Mental Health Faculty Member Receives NARSAD Grant

Peter P. Zandi, PhD, MPH, MHS, assistant professor in the School’s Department of Mental Health, was one of nine Johns Hopkins researchers to receive a portion of a $500,000 grant from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD). The research stipends will be used to study causes and treatments for mental illness.

Peter P. Zandi, PhD, MPH, MHS

Dr. Zandi received a Young Investigator Award from NARSAD, which is the largest donor-supported organization in the world devoted exclusively to funding scientific research on psychiatric disorders. The Young Investigator Award Program provides support for promising young scientists conducting neurobiological research. Their research must be relevant to schizophrenia, major affective disorders or other serious mental illnesses.

Dr. Zandi will combine data from several family-based studies to generate one of the largest datasets for genetic investigations of bipolar disorder, which probably involves multiple genes in its pathophysiology. He proposes to use novel methods to analyze the data and help facilitate the identification of these bipolar susceptibility genes.

Fellow Johns Hopkins researchers Christopher Ross, MD, PhD, Susan E. Holmes, MD, Jennifer L. Payne, MD, Akira Sawa, MD, PhD, Shanthini Sockanathan, PhD, Virginia L. Willour, PhD, and Sarah H. Ying, MD, also received NARSAD grants.