Advanced Center for Services and Intervention Research (ACSIR) John M. Kane, MD, Director Contact: Susan Schiavi (718) 470-8141

The Zucker Hillside Hospital has received funding from the National Institute of Mental Health to provide an Advanced Center for Services and Intervention Research (ACSIR). The goal of the ACSIR is to provide a research center to study the early phases of schizophrenia development in adolescents and young adults. Maximizing treatment effectiveness in early phase illness may have a profound impact on the course of the illness. For people in the early phase of illness, research is focusing on optimizing treatment, learning more about the adverse effects of medications used in treatment, and increasing the ability to identify factors that predict treatment response. For young people who have not yet been diagnosed with schizophrenia but are showing early signs of schizophrenia, the research center is not only interested in treatment, but seeks to learn more about the evolution of psychosis and what targets can be identified for early intervention treatments. The Center brings the modern tools of neuroscience, including genetics, brain imaging, and cognitive and behavioral studies, to young residents of Long Island, Queens and the Bronx. It creates a network that extends to non-academic, public and private community facilities as well as local schools to create a unique national resource for the research, intervention and dissemination of findings for early phase schizophrenia. The Center is under the direction of John Kane, MD, vice president of behavioral health services for the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, and chairman of psychiatry at The Zucker Hillside Hospital.

Biobehavioral Indicators And Protective Factors For Mental Illness:

The Hillside Family Study
PI: Barbara Cornblatt, Ph.D
Contact: Chris Smith (516) 470-6953
Treatment and research program for adolescents and young adults, age 12 to 22, who may be at risk for developing serious mental illnesses such as psychosis and schizophrenia.

Preventing Morbidity in First Episode Schizophrenia
(NIMH)
PI: Delbert Robinson, MD
Contact: Joanne Caponi (718) 470-8797
Page: (917) 448-7060 before starting medication
Comprehensive treatment program for individuals, age 16 to 40, experiencing a first episode of psychosis.

ECT in Clozapine Refractory Schizophrenia
(NIMH)
PIs: Georgios Petrides, MD, Chitra Malur, MD
Contact: Christopher Phillips, RN (718) 470-8163
Treatment program evaluating the effectiveness of combining ECT and clozapine in the treatment of individuals, age 18 to 60, with medication resistant schizophrenia.

Relapse Prevention: Long Acting Antipsychotics
(NIMH)
PI: Alan Mendelowitz, MD
Contact: Susan Ray (718) 470-8442
Study addresses whether patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder maintain better symptom control by taking the long-acting risperidone microspheres injection vs. any other oral antipsychotic medication. It will also look at need for inpatient psychiatric hospitalization, and emergency room use, among other variables.

Neurocognitive Effects of Ziprasidone
(Pharmaceutical company support)
PI: Anil Malhotra, MD
Contact: Michael Sanders, MD (718) 470-8126
Study evaluates the effects of ziprasidone vs. other atypical antipsychotic medication on cognitive function in patients with schizophrenia.

Pharmacogenetics of Ziprasidone Response
(Stanley Grant)
PI: Anil Malhotra, MD
Contact: Michael Sanders (718) 470-8126 before starting medication
Study evaluating genetic predictors of response to ziprasidone (Geodon) in individuals, age 18 to 65, with schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, and schizoaffective disorder

Study - Addiction And Subsequent Schizophrenia: a link?
Cannabis abuse in first episode schizophrenia
Decision making in schizophrenia and substance abuse
(NIDA)
PI: Serge Sevy, MD (718) 470-8175
Study of cannabis addiction in patients with recent onset schizophrenia

Treating Refractory Childhood Schizophrenia
(NIMH)
PI: Sanjiv Kumra, MD
Contact: Hana Kester (718) 470-8878
Study is targeted for children and adolescents with schizophrenia who have failed separate trials of olanzapine and risperidone at standard doses. This is a 12-week, random assignment, double-blind comparison of clozapine and high-dose olanzapine in 80 children and adolescents.

Lamotrigine Add-On Study in Adolescents with Treatment Resistant Schizophrenia (NARSAD)
PI: Sanjiv Kumra, MD
Contact: Hana Kester (718) 470-8878
Pilot study to evaluate the usefulness of lamotrigine an augmentation agent for children who are partial or non-responders to clozapine.

Characterization of Prodromal Schizophrenia (Rap)
(NIMH)
PI: Barbara Cornblatt, Ph.D.
Contact: Chris Smith (516) 470-6953
Research program evaluating adolescent and young adult patients, age 12 to 22, with psychosis and their siblings.

Treatment of the Schizophrenia Prodrome: Risperidone vs. Sertraline
(Stanley Grant)
PI: Barbara Cornblatt, Ph.D. (516) 470-6956
Contact: Chris Smith (516) 470-6953
Comparing treatment efficacy of antipsychotic vs. antidepressant medication in treating the prodromal symptoms of psychosis.

Genetic Predictors of Antipsychotic-Induced Weight Gain In Adolescents with Schizophrenia and Schizophrenia Related Disorders
(NARSAD)
PI: Anil Malhotra, MD
Contact: Christoph Correll, MD (718) 470-4636 before starting or switching medication
Monitoring study evaluating weight gain and metabolic abnormalities in children and adolescents, age 5 to 18, prescribed novel antipsychotic medication (risperidone, olanzapine, clozapine, quetiapine and ziprasione).

Identifying & Characterizing Prodromal Schizophrenia
(NIMH)
PI and Contact: Todd Lencz, Ph.D. (516) 470-6951
This K01 Award presents a plan for the assessment and characterization of the schizophrenia prodrome. Research will utilize both self-report questionnaire measures and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Neuroanatomic Abnormalities in Adolescents at Clinical Risk for Schizophrenia
(NARSAD)
PI and Contact: Todd Lencz, Ph.D. (516) 470-6951
Structural MRI studies of prodromal adolescent schizophrenia patients and adolescent controls to identify brain abnormalities preceding onset of psychosis.

Early Onset Schizophrenia - Neuroimaging Studies
(NIMH)
PI: Sanjiv Kumra, MD
Contact: Kelly Cervellione (718) 470-4231
Research study assessing brain structure and function in adolescents, ages 10 to 18, with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.

Genetics of Brain Structure & Function
(NARSAD)
PI: Philip Szeszko, Ph.D.
Contact: Julia Betensky (718) 470-8415
To examine the relationship between genes and brain morphology in individuals in their first episode of schizophrenia.

PET Studies of Neurotransmitter Interactions in Humans
(NIMH)
PI: Gwenn S. Smith, Ph.D.
Contact: Susan Ray (718) 470-8442
This project focuses on the application of PET to the characterization of serotonin modulation of dopamine and serotonin responsiveness in patients with schizophrenia.

Characterization of Prodromal Schizophrenia (Rap)
(NIMH)
PI: Barbara Cornblatt, Ph.D.
Contact: Chris Smith (516) 470-6953
Research program evaluating adolescent and young adult patients, age 12 to 22, with psychosis and their siblings.