People with Bipolar Spectrum Disorders (BSDs) vary considerably in their clinical symptoms, a fact that contributes to the difficulty of developing new treatments. We need systems to measure how individuals with BSDs change over time and in different contexts. This talk will explain Dr. Sperry’s efforts to identify and implement ways to capture such heterogeneity and better predict illness course, treatment response, and healthcare utilization—the basis of future precision-medicine approaches to treatment. Dr. Sperry will discuss the results of a BBRF-funded study focused on characterizing intraindividual dynamics of mood, leveraging a rare cohort of patients with BSDs who were followed intensively over a 10-year period.
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Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology
University of Michigan
2022 Young Investigator Grant
Dr. Sperry is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Michigan, where she directs the Emotion and Temporal Dynamics (EmoTe) Lab. She is a key investigator and an Associate Director of the Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Program within the Eisenberg Family Depression Center and Department of Psychiatry at Michigan Medicine. Dr. Sperry's clinical and research expertise is in bipolar spectrum disorders (BSDs). The broad mission of her work is to improve early detection, predict illness trajectory, and develop personalized interventions for BSDs. She has several extramurally and intramurally funded research studies aimed at using mobile technology, affective neuroscience methods, and intensive longitudinal modeling to identify affective and cognitive mechanisms underlying the development and maintenance of bipolar spectrum disorders. She has published extensively on behavioral phenotyping of emotion and cognition in BSDs in clinical psychology, affective science, and psychiatry journals.
Jeffrey Borenstein, M.D., serves as the President & CEO of the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, the largest private funder of mental health research grants. Dr. Borenstein developed the Emmy-nominated public television program “Healthy Minds,” and serves as host and executive producer of the series. The program, broadcast nationwide, is available online, and focuses on topics in psychiatry in order to educate the public, reduce stigma and offer a message of hope. Dr. Borenstein served as Editor-in-Chief of Psychiatric News, the newspaper of the American Psychiatric Association from 2012 - 2023.
Dr. Borenstein is a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and serves as the Chair of the Section of Psychiatry at the Academy. He also has served as the President of the New York State Psychiatric Association. Dr. Borenstein earned his undergraduate degree at Harvard and his medical degree at New York University.
