CEREBROVASCULAR RISK FACTORS AND LATE LIFE DEPRESSION

这个临床心理健康学术奖将支持校长 研究者作为学术老年精神病学家的发展。的 广泛的研究重点是医学疾病之间的关系， 老年人的抑郁症。预计这项工作将 提高对老年抑郁症发病机制认识。 这些努力的一个关键部分是新的研究建议， 应用程序：两个协调的项目，检查关系 在特定的医学疾病之间，即，脑血管危险因素， 和抑郁症状和综合征在初级保健医疗门诊 设置.这些研究将验证这些系统性疾病 通过小血管脑疾病影响抑郁症，而不是其他 涉及功能障碍，疼痛， 性格和心理社会因素。 PI将利用正式的课程工作，独立研究，专家 与其他人的协商和协作/指导关系， 帮助他成为一名独立的调查员，教师， 为年轻的研究人员提供资源。发展计划所固有的 （包括教育活动和研究项目）是 知识和技能的获得， 以及更大的老年学和老年医学领域。的 罗切斯特大学医学院精神病学系， 牙科，热情地支持这一应用，因为它的 对PI的坚定承诺，以及在 医学疾病和晚年情绪障碍之间的联系。

This Clinical Mental Health Academic Award will support the Principal Investigator's development as an academic geriatric psychiatrist. The broad investigative focus is on the relationships between medical illness and depression in the elderly. It is anticipated that this work will improve understanding of pathogenetic mechanisms in late life depression. A crucial part of these efforts is the new research proposal described in the application: two coordinated projects that examine the relationships between specific medical illnesses, i.e., cerebrovascular risk factors, and depressive symptoms and syndromes in a primary care medical outpatient setting. These studies will test the theory that these systemic disorders influence depression via small vessel brain disease, as opposed to other routes that involve the mediating roles of functional disability, pain, and personality and psychosocial factors. The PI will utilize formal course work, independent study, expert consultation, and collaborative/mentoring relationships with others to facilitate his emergence as an independent investigator, teacher, and resource for younger researchers. Inherent to the development plan (including both educational activities and the research projects) is the acquisition of knowledge and skills that span between geriatric psychiatry and the larger fields of gerontology and geriatric medicine. The Department of Psychiatry, University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry, enthusiastically supports this application, given both its strong commitment to the PI, and its need to establish new research at the interface between medical illnesses and late life mood disorders.