Dr. Thomas R. Insel

Mental Illness: The Next Frontier in Biomedical Research

ABSTRACT: Genomics and neuroscience are transforming our understanding of mental illness. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and anxiety disorders (such a PTSD) are now viewed as brain disorders resulting from genetic vulnerability interacting with developmental (including prenatal) experience.  The tools of modern biology, such as high throughput sequencing, high field strength neuroimaging, and induced pluripotent stem cells have made the study of mental illness one of the most exciting frontiers in biomedical research. With these powerful tools, for the first time, we are defining both the biological and psychological basis of these mysterious disorders.

BIO: Thomas R. Insel, M.D.  Dr. Insel is the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health.  He currently serves as the founding director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, a science and technology center, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) where he is involved in the development of an autism research center.   Dr. Insel joined NIMH in 1979, where he served in various scientific research positions until 1994 when he went to Emory University, Atlanta, as Professor, Department of Psychiatry, Emory University School of Medicine, and Director of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center. As director of Yerkes, Dr. Insel built one of the nation’s leading HIV vaccine research programs. He currently serves as the founding director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, a science and technology center, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF).  Dr. Insel oversees the NIMH’s $1.3 billion research budget that provides support to investigators at universities throughout the country in the areas of basic science; clinical research, including large-scale trials of new treatments; and studies of the organization and delivery of mental health services. The Institute also administers an in-house research program at the NIH Bethesda. NIMH was authorized in 1946 as one of the first NIH institutes. The Institute’s mission is to reduce the burden of mental illness and behavioral disorders through research on mind, brain, and behavior.