Department Research Labs and Centers

An abundance of world-class research is being conducted across all of the HMS-Affiliated Psychiatry Departments.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Research
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical CenterAs an academic Department of Psychiatry, research and scholarship represent important components of the BIDMC mission. Clinically-oriented research is essential to develop better understanding of the etiology of major psychiatric disorders and to develop new and more effective approaches to treatment.

In the setting of our research units and laboratories, the department provides a range of research training opportunities for psychiatric residents, post-doctoral fellows, medical students and graduate students. Our research and research training programs are supported through grants and endowments from the federal government, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and research foundations, as well as through the generous contributions of individual donors. We hope that this website will provide a useful guide for interested students, research collaborators and clinical colleagues.


Boston Children's Hospital Research
Boston Children's Hospital buildingThe Department of Psychiatry’s research mission is to advance understanding of developmental pathways leading to major neuropsychiatric disorders, develop innovative strategies to identify young children at risk for psychiatric disorders along with transformative new therapies to control or prevent these disorders, provide high-impact interdisciplinary and translational research from scientists across multiple institutions and train the next generation of researchers and clinicians to carry these efforts forward. These efforts are reflected in the Department's Tommy Fuss Center for Neuropsychiatric Disease Research and the Refugee Trauma and Resilience Center.


Brigham and Women's Hospital Research
Brigham and Women's Hospital buildingThe Department of Psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital is at the forefront of advancing the care of patients with mind-brain disorders through clinical, research, and educational innovation and excellence. We are committed to transforming care for future generations through our robust research and education programs. Utilizing advanced, multi-modal brain imaging and biomarker studies, our researchers are identifying brain circuitry and pathophysiologies, providing a foundation for new diagnostic and treatment approaches that will improve outcomes and quality-of-life for patients with psychiatric disorders.

BWH psychiatric investigators are making substantial contributions toward advancing the understanding and treatment of mental illness. Our research is vibrant and rigorous, spanning medical psychiatry clinical areas and integrating the following approaches: functional and structural neuroimaging, basic neuroscience, genetics/genomics, translational therapies (including neuromodulation, neurostimulation, neuroprotection, neurogenesis, and neurorepair), clinical services research, cohort studies, CBT/Behavioral medicine research, psychopathology studies, epidemiological studies, biomarker studies, neurophysiological/neuroendocrine studies, neuroimmunology studies, digital psychiatry.


Cambridge Health Alliance Research
Cambridge Health AllianceThe academic mission of  the Department of Psychiatry at Cambridge Health Alliance is aligned with the institution's overall mission to promote health equity across our diverse service and community settings.  Current research in the department  aims to understand these core issues through the lens of behavioral health and health policy, rigorous evaluation of patterns of service delivery, and development and assessment of innovative interventions to improve quality of care, particularly among underserved populations.  In addition, ongoing research projects focus on identifying risk factors for suicidality and improving outcomes among individuals who experience early psychosis.  Department researchers are also committed to mentoring and providing research opportunities for psychiatry and psychology trainees, postdoctoral fellows, and early career faculty. 


Massachusetts General Hospital Research
Massachusetts General Hospital main entranceThe Mass General Department of Psychiatry’s wide-ranging research portfolio spans clinical and basic research on virtually every major psychiatric disorder. These research initiatives typically began from clinical trials conducted in clinical units, and expanded to observational and mechanistic studies with notable expansions in genetics, neuroimaging, and basic neuroscience. Over the years, there has been an enormous expansion in the overall volume of research in the department and associated research funding—with more than $50 million in research programs last year alone—as well as a gradual shift in funding from pharmaceutical sponsorship to federal and foundation funding.


McLean Hospital Research
McLean Hospital buildingMcLean Hospital maintains the largest neuroscience and psychiatry research program of any private psychiatric hospital in the United States. Each day, we conduct state of the art scientific investigation to maximize discovery and accelerate translation of findings towards achieving prevention and cures for psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases.


VA Boston Healthcare System Research
Veterans Affairs BrocktonVA Boston Healthcare has one of the largest and most active research programs in VA nationwide. Researchers on each of our three campuses work to provide state-of-the-art research and treatments to support healthcare for our nation’s veterans, ranging from basic neurology to mental health services research.

 

ADDITIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute

Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad InstituteThe mission of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at Broad Institute is to reduce the burden of serious mental illness through research. The increasingly successful discovery of genetic variants associated with disease is now contributing to new understandings of pathogenesis, the identification of biomarkers, and above all, investigations into new treatments. The Center is eager to strengthen connections between medical students interested in psychiatry and their researchers.