CEREBROVASCULAR RISK FACTORS AND LATE LIFE DEPRESSION

这项临床精神卫生学术奖将支持校长 研究人员作为学术老年精神病学家的发展。这个 广泛的研究重点是内科疾病之间的关系 以及老年人的抑郁症。预计这项工作将 提高对老年抑郁症发病机制的理解。 这些努力的一个关键部分是在 应用程序：检查关系的两个协调项目 在特定的内科疾病，即脑血管危险因素之间， 初级保健内科门诊患者的抑郁症状和症状 布景。这些研究将检验这样一种理论，即这些系统性疾病 通过小血管脑部疾病影响抑郁症，而不是其他 涉及功能性残疾、疼痛、 以及个性和心理社会因素。 PI将利用正式课程工作、独立学习、专家 咨询以及与其他人的协作/指导关系 促进他成为一名独立的调查员、教师和 为年轻研究人员提供的资源。发展计划所固有的 (包括教育活动和研究项目)是 获取跨越老年精神病学的知识和技能 以及老年学和老年医学的更大领域。这个 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程序，因为它的 对国际和平研究所的坚定承诺，以及它需要在 内科疾病和晚年情绪障碍之间的接口。

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.