Release Date: 01/26/2016
At the annual meeting of The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) held in Florida in early December, three research residents from Butler Hospital and Brown University who submitted presentations on their original research projects received awards for “best poster.” Kathryn K. Ridout, MD, PhD, Samuel J. Ridout, MD, PhD, and Jorge Almeida, MD, PhD, were among nine winners—three groups of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes—to be selected from the 787 poster presenters.
“Research is such an integral part of what we do as an academic medical center and the flagship hospital of Brown's Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior. We rely on innovative research to shape our understanding of mental illness, and to inform how we can improve the treatments and medical training we provide. Seeing this work recognized on a national level by such an esteemed organization as the ACNP is an important achievement that speaks to the high caliber of our research and training programs,” said Dr. Lawrence H. Price, president and COO of Butler Hospital, leader of Care New England Health System's Brain and Behavioral Health Council and professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown’s Alpert Medical School.
The three winners for “best poster” from Butler are all part of the hospital’s Mood Disorders Research Program, which focuses on mood disorders like bipolar disorder, seasonal affective disorder, and the most common focus of Butler’s program, depression. The poster presentations are a recognized style of reporting on a research study’s hypothesis, methodology, implementation and outcomes in a one-page 24 inch by 36 inch document. The winners include:
Dr. Kathryn Ridout’s poster highlighted a study performed under the mentorship of Audrey R. Tyrka, MD, PhD, director of research and director of the Laboratory for Clinical and Translational Neuroscience (LCTN) at Butler Hospital and professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown. The study, part of Dr. Tyrka’s National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded grant, examined a gene important in the stress response system and in the development of psychopathology in children.
Dr. Samuel Ridout’s poster detailed an analysis of data from an NIH-funded study by Linda L. Carpenter, MD, chief of the Butler Hospital Mood Disorders Program and professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at Brown. The research examined predictors of developing depressive disorder or symptoms of depression and anxiety.
Dr. Almeida’s study highlighted effects of antidepressant medications in healthy controls, focusing on changes in self-transcendence (reflecting diminished subjective feelings of isolation) and their association with decreased activation in the prefrontal cortex of the brain during fear processing.
Learn more about the Mood Disorders Research Program at Butler Hospital and see a list of current research projects underway.
About Butler Hospital
Butler Hospital, a member of Care New England, is the only private, nonprofit psychiatric and substance abuse hospital serving adults, seniors and adolescents in Rhode Island and southeastern New England. Founded in 1844, it was the first hospital in Rhode Island and has earned a reputation as the leading provider of innovative psychiatric treatments in the region. The Major Affiliated Teaching Hospital for Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Butler is recognized worldwide as a pioneer in conducting cutting-edge research.
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