The objective of this Clinical Mental Health Academic Award (in Geriatrics) application is to assist Dr. Anand Kumar in his scholarly activities in the field of geriatric psychiatry and to develop a clinical research program in geriatric depression within the section of geriatric psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. This award will free Dr. Kumar of his clinical responsibilities and allow him to focus his energies in three specific areas: (1) To help him develop as a clinical researcher in geriatric psychiatry especially in the application of physiological brain imaging techniques to increase our understanding of major geropsychiatric illnesses (2) To strengthen his knowledge base in clinical and methodological issues relating to geriatric depression research and in areas germane to PET research such as kinetic modelling and in vivo physiology (3) To focus on a specific research project - the use of 18 fluro-2-deoxy-D-Glucose Positron Emission Tomography (PET) as a tool to understand the physiologic aberrations that may underlie geriatric depression in general and late onset depression in particular. These goals will help Dr. Kumar evolve as a clinical investigator in geriatric psychiatry and additionally help in establishing critical research liaisons with the PET center and the Division of Nuclear Medicine within the medical center. These collaborations will facilitate the dovetailing of the PET depression study with similar studies in Alzheimer's disease - a disease with special relevance to geriatric depression.
