Faculty Research

FUNDED RESEARCH ACTIVITIES
Fall 2008

Dr. Joyce Chung
PI of a K-23 from NIMH (K23 MH067664) entitled Ethnographic Studies of Depression and Help-Seeking.  The overall goal of this proposal is to develop expertise in understanding sociocultural barriers and facilitators of mental health treatment among low-income community residents.  This expertise will inform the development of community-based intervention trials to improve acceptance and effectiveness of treatments for depression and other mental health treatment.  This project runs through 2/10.

Dr. Mary Ann Dutton
PI of a R34 from NIMH (R34 MH070565) entitled Telehealth Trauma Intervention for Low-SES Abused Women.  This project is designed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness and cost of an innovative and culturally competent telephone intervention for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in low SES African American battered women. The intervention combines components of cognitive processing therapy for PTSD with advocacy interventions, psychoeducation and skills development, and grief counseling.      The study is funded through 12/08.

PI of a Department of Defense concept award (W81XWH-07-PTSD-CA) entitled Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury (PTSD/TBI) Research Program, PTSD.  The Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) Department of Psychiatry and Georgetown University Department of Psychiatry are collaborating on this project to develop a multimedia toolkit for veterans with PTSD .  The overall goal of this proposal is to increase military veterans' and their families' quality of life and wellness through the use of day-to-day mindfulness practices. Co-PI at the VAMC is Dr. Richard Admur.  The study runs through 06/09.

PI of a  NIMH R34 grant (R34 MH077066) entitled A First Line Community-Based Mindfulness Trauma Intervention.  The overall goal is to address the  mental health care disparity for low-income, minority women exposed to intimate partner violence. This  project will develop and test an accessible, tailored, and culturally-appropriate mindfulness-based intervention suitable for delivery in non-mental health community settings.  Drs. Bonnie Green and Janice Krupnick are collaborating on this project.  The study is funded through 01/10.

Site-PI of a NIMH R13 grant entitled Advancing Mental Health Services for Victims of Crime.
The National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC) and Georgetown University Department of Psychiatry (GU) are collaborating on this project to plan and hold three meetings to synthesize, review, and advance the research on a) the mental health needs of crime victims, b) the mental health services and outcomes for crime victims, and c) the dissemination and implementation of empirically supported mental health services for crime victims.  The project is funded through 11/08.

Dr. Stephen Deutsch
PI of a R34 from NIMH (R34 MH077849) entitled Interventions to Test the Alpha 7 Nicotinic Receptor.   The aim of this study is to conduct a "proof of concept" clinical trial combining galantamine and CDP-choline.  The hypothesis is that galantamine will prevent receptor desensitization, allowing choline to serve as a selective agonist, rather than becoming a functional antagonist secondary to receptor desensitization.  The project anticipates co-administration of these agents will reduce symptoms and improve memory and attention.  Fifty patients with DSM-IV schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder will be randomly assigned to either combination treatment or placebos for both in a 16 week trial.  Recruitment will be at the VAMC, Washington, DC.  Co-Investigators include Drs. Richard Rosse, Nina Schooler, and Barbara Schwartz.  The study is funded through 03/10.

Dr. Ayman Fanous
PI of a NARSAD Independent Investigator award entitled Molecular Genetics of Schizophrenia in Egypt.  The goal of this project is to collect information (750 cases and 750 controls) on patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, depressed type in Cairo, Egypt, in collaboration with the Ain Shams University Hospitals in Cairo, where the controls will be collected from their blood bank.  In this pilot study, markers from a small number of previously established susceptibility genes will be tested.  The grant runs through 09/10.

Dr. Bonnie Green
PI of an NIMH-funded Developing Center (P20 MH068450-01A1) entitled Trauma Interventions for Low-income Women in Primary Care.  The goal of the Georgetown Center for Trauma and the Community is to develop innovative and sustainable interventions to address trauma-related mental health needs in primary care settings serving low-income, mostly minority populations through academic-community partnerships with local jurisdictions.  To increase the adoption and sustainability of these interventions, the trauma-related services are being developed in close collaboration with community partners: the Department of Health in Prince George's County, MD; the Primary Care Coalition in Montgomery County, MD; Greater Baden Medical Services in Upper Marlboro, MD and Mid-Atlantic Kaiser Permanente Medical Group, Inc.  Psychiatry faculty members on this grant include departmental Co-Investigators Drs. Chung, Dutton, Epstein, Kaltman, Krupnick, Townsend.  Other Co-Investigators include School of Nursing and Health Studies faculty Drs. Rita Alinger and Deborah Schiavone; Family Medicine faculty Dr. Dan Merenstein; United Biosource  colleagues Drs. Frank, Stull and Revicki; and Medstar Research Institute colleague Dr. Nawar Shara.   The grant runs through 6/09.

PI of an NIMH-funded R34 entitled Improving Communication between Primary Care Providers and Their Trauma Patients.  The aims of the project are to adapt and pilot test a curriculum for primary care providers (PCPs) to help them work more productively with trauma survivors. We plan to: (1) adapt an existing manual and training curriculum on working therapeutically with trauma survivors to be appropriate for PCPs, (2) evaluate initial acceptability of the curriculum and material to providers and patients; and (3) conduct a controlled study of the adapted training, all with a focus on providers serving low-income populations.  Providing PCPs with multiple strategies to address the physical and mental health complaints of their patients will improve primary care for vulnerable populations.  This grant runs through 11/10.

Dr. Stacey Kaltman
PI of a K23 from NIMH (K23 MH077071) entitled Trauma and Mental Health of Latina Immigrants.  The overall goal of the project is to gain an understanding of trauma and loss-related mental health needs of Latina immigrants from Central America and begin to develop culturally and linguistically competent services that are acceptable, effective, and accessible.  Dr. Kaltman's primary mentor is Dr. Bonnie Green (Georgetown University) with co-mentor Dr. Maria Cecilia Zea (George Washington University).  This grant runs through 06/12.

Dr. Janice Krupnick
PI of a project from the Department of Veterans Affairs entitled Female Veterans with PTSD and/or Depression.  The project is a demonstration project aimed at adapting Interpersonal Psychotherapy for military women with have experienced trauma during their military service.   This grant runs through 08/10.

Dr. Tiffany Townsend
PI of an R21 from NIH, National Institute of Nursing Research (R21NR010511) entitled Aza Sisters:  An HIV Prevention Program for African American Adolescent Girls.  The goals of the project are 1) Develop and test a culturally appropriate HIV prevention program for AA 12-13 year old girls, with attention trauma history; 2) Determine feasibility in an after school setting; and 3) Provide a preliminary evaluation of the impact on behavioral outcomes, cultural factors, and gender specific outcomes.
This project runs through 06/09.

PROFILES CAN BE LOCATED ON THE CENTER FOR TRAUMA AND THE COMMUNITY WEBSITE UNDER PERSONNEL:  http://ctc.georgetown.edu

Recent grants that are in the process of data analysis and write-up include the following:

An NIMH-funded grant entitled Treatment of Depression in Disadvantaged Gynecology Patients (RO1 MH56864). This project screened poor African American, Latina, and White women for depression in family planning and WIC clinics in the greater DC area, and treated depressed women using one of two treatments (group cognitive-behavioral or medication).  Treatments were compared to a "referral only" condition. PI was Dr. Jeanne Miranda (UCLA).  Site PI on the study was Dr. Joyce Chung, and GU Co-Investigators were Drs. Krupnick and Green.  

An NIMH-funded grant entitled Effects on Children of Treating Maternal Depression (RO1 MH58384). This grant studied the children of the mothers treated in the "Treatment of Depression" study to evaluate changes in the children associated with treatment of the mothers. PI was Dr. Ann Riley at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Dr. Joyce Chung was the GU site PI.

An R21 from NIMH (MH58220) entitled Interpersonal Group Therapy for PTSD in Low-Income Women funded the development and pilot testing of a new group treatment for poor and minority women who had PTSD related to interpersonal violence.  Dr. Janice Krupnick was PI, with Dr. Green collaborating. 

An R03 from NIMH (MH064739) entitled PTSD & Intimate Partner Violence:  A National Sample.  This proposed study examined risk and protective factors associated with current PTSD symptoms among a nationally representative sample of adult women (397) who lived with an intimate partner, and who reported being sexually assaulted, physically assaulted, stalked, and/or threatened by them at some point during the course of the relationship.  Dr. Mary Ann Dutton was PI.

A project funded from NIJ to Cosmos Corporation in collaboration with Georgetown University, Department of Psychiatry entitled Use and Outcomes of Protection Orders by Battered Immigrant Women.  This overall goal of the project was to examine the decision-making, accessibility, and effectiveness of civil protection orders for battered immigrant women.  Dr. Dutton was the site PI at Georgetown.

A Department of Justice grant entitled Ecological Model of Battered Women's Experience over Time.  This study characterized and testes a model for longitudinal patterns of battered women's strategic and traumatic responses to violence, as well as help-seeking, social support and emotional well-being.  Battered women's experiences within criminal and civil protection-order courts and shelters were also investigated.  The PI was Dr. Mary Ann Dutton; Dr. Stacey Kaltman was a collaborator. 

PI of a Cosmos Corporation project entitled Development and Validation of a Coercive Control Measure for Intimate Partner Violence.  This project will develop a conceptual model of coercive control by conducting a comprehensive review of the literature followed by input from an expert panel.  The study will then develop an ecologically and statistically valid measure of nonviolent coercive control using ethnographic and classical test theory methodologies.  Dr. Joyce Chung was collaborating on the project. 

A Center for Disease Control and Prevention grant entitled, Longitudinal Study of Battered Women in the Health Care System.  This study compared the results from women recruited in health care settings with an ongoing NIJ-funded study of 400 battered women recruited from legal and shelter Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) services in the same community.  The goal of the study was to understand patterns of female IPV victims' experiences with violence and in the health care system over time  to develop prevention strategies.  Dr. Stacey Kaltman collaborated with PI, Dr. Dutton, on the project. 

An NIMH-funded grant (R01 DK56975) to Virginia Commonwealth University entitled Memory and Learning in Children with IDDM was conducted at Georgetown and Children's National Medical Center.  This project was a longitudinal study of memory and learning skills in children with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.  A group of 120 diabetic adolescents ages 12-15 were assessed over a 4-year period to ascertain the functional impact of memory and learning skills on daily self-care behaviors, including adherence to a treatment regimen.  Modality specific learning and memory patterns over time were evaluated and correlated.  Dr. Clarissa Holmes (VCU) was PI, and Dr. Erika Swift from Psychiatry was Co-Investigator and Site PI. 
  
A Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (F32 MH71011) entitled Patterns of PTSD Symptoms in High-Risk Women over Time.  This project utilized advanced analytic strategies to investigate relationships among PTSD symptoms, and how they cluster over time in longitudinal samples of low-income women who have experienced interpersonal violence.  Primary mentor on this project is Dr. Dutton. Dr. Elizabeth Krause was the PI.  

An R01 from NIMH (MH60696) entitled Physicians' Decisions for the Depressed Medically Ill. The project investigated patient and physician factors associated with physicians' quality of care for depression among general internists and family physicians through use of videotapes varying in regard to medical morbidity, patient attributions for depression, treatment preferences, race, and gender.  Dr. Steven Epstein was the PI.

An NIMH-funded grant (R34 MH070683) entitled Primary Care for PTSD and PTSD Symptoms. This study of primary care providers was designed to better understand primary care trauma management and to identify promising evidence-based strategies for improving the care of patients suffering from the psychological effects of trauma.  The research was conducted in collaboration with the Clinical Directors Network, Inc. (CDN) in the New York area, a community-oriented practice-based research network that provides primary and preventive health care services for poor, minority, and underserved populations. PI was Dr. Lisa Meredith (RAND Corp.). Dr. Bonnie Green was the site PI at Georgetown University.

A project entitled The Cultural and Linguistic Competence Health Practitioner Assessment CME Model. This web-based curriculum aims to increase physician knowledge and self-awareness as they apply to treating depression in diverse primary care populations. NCCC grant Co-Directors are Dr. Suzanne Bronheim and Tawara Goode, MA, with funding from Initiative for Decreasing Disparities in Depression supported by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.  Drs. Chung and Green collaborated with Georgetown's National Center for Cultural Competence (NCCC) on the project.
 
A SAMHSA-funded grant (H79 TI15433) entitled Brief Effective Adolescent Treatment of Substance Abuse.  GU site-PI was Dr. Stacey Kaltman; PI was Dr. Michael Mason (Villanova).  This project provides treatment for adolescents and their families by addressing the patients' substance abuse, physical health, and mental health in a coordinated manner with a multidisciplinary treatment team that includes a pediatrician, nurse practitioner, child and adolescent psychiatrist, addiction psychiatrist, and mental health and addiction counselors.  

A NARSAD/Essel Foundation - funded grant (NARSAD llA) entitled Facial Expressions of Emotion in Schizophrenia.  The PI was Dr. Barbara Schwartz.  This project studied implicit processing of emotion cues in the face and the neural structures that underlie this function in schizophrenia.  

A SAMHSA funded grant (5H79SP10687-04) entitled HIV and Substance Use Prevention for African American Girls. Dr. Townsend's project was a community collaborative, HIV prevention program funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The program, entitled I.S.I.S. is designed to provide an integrated substance abuse/HIV prevention program that is tailored to the needs of African American adolescent girls between the ages of 11 and 14, who reside in Southwest Philadelphia.  I.S.I.S., which is an acronym for Intelligent Sisters Improving Selves, attempts to use the resilience and protective factors present in the population to enhance overall well being and promote healthy, adaptive behaviors among girls in this community.