally, be an author or co-author on a published paper. While presenting the work and co-authoring a published report are not required, residents will be encouraged to work towards this goal.
V. Evaluations
• Evaluation of the resident’s successful completion of the above goals will be carried out by the individual research mentor.
• Evaluation of the mentor’s successful completion of the above goals will be carried out by the resident.
• Evaluation of the rotation will be completed as part of the annual resident retreat report.
VI. Responsibilities of Research Mentor
• The individual research mentor will oversee the educational experience for the resident.
• The Director of Residency Training for Research will meet with each resident before they begin the rotation and as needed during the rotation to provide additional guidance.
VII. Responsibility of Resident on Rotation
• Residents are expected to meet regularly with their research mentor and conduct a suitable research project.
• Residents will participate in the research mentor’s laboratory meetings as required by the resident’s project.
• Residents will meet with the Director of Residency Training for Research prior to beginning the research elective.
• Before beginning this project, residents will obtain approval for the project, in collaboration with their research mentor, as described above.
• Residents will attend the seminars described below.
• Residents will submit an online evaluation of the mentor upon completion of the rotation.
• Residents will continue to treat patients whom they are following in the RCC (Resident Continuity Clinic).
VIII. Scheduled Activities During This Rotation
• Resident Research Seminar
• Journal Club
• The “Green Journal” (American Journal of Psychiatry) Club
• Grand Rounds
• Weekly residency seminars
• Additional seminars: If relevant to the resident’s research interests and project, they may attend additional seminars as recommended by their research mentor (e.g., seminars sponsored by the Brown University Institute for Brain Science or other programs).
• Patient care RCC (Resident Continuity Clinic)
IX. General Educational Objectives
By the end of this rotation the resident will:
• Have an understanding of research methods, human subjects’ issues, and other research-related topics.
• Develop an understanding of how to conceptualize, plan, and conduct a research project.
• Be able to work effectively with a mentor and as a member of a research team.
• Learn how to present research findings in an oral or poster format (this is not required but will be encouraged).
• Participate in preparing a paper for publication (this is not required but will be encouraged).
• Develop an appreciation of issues relevant to developing an academic/research career.
Post-Residency Research Fellowships at Brown
Residents who are interested in a research career are encouraged to apply for a position in a Brown University postdoctoral research fellowship, which provides additional research training after residency to further prepare for a research career. There are currently eight federally funded research training fellowships at the medical school that are affiliated with the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. These consist of NIH-funded research fellowships in geriatric psychiatry and dementia, treatment research, child mental health, child and adolescent biobehavioral HIV research, cardiovascular behavioral medicine, and cancer. In addition, the Brown Center for Alcohol and Addiction Studies sponsors an NIAAA-funded fellowship in alcohol treatment and early intervention research and an NIDA-funded post-doctoral research fellowship on substance abuse intervention outcome research.
Additional Information on Research Opportunities at Brown:
For additional information about research opportunities in the Brown community, please visit these sites:
General information on faculty research and on the core infrastructure.
Brown's Institute for Brain Science Brain Science
Searchable database of faculty research at Brown (you can search by name, or area of interest).