The purpose of this K23 is to provide support for the candidate to acquire the skills necessary to conduct patient-oriented research investigating the circuit based pathology of geriatric depression. The candidate feels that moving this grant from the Medical University of South Carolina to the University of Texas Southwestern (UTSW) will significantly increase the likelihood of becoming an independent investigator. The initial phase of the training award will focus on increasing the candidate's knowledge base of functional neuroanatomy, advanced statistical methods, network-based methods to analyze fMRI data, and the literature regarding geriatric depression. The training project will enhance the applicants understanding of the etiologies of geriatric depression through a greater understanding of functional neuroanatomy and methods to test the brain's circuitry. There will be no change to the science proposed and only a modest changes in the training plan. Primary mentorship will be switched from Dr. Mark George to Dr. John Rush. Daryl Bohning will be an offsite mentor for the physics of interleaved TMS/fMRI. He has agreed to travel to Dallas to assist in the set-up of interleaved TMS/fMRI. Dr. Lim's offsite mentorship will not change. Dr. Carol Tamminga has agreed to provide mentorship in the area of functional MRI and PET imaging. Additional training will be provided by Dr. Herve Abdi in the area of multivariate functional MRI analysis. Dr. Husain has agreed to provide consultation in the area of geriatric depression including assistance in the recruitment of subjects. Dr. Trivedi has agreed to provide supervision in the area of clinical trials involving subjects with depression. Drs. Chris Rorden, Paul Morgan, and Helen Mayberg's off-site role will not change. The candidate's move to UTSW offers the opportunity to work with a broader range of expertise than is available at MUSC. With the continued off-site mentorship by Dr. Bohning, the ability to continue learn about interleaved TMS/fMRI can still be achieved. As mentioned in the candidate's career goals, one of the primary objectives is to identify biological markers that enable psychiatrists to better understand and treat mood disorders. The numerous clinical trials of mood disorders presently ongoing at UTSW provide a wealth of subjects for which different imaging hypotheses can be developed and tested.
Showing the most recent 10 out of 11 publications
