This Award is being sought in order to assist Dr. Tariot in his development as a researcher who can devise and validate new investigative strategies, a developer of other researchers, and an introducer of research findings in mental disorders of the aging. Dr. Tariot is a Board-certified psychiatrist and internist, performed research during both of his residencies, and completed a 3 year Fellowship at the NIMH in clinical neuropharmacology of mental health problems in the aged. He is currently Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and of Medicine at the University of Rochester, and is Director of Psychiatry at at Monroe Community Hospital, a nationally prominent geriatric facility, which has made a major administrative and financial commitment to Dr. Tariot's development as a research expert. The nominee's development will be guided by 3 major themes during the period of the Award. The first is acquiring expertise in the phenomenologic characterization of behavioral disorders in the aged, as well as in measurement of such behaviors, both for prospective phenomenologic studies as well as neuropharmacologic studies. The second theme is clinical neuropharmacology, which the nominee will pursue with a hierarchy of studies that will relate to each other as well as other themes. These include clinical efficacy studies for optimizing behavioral symptoms in geriatric patients (particularly in long- term care settings), mechanistically-oriented pharmacologic challenge studies, and prolonged therapeutic studies in degenerative brain disease. The third theme is that of prevention, both from pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic perspectives. The development of this nominee will occur in a medical center committed to expansion of geriatric mental health programs. Specifically, the Department of Psychiatry, as well as Monroe Community Hospital, plan to develop research in the long-term care setting and in clinical neuropharmacology, in order for the institutions to become leaders in clinical research in the aged.
