The department conducts a wide range of clinical and intervention research. Broadly, this work aims to develop and test the efficacy of biomedical and behavioral interventions and clinical assessment tools as well as to identify risk factors for a wide range of psychiatric conditions, including major depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and psychotic disorders.
Ivan Alekseichuk, PhD’s is a cognitive neuroengineer with a fundamental interest in mental functions and their electrophysiological mechanisms. He leads Precision Neuromodulation Lab that investigates how neural communications encode cognition and emotions by combining non-invasive techniques for observing human brain functions (using electroencephalography and functional MRI) and modulating brain circuits (using transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial alternating current stimulation). The Lab works on the edge of several disciplines, drawing approaches from biological psychiatry, neuropsychology, and neural engineering. The Lab’s engineering focus is on developing personalized, adaptive, and closed-loop non-invasive brain stimulation techniques. Their human experimental program includes neuropsychological studies in mood regulation, decision-making, and memory as well as clinical trials in device-based interventional therapies for mental health.
Contact
710 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 13-024 Chicago, IL 60611
Tina Boisseau, PhD, focuses on designing interventions to improve the long-term treatment and outcome of patients with emotional disorders, with particular emphasis on OCD and anxiety disorders. Boisseau leads the SOAR Lab, which focuses primarily on two intersecting areas: 1) the hypothesis-driven development and adaptation of empirically-supported treatments and 2) the use of translational research methods to identify critical, transdiagnostic mechanisms of dysfunction and barriers to recovery. A secondary focus of the laboratory is on eating disorders, particularly as they relate to other OC spectrum conditions.
Currently, in collaboration with researchers at Brown Medical School, the lab is investigating harm avoidance and incompleteness as dimensional endophenotypes in anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum conditions (R01 NIMH R01 MH110449). They are also analyzing data from our naturalistic, prospective study of OCD.
Contact
676 North Saint Clair Street Suite 1000 Chicago, IL 60611
Inger Burnett-Zeigler, PhD, focuses on disparities in mental illness and treatment, developing, testing, and implementing culturally tailored mental health interventions in community-based settings. In 2014, she received the Northwestern University Patient-Centered Intervention and Engagement Training (NU-Patient) K12 Faculty Scholar Award where she led a series of pilot studies that examined the acceptability, feasibility, and preliminary effectiveness of a mindfulness-based intervention (M-Body) for Black women in a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). In 2018 she received a Third Coast Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) Pilot Award to adapt the mindfulness intervention for low-income, racial/ethnic minority pregnant women living with HIV and prepare for implementation in an enhanced case management program. She has also been funded by the Veterans Health Affairs (VHA) and by the Greer Family Foundation. She is currently the PI on a R01 funded by NIH/NIMHD (R01MD012236-02) to conduct a randomized controlled clinical trial to examine the effectiveness and implementation of a mindfulness intervention on reducing depressive symptoms among racial/ethnic minority adults in a federally qualified health center. The M-Body lab is generally interested in addressing the impact that the disproportionate burden of chronic stress and trauma exposure has on the mental and physical health of racial/ethnic minority and other marginalized groups by developing accessible interventions to address these factors in order to achieve health equity. Other research interests include examining the impact of trauma, racism, and other social, cultural, and environmental factors on mental health and wellness.
Contact
676 North Saint Clair Street Suite 1000 Chicago, IL 60611
Allison Carroll, PhD, is core faculty in the Center for Dissemination and Implementation Science (CDIS) in Institute for Public Health and Medicine (IPHAM). She uses mixed methods in her research in implementation science, community-engagement, behavioral interventions, chronic disease prevention and management, and health equity. She is PI of a K23 career development award from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and is a collaborator on a number of research studies.
CIRCL-Chicago: Community Intervention to Reduce Cardiovascular Disease in Chicago
Implementation and Expansion of the Collaborative Behavioral Health Program (CBHP), an integrated collaborative care model for depression in Northwestern Medicine primary care clinics
Contact
750 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 1000 Chicago, IL 60611
Development and Preliminary Trial of a Digital Transdiagnostic CBT Intervention for Transgender Adolescents (R34 MH133768; PI). This study will develop and test the feasibility of an app-based cognitive-behavioral therapy-based intervention targeted for transgender adolescents.
Equitable Measurement of Care Disparities and Needs in Intersex Youth/Youth with Variations in Sex Development (R01 HD114134; Site PI/Co-Investigator). This study will validate the VISTA: Variations in Sex Traits Advocacy Tool.
Trans Development Study (R01 MH123746; MPI). This study aims to define the impact of pubertal suppression treatment in transgender youth on mental health trajectories and underlying neural systems.
Gender Journey Project (R01 HD097122; MPI). This study establishes a national cohort of prepubertal TNB youth and their parents to longitudinally assess gender development, mental health, and psychosocial functioning over time.
Trans Youth Care Study (R01 HD082554; Co-Investigator). This is the first US-based cohort of transgender youth initiating pubertal suppression treatment and gender-affirming hormones. Currently in the second 5 years of funding, this study will elucidate physical and psychosocial outcomes 6 years after starting medical treatment.
Contact
1440 North Dayton Street Suite 300 Chicago, IL 60642
Hongxin Dong, MD, PhD, has focused on a continuous and integrated program of investigating genetic alterations and environmental effects on neurodevelopment and aging, and their relevance to the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. Ongoing NIH funded projects to discover novel molecular genetics and epigenetic mechanisms underlying neuropsychological disorders, using human antemortem clinical assessments and postmortem tissues, as well as animal models. The findings from the translational work will help in the development of new therapeutic strategies to slow disease onset and prevent progression.
Contact
303 East Chicago Avenue Ward 7-103 Chicago, IL 60611
The current research projects led by Sheehan Fisher, PhD, focus on the role of evidence-based prevention interventions that target perinatal depression. By tending to the needs of underserved populations, this research team hopes to implement and evaluate effective interventions that promote health equity and improve quality of life.
Current Projects
Prevention of Perinatal Depression in Birthing People with a History of Adverse Childhood Experiences: A Type 2 Effectiveness Implementation Trial (PPD-ACE)
This randomized trial aims to evaluate the evidence-based Reach Out, Stand Strong, Essentials for New Mothers (ROSE) protocol as a prevention intervention. The research team will evaluate whether ROSE improves perinatal depression (both symptom trajectories and dichotomized perinatal depression) among low-income pregnant people with a history of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and will evaluate mechanisms by which ROSE may improve perinatal depression. The study will also examine the acceptability, appropriateness, cost, feasibility, and fidelity of ROSE. This proposal will generate key data to inform the conduct of a full-scale cluster randomized trial of ROSE that will answer the key questions of how to effectively and equitably prevent perinatal depression.
Team Members: Emily S. Miller, MD, MPH (co-PI), Clare Wongwai, BA
African-American Social Support Effectiveness Treatment-Partners Alleviating Perinatal Depression (ASSET-PPD)The African-American Social Support Effectiveness Treatment- Partners alleviating Perinatal Depression (ASSET-PPD) protocol targets the fathers’ support of the mothers’ mental health treatment and their active engagement in the family to reduce maternal stress. The ASSET-PPD intervention is designed to have 4 active modules that address key factors to reduce maternal stress during the prenatal period and 2 postpartum review sessions. This randomized intervention study aims to collect pilot data to evaluate the efficacy of the ASSET-PPD protocol as a supplemental perinatal depression (PND) treatment.
Contact
675 North Saint Clair Street Suite 14-200 Chicago, IL 60611
Tamar Gefen is an academic clinical neuropsychologist and Associate Director of Clinical Neuropsychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern. She Co-Directs the Clinical Core of the NIA-funded (P30) Alzheimer's Disease Research Center (ADRC) housed within the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease. Her Laboratory for Translational Neuropsychology studies neurodegenerative disorders and trajectories of aging (both abnormal and successful) through the integration of antemortem features during life and postmortem neuropathology at autopsy. Her clinical work is focused on the careful characterization of dementia syndromes and age-related disorders. She is passionate about mentorship, teaching, and collaboration.
Contact
320 East Superior Street Tarry Building, 8th Floor Chicago, IL 60611
Jacqueline Gollan, PhD, seeks to discover therapeutic mechanisms that help people recover from depression. Using an experimental therapeutics approach in which the team identifies and interrupts processes associated with depression, they apply this knowledge to build new neuro-informed behavioral treatments for depression to serve the community here in Chicago and beyond. Other interests include (a) building the lab’s capabilities to leverage neuroscience discoveries, specifically that of reinforcement learning in decision-making to optimize women’s health and (b) collaborating with researchers to provide clinical training and consultation on behavioral interventions in collaborative care and community mental health programs.
The BETR Lab is part of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences located at the Asher Center for the Study and Treatment of Depressive Disorders. The lab has space for private clinical interviews, neurocognitive tests, implicit stimulus presentations and data analyses of neuroimaging (SPM) and psychophysiological protocols.
The lab is a training setting that actively supports the research careers of undergraduates, PhD and MD trainees, and postdoctoral fellows. For example, they mentor the Asher Center's Women’s Behavioral Health Psychiatry fellows, provide an annual course on cognitive behavioral therapy for Northwestern graduate trainees and mentor undergraduate students in Northwestern University Multicultural Affairs Summer Research Opportunity Program.
Contact
676 North Saint Clair Street Suite 1000 Chicago, IL 60611
Evan Goulding, MD, PhD, and his group have been developing a smartphone-based self-management intervention for bipolar disorder called LiveWell, which consists of a smartphone application, coaching support, a secure server and website. The development of LiveWell utilized a person-centered, intervention mapping approach during which the group obtained feedback from individuals with bipolar disorder, their mental health providers and the group's coaching staff. Based on this development process, they have created a behavior change framework integrating user feedback with information from empirically supported psychotherapies for bipolar disorder, health psychology behavior change theories and chronic disease self-management models. This behavior change framework allows labeling of intervention content in terms of outcomes (e.g. time to relapse), targets (e.g. early warning sign management) and determinants (e.g. self-efficacy, intention, planning, monitoring) addressed by the behavior change techniques delivered during application use (tracked via the application) or coach calls (recorded and transcribed). This provides a means to examine relationships between changes in outcomes, targets and determinants, along with exposure to behavior change technique content and tool use delivered to impact determinants of specific behavioral targets (e.g. medication adherence).
In addition, collection of behavioral data such as activity levels and sleep duration (actimetry), location (GPS) and social interactions (texts and calls) provides an opportunity to identify features correlated with clinical status and may improve the ability to determine what content to deliver when to a specific individual to improve treatment. Overall, the goal of the LiveWell intervention is to assist individuals in staying well while also serving as a platform for data collection that provides insights into treatment mechanisms and trajectories to allow iterative development and improvement of the intervention.
Contact
680 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 1520 Chicago, IL 60611
Sarah Helseth, PhD seeks to increase equitable access to and utilization of effective interventions and health services, particularly among underserved populations and high-risk youth. Recent NIH-funded work includes:
TECH: Design and test an adjunct mobile app to help court-involved youth reduce marijuana use (K23DA048062; PI: Helseth).
Parent SMART: Pragmatic randomized trial of an intervention for parents of youth returning home from residential care (R37DA052918; PI: Becker).
FreSH: Hybrid Type I trial delivering a smoking cessation intervention during routine dental visits (4UH3DE029973; PI: Japuntich).
Contact
633 North Saint Clair Street Suite 2000 Chicago, IL 60622
Cassandra Kisiel, PhD, works with the Center for Child Trauma Assessment, Services and Systems Integration (CCTASSI) which has been funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) as a Treatment and Service Adaptation Center of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). The Center offers national expertise on both assessing and addressing the complex, developmental effects of trauma for system-involved youth and developing trauma-informed, child-serving systems and agencies. The Center's focus includes the development, adaptation, and widespread dissemination of trauma-focused training curriculum and resources within targeted service settings across the country, with a particular emphasis on child welfare, juvenile justice, and behavioral health. The team includes both faculty and project staff from a variety of disciplines, and doctoral and master’s students from the Clinical Psychology Program within the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. An innovative feature of the Center’s work includes the development and dissemination of several public awareness films, focused on complex trauma, transition age youth, and race and trauma. The Center's research and evaluation efforts include assessing the use and impact of our resources and training and implementation programs on provider attitude, knowledge, skill, and practice change, and the utility and impact of our resources on family partners and community members. The Center has utilized a variety of techniques, including analysis of large scale data sets to identify trauma-related needs and strengths within our target populations; use of quality improvement data to inform ongoing service needs and the need for adaptations to existing training and implementation approaches; collection of both survey and qualitative data (e.g., focus groups, interviews, other narrative data) from providers and family partners to identify key needs, translate findings into the development of practical resources for providers, and consolidate these findings for dissemination and publication.
Contact
710 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 1200 Chicago, IL 60611
Herbert Y. Meltzer, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Pharmacology and Physiology and Director of the Translational Neuropharmacology Program at Northwestern University in Chicago, IL. He leads The Laboratory of Translational Neuropsychopharmacology which is in its 11th year at the Feinberg School of Medicine after previous stints at the University of Chicago, Case Western University and Vanderbilt University.It is celebrating its 54th year of continuous activity and funding The laboratory utilizes a mix of preclinical research, biological studies of patients, and clinical trials to develop new knowledge about theetiology, pathophysiology and treatment of schizophrenia, in particular, with some focus on major depression and bipolar disorder and the drugs used to understand and treat these illnesses. It recently licensed a novel drug platform based upon serotonin (5-HT) 2C agonism with potential numerous applications, including schizophrenia, anti-psychotic induced weight gain, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The lab has recently begun studies in rodents with psilocybin and related compounds to understand the psychedelic and psychotomimetic basis for their action, using microdialysis, behavioral and biochemical methods to contribute to the development of drugs which are selectively psychedelic. It is also studying the biological basis for neutraceutical drug, e.g. curcumin, efficacy.
Contact
303 East Chicago Avenue Ward 7-101 Chicago, IL 60611
Jeffrey Rado, MD, MPH, has nearly 20 years of experience conducting clinical trials. His work focuses on improving the lives of individuals with serious mental illness. His research interests include prevention and management of weight gain and metabolic derangements associated with antipsychotic medications.
The Clinical Trials Unit has a long history of conducting clinical research studying innovative treatments for a variety of psychiatric disorders, particularly syndromes where currently available treatments are inadequate. We have conducted industry-sponsored trials in treatment-resistant schizophrenia, treatment-resistant major depression, negative symptoms in schizophrenia, cognitive impairment in schizophrenia and in bipolar disorder and the use of long-acting injectable antipsychotic medication for early phase treatment of schizophrenia in young adults.
Current Projects
Assessment of ERG components to discriminate between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder type I: study of electroretinography as a means to diagnostically differentiate between schizophrenia and bipolar I
TWAIN 1: TAAR-1 partial agonist in patients with negative symptoms of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder: clinical trial of ralmitaront to address apathy, asociality and affective flattening in schizophrenia
A Randomized, Double-Blind Controlled Comparison of NRX-101 to Standard of Care for Patients with Moderate Bipolar Depression with Subacute Suicidal Ideation and Behavior: clinical trial of lurasidone plus D-cycloserine to treat depressive symptoms in bipolar disorder.
Recent work: A recently completed trial focused on testing a new medication to reduce the cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. We also completed a study of the antidepressant fluvoxamine to prevent clinical worsening of COVID-19. Their team participated in a multi-center trial of olanzapine-samidorphan for the prevention of weight gain in young adults with newly diagnosed schizophrenia.
Their senior research coordinator is Ankit Jain, MS.
The team has collaborated with other Northwestern basic science and clinical investigators including Herbert Meltzer, MD; Mehmet Dokucu, MD, PhD, and James Reilly, PhD, as well as others across the country.
Contact
680 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 1500 Chicago, IL 60611
The Resilience Education to Advance Community Healing (REACH) Statewide Initiative is supported by Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER II) from the U.S Department of Education. REACH goals are: 1) To prepare educators and schools to support student mental health and resilience via trauma-informed policies and practices; 2) to foster educators’ personal and professional resilience and self-care; and 3) to assist districts in creating school mental health structures and data-riven approaches to addressing trauma and building resilience. CCR is partnering with the American Institutes of Research and Loyola University Chicago to conduct a mixed-methods analysis of the REACH implementation and outcomes.
National Center for Safe Supportive Schools (NCS3) is a SAMHSA-funded center within the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN). The mission is to provide states, districts, and schools with the knowledge and tools to implement culturally responsive, trauma-informed policies and practices that promote equity and well-being.
Stress and Coping Toolkit — In partnership with Chicago Public Schools, the Center for Childhood Resilience at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital developed and piloted the Stress and Coping Toolkit. The Toolkit is designed for ease of delivery by classroom teachers and expands upon existing Social Emotional Learning curricula by integrating Mental Health Literacy content and by including a greater emphasis on understanding and coping with stress, trauma, and grief. CCR launched a hybrid implementation-effectiveness trial in 2024 to examine whether the Toolkit reduces barriers to mental health treatment and improves mental health literacy, emotional, and academic functioning. A mixed-methods approach is being utilized to examine feasibility, acceptability, and adoption of the Toolkit.
Strengthening Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups (STRONG) — In partnership with Loyola University Chicago and Chicago Public Schools, STRONG uses a group randomized mixed-methods design to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of the STRONG school-based intervention (Hoover, 2018) in promoting mental health and resilience among newcomer students.
Contact
680 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 13-084 Chicago, IL 60611
Work in the lab of James Reilly, PhD, focuses on understanding how cognitive control processes — those processes that help guide thought and behavior based on internally generated goals — are altered in individuals with or at risk for various forms of psychopathology and those with acquired conditions, and how these processes are altered by various treatments. They use neuropsychological and translational laboratory and fMRI approaches adopted from the cognitive neurosciences to study the functional neural networks involved in the control of attention, working memory and behavioral responding and how these are altered in a range of clinical populations. They use these same approaches to evaluate impact of novel interventions (pharmacological or behavioral) targeting cognition and functional neural systems among healthy and clinically affected individuals, with the aim towards identifying promising treatments for cognitive impairment to bring to clinical populations. Students in their lab have the opportunity to learn diagnostic and clinical assessment procedures, standard neuropsychological methods for evaluating cognitive functioning and laboratory and fMRI based acquisition and analysis of neurophysiologic data.
Contact
710 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 1315 Chicago, IL 60611
Led by Stewart Shankman, PhD, the NEAR Lab's research focuses on the relation between depression and anxiety disorders and on novel treatments and risk factors for these difficult-to-treat emotional disorders. Depression and anxiety (aka "internalizing psychopathologies") are serious and prevalent public health problems with an economic burden of hundreds of billions of dollars that has been increasing in recent years. While moderately efficacious treatments have been developed for these conditions (e.g., cognitive behavioral therapies, SSRIs), treatment response is very heterogeneous. The group’s research attempts to (a) improve the understanding of internalizing psychopathologies and their risk factors, (b) identify specific targets for intervention and prevention efforts for specific individuals and (c) develop more effective interventions and preventative strategies to help people suffering from these conditions. The lab came to Northwestern in 2019 and is currently conducting multiple NIH-funded projects utilizing a variety of methods (e.g., fMRI, electrophysiology, laboratory behavioral paradigms, treatment development). Recently, their two largest R01s have focused on psychomotor disturbance in adults with depression, as well as social processes and smartphone use in adolescence with depression.
Contact
680 North Lake Shore Drive Suite 1532 Chicago, IL 60611
John T. Walkup, MD, current research focuses on his long term interest in the treatment of anxiety disorder in the pediatric population. While cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) is the initial treatment of choice, CBT results in only a 35% remission rate as compared to a 65 % remission rate of combined CBT and antidepressant medication. It is imperative for families and providers to know if CBT remission rates can be improved as compared to combined treatment by intensifying exposure tasks (the key ingredient in CBT) adding more family sessions to reduce parental accommodation and extend treatment duration to 24-weeks. Building on his long history of engagement in community based participatory research Dr. Walkup and others at Lurie Children’s have formed a collaboration with Communities United to engage and train youth to be social justice advocates. The program Healing Through Justice builds on the observation that when youth who have experienced systematic racism come to terms with their personal. family and community experience of racism and then work to advance systems change they experience healing of themselves while working to heal their families and communities. This project will train 3000 youth in the Chicagoland community over the next 7 years.
Sandra Weintraub studies the determinants of “outlier conditions”, namely, unusually successful memory aging (Northwestern SuperAging Program) and of unusual forms of dementia (Primary Progressive Aphasia, behavioral variant Frontotemporal Dementia) that help elucidate resistance or regional brain vulnerability, respectively, to age-related neurodegenerative diseases. She collaborates with multidisciplinary researchers at Northwestern, nationally, and internationally on topics related to diagnosis of age-related cognitive decline.
Contact
676 North Saint Clair Street Suite 1000 Chicago, IL 60611
Jill Weissberg-Benchell has shaped her career according to the scientist-practitioner model. Consistent with this model, she has focused her work on integrating the provision of clinical care and clinically applied research. Specifically, her research program is informed both by the literature and by her clinical experiences. The lessons learned from her patients and their families lead to the most relevant translational research questions. Similarly, her knowledge of the research literature guides her provision of clinical care. She has contributed significantly to the clinical care of children, teenagers, and their parents with diabetes and have developed a highly productive research program as well. While pursuing the scientist-practitioner model, she has also had the great fortune to work with physicians, nurses, and other psychologists nationally and internationally in the diabetes community.
Dr. Weissberg-Benchell has a strong history of working on multi-site intervention studies funded by the NIH (Family Management of Diabetes funded by NICHD, Supporting Teen Problem Solving funded by NIDDK, and Effectiveness Trial of an E-Health Intervention To Support Diabetes Care in Minority Youth, funded by NIDDK. She has also worked on other multi-site studies (Psychosocial Aspects of Automated Insulin Delivery Systems funded by the Helmsley Charitable Trust and The Impact of Diabetes Camp also funded by Helmsley). She has worked with the automated insulin delivery team for the Bionic Pancreas (BP) for many years, and we have published manuscripts in peer reviewed journals regarding the psychosocial impact of the BP. I am the only psychologist on an NIDDK funded U grant (UC4 DK108612) for the BP’s pivotal trial, as 16-site study. She's the principal investigator on a JDRF-funded study aimed at improving family coping and adaptation during their first year post-diagnosis (Teaming up for T1D with Telehealth: Triple T). She has been the mentor for JDRF-funded post-doctoral fellowships (6 consecutive year of funding) focused on building the number of psychologists with research and clinical excellence in diabetes care.
Dr. Weissberg-Benchell has authored or co-authored almost 70 publications that have been cited over 2100 times with a h-index of 23 (Scopus). One older study, a meta-analysis of the metabolic and psychosocial impact of insulin pumps, is not only cited 438 times and is among the top 2% of publications of similar age and fields of study (Scopus), but also resulted in the decision by Germany’s national health system to approve funding for insulin pumps. It is highly unusual for a psychologist’s research to influence an entire country’s access to medical devices. Her team developed the gold-standard measures to assess diabetes-specific emotional distress in teens and their parents, as well as in children and their parents. These measures are now recommended in the 2022 standards of care from the American Diabetes Association for psychosocial screening measures. She also co-created the only FDA-approved Patient-Reported Outcome measure (PRO) in diabetes technology, the INSPIRE measure.
