The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation has named studies by three Yale School of Medicine faculty in its annual top 10 list of research advancements and breakthroughs in 2017.
Michael Bloch, MD, MS; Hilary Blumberg, MD; and Samuel Wilkinson, MD, were among 10 NARSAD grantees recognized by the foundation, which since 1987 has awarded more than $380 million to scientists working on advances and breakthroughs in research.
Bloch’s study was titled, “New Analysis Finds Behavioral Therapy Should Be Combined with Medication to Relieve Severe Anxiety in Children.” The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, revealed children with severe anxiety need both therapy and anti-anxiety medications to treat symptoms.
Bloch is Associate Professor in the Yale Child Study Center and Associate Director of the Albert J. Solnit Integrated Training Program.
Blumberg’s study, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, was titled, “Brain Abnormalities Linked to Suicidal Behavior in Young People with Bipolar Disorder.” It found structural and functional differences in the brains of adolescents and young adults ages 14-25 with bipolar disorder who have attempted suicide compared with those who have not.
Blumberg is the John and Hope Furth Professor of Psychiatric Neuroscience and Professor of Psychiatry, and in the Child Study Center and of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at Yale. She is Director of the Mood Disorders Research Program.
Wilkinson’s study was titled, “Ketamine Rapidly Reduced Suicidal Thoughts in People with Depression." Published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the study found that a single dose of the anesthetic drug ketamine can significantly reduce suicidal thoughts in patients with depression for up to a week.
Wilkinson is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale, and Assistant Director of the Yale Depression Research Program.