Circadian Rhythms and Reward Neural Circuitry and the Relationship to Bipolar Disorder

Presenters

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  Mary L. Phillips, MD

  Dr. Mary Phillips trained in Medicine at the University of Cambridge, UK and in Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital, London and Institute of Psychiatry, UK. She received a research training fellowship from the Medical Research Council (UK) to examine visual scan paths in schizophrenia. She subsequently developed a research interest in the application of functional neuroimaging techniques to the examination of the neural basis of emotion processing in healthy and psychiatric populations. She has, in particular, focused on the identification of neural correlates that underlie the symptoms of specific abnormalities in emotion processing in individuals with mood disorders. She became Professor of Neuroscience and Emotion and Head of Section of Neuroscience and Emotion within the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King?s College, London, UK in 2003. In October, 2004, she joined the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh as part-time Visiting Professor and Director of the Functional Neuroimaging Program, moving to become a Professor of Psychiatry in April, 2006. In 2005, Dr. Phillips became a member of The American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and in 2006, was awarded the Nellie Blumenthal Investigator by the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression. Since 2006, Dr. Phillips has been Co-Director of the Brain Imaging Research Center within Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. In January, 2008, Dr. Phillips moved her UK research base to Cardiff University, UK, to take up the position of Professor in Clinical Affective Neuroscience in the Department of Psychological Medicine part-time. Dr Phillips now heads teams of dedicated researchers in the US and UK at both institutions. Dr Phillips has received research funding awards from the Medical Research Council (UK) and the Wellcome Trust in the UK, and, more recently from NIMH in the US. Dr. Phillips is mentor to nearly 20 junior investigators in both institutions, and has authored or co-authored over 150 publications.

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  Ellen Frank, PhD

  Dr. Ellen Frank is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and director of the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. Dr. Frank and her colleagues developed a new psychotherapy?interpersonal and social rhythm therapy?for the treatment of manic depressive illness under a MERIT award from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). She recently completed an NIMH-sponsored study of women with recurrent depression in which she examined how psychobiology, life stress, and different ?doses? of psychotherapy interact to increase or decrease vulnerability to new episodes of depression. In addition, Frank is completing a joint project with researchers at the University of Pisa, Italy, aimed at achieving a better understanding of the clinical importance of subsyndromal mood, anxiety and eating disorders?that is, when the symptoms are not severe enough for diagnosis as a clinically recognized syndrome. An expert in mood disorders and their treatment, Frank was Chair of the Food and Drug Administration Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Panel. She also is a former member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council. She currently serves on the Mood Disorders Workgroup of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on DSM-V. Frank is an honorary fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. In 1999 Dr. Frank was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine. A graduate of Vassar College, Frank earned a master?s degree in English at Carnegie Mellon University and a doctorate in psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.

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