In groundbreaking work, Kerry J. Ressler, M.D., Ph.D., with the aid of a Young Investigator Grant, discovered that targeted medication can improve the effect of psychotherapy. This paradigm-shifting work showed that treatment with D-cycloserine (or DCS) enhanced the effect of exposure-based psychotherapy for fear of heights, and led to further work showing similar results for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), panic disorder, and social phobia.

Daniel Weinberger, M.D., received a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grant in 2000 to take an innovative approach in the search to identify genes that increase susceptibility for developing schizophrenia. Dr. Weinberger worked with 400 sibling pairs and measured levels of the brain chemical n-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), a neurochemical measure related to the integrity of glutamate neurons, to determine if this could be linked with targeted genetic association studies in schizophrenia.

Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) was developed in the late 1980s; however, it was not tested as a potential treatment for resistant depression until Helen Mayberg, M.D., used a NARSAD Distinguished Investigator Grant in 2003 to do pilot studies. Dr. Mayberg hypothesized that DBS could be targeted to a section of the brain called the subcallosal cingulate (also known as “Brodmann Area 25”) that she had identified as linked to depression in earlier research. By targeting this area, depression symptoms in patients have been greatly reduced and in some cases, patients are in complete remission.

In 2000, Kenneth Kendler, M.D., received a Distinguished Investigator Grant to pioneer studies on identifying gene-environment interactions linked to the development of mental illness. He conducted a pilot study aimed at clarifying the role of environmental risk factors in major depression. The results of this research demonstrated for the first time that environmental risk factors impact genetic expression to cause major depression.

In 1998, Yvette Sheline, M.D. received a Young Investigator Grant for a project titled “Affect Induced Activation of the Amygdala in Major Depression.” The results of this project, published in 2001, demonstrated that antidepressants correct abnormal brain function by reducing limbic over-activation and prefrontal cortex under-activation to alleviate symptoms of depression.