Background:
Dr. Weissman has a Ph.D. in Chronic Disease Epidemiology from Yale University and clinical training. She was a Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Yale and Director of the Depression Research Unit before coming to Columbia, where she is now a Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry and Chief of the Division of Epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Weissman is a faculty member in Epidemiology at the School of Public Health as well as in the Department of Psychiatry at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia. Her office is at New York State Psychiatric Institute, just next door to the School of Public Health. Numerous fellows (both MD and PhD) and graduate (MPH and PhD) students have participated in her research.
In July 2007, several Divisions in epidemiology within the New York State Psychiatric Institute were consolidated into one and she undertook their leadership. The research mission involves studying the risk of psychiatric disorders and related disability associated with genetic, social, and environmental factors and developing interventions and programs to reduce these risks. It also encompasses educating the public about mental health issues and informing public policy. There is a strong emphasis on collaboration which integrates or translates the newest methods from genetics, imaging, and neuroscience with epidemiologic studies. The Division is organized into four related areas: (1) genetics/high risk research; (2) epidemiology/health services; (3) prevention/therapeutics; and (4) international mental health.
The Genetics/High Risk studies in the Division of Epidemiology includes a three-generation study of familial patterns of psychiatric and behavioral problems from childhood to adulthood of offspring at high and low risk for depression involving brain imaging and genetic studies. There are several genetic studies involving clinical characterization and DNA collection of large samples of subjects with mood and anxiety disorders and controls. These investigations are a resource for learning methods to collect large samples for genetic studies of psychiatric disorder including recruitment, screening, clinical characterization, collection of DNA, use of repositories, and IRB submission. Other related studies in her division include Dr. Pat Cohen’s work on assessing determinants of personality disorders and other psychiatric disorders including a longitudinal survey from early childhood to mid-adulthood. This study also includes three generations of a large cohort from the general population, probing onset, developmental changes, and course-affecting aspects of psychiatric disorders. Dr. Brown provides leadership in research on the identification of prenatal determinants of risk for bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and autism in large and well characterized birth cohorts. He also examines the relationship between early life risk factors and structural and functional brain abnormalities in schizophrenia utilizing MRI, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and neurocognitive assessments, and characterizes developmental trajectories that are related to prenatal experience to predict psychiatric outcomes. Molecular genetic studies in these birth cohorts are ongoing and planned.
Selected publications
