Awards and Recognition

9/25/23

NIH National Institute of Mental Health: Traveling Wave Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation for the Control of Large-scale Brain Networks. Assistant Professor Alex Herman, MD, PhD, is a Co-Investigator on this grant that has received funding of $2,420,541.00.

9/25/23

State of Minnesota: Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics. Professor Ziad Nahas, MD, MSCR, Professor Kelvin Lim, MD, and Associate Professor Christine Conelea, PhD, are Project Principal Investigators on this grant that has received funding of $7,991,000.00.

8/29/23

Harvard Medical School (subcontract): Combined Cortical and Subcortical Recording and Stimulation as a Circuit-Oriented Treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Associate Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is a Project Investigator on this grant that has received continued funding of $328,893.00.

8/14/23

National Institutes of Health: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Augment Exposure and Response Prevention for Pediatric OCD. Associate Professor Christine Conelea, PhD, is Principal Investigator on this grant that has received $584,319.00 to date.

7/10/23

NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse: Center for Neural Circuits in Addiction. Assistant Professor Anna Zilverstand, PhD, is a Project Principal Investigator for this grant that has had $8,123,521.00 approved to date.

7/6/23

State of Minnesota: Minnesota: Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics. Project Principal Investigators: Professor Kelvin Lim, MD; Professor Ziad Nahas, MD, MSCR; and Associate Professor Christine Conelea, PhD (funds approved to date: $7,991,000.00).

6/29/23

NIH National Institute of Mental Health: Implantable Neurostimulators for Control of Oscillatory Brain Networks. Associate Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this grant that received continued funding of $1,965,523.00 (funds approved to date: $4,740,110.00).

5/15/23

NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Quantification of Tics in Tourette's Syndrome. Assistant Professor Christine Conelea, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this grant that received $611,090.00 in funding.

5/9/23

U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects: Fast, Reliable, Electrical Unconscious Detection (FREUD). Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is Primary Project Investigator for this grant that received $2,037,428.00 in funding.

5/1/23

National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: Personalized relapse prediction in Alcohol Use Disorder. Assistant Professor Anna Zilverstand, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this grant that received $526,411.00 in funding to date.

4/18/23

NIH National Institute on Drug Abuse: ABCD-USA Consortium: Research Project Site at the U of M. Professor Kelvin Lim, MD, is Co-Principal Investigator on this $10,466,543.24 grant that received $1,689,956.00 in continued funding.

3/7/23

National Institutes of Health National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: A Translational Informatics Framework to Mine Efficacy and Safety of Dietary Supplements. Professor Kelvin Lim, MD, is Co-Principal Investigator on this $655,302.00 grant.

2/8/23

NIH National Institute of Mental Health: Parsing early emerging heterogeneity related to autism spectrum disorder
Professor Suma Jacob, MD, PhD, is Principal Investigator on this $3,812,779.00 grant that received continued funding of $740,972.00.

10/26/22

University of Minnesota awarded $21M to lead research revealing effects of vagus nerve stimulation in humans. Professor Ziad Nahas, MD, MSCR, playing a lead role on the interdisciplinary team that brings together 8 institutions across the globe for this first-of-a-kind National Institutes of Health-funded study.

10/2/22

Department Head Sophia Vinogradov, MD, was presented the V. Sagar Sethi, M.D. Mental Health Research Award. The award was created to “honor a scientist for significant contributions to basic research in the neurosciences, psychology, or pharmacology at a molecular, cellular or behavioral level.”

9/27/22

National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Circuit-based deep brain stimulation for Parkinson's disease
Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is Co-Investigator for this grant that received funding of $2,264,185.00.

9/1/22

National Institutes of Health's National Cancer Institute: Clinical Trial of Watercress in Detoxification of Environmental Toxicants and Carcinogens
Professor Dorothy Hatsukami, PHD, is a co-PI on this grant that recently received funding of $613,074.00.

8/16/22

National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health: Dysfunctional State Representations in Psychosis: From Neurophysiology to Neuroplasticity-based Treatment
Department Head Sophia Vinogradov, MD; is Principal Investigator (PI); faculty member Scott Sponheim, PhD, is a co-PI for this grant of $3,054,680.

8/11/22

National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism: tDCS and cognitive training as a neurodevelopmental intervention in FASD
Professor Jeffrey Wozniak, PhD, LP, is Principal Investigator for this new five-year grant that received funding of $2.2M.

8/2/22

National Institutes of Health's Neuroscience Administration: Modeling circuit-specific psychiatric deep brain stimulation and its cognitive effects in macaques
Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is Co-Principal Investigator for this grant that received continued funding of $682,439.

8/1/22

National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health: Implantable Neurostimulators for Control of Oscillatory Brain Networks
Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this grant that received continued funding of $1,017,442.

6/30/22

National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental Health: Bioinformatics for post-traumatic stress
Assistant Professor Jessica Nielson, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this grant that received continued funding of $501,996.

6/14/22

Department Head Sophia Vinogradov, MD, was named a 2022 Exemplary Psychiatrist by the National Alliance on Mental Health.

6/13/22

National Institutes of Health National Institution on Aging: Unobtrusive remote monitoring to identify and track meaningful change in daily function in community dwelling older adults at risk for Alzheimer's disease
Adjunct Assistant Professor Adriana Seelye, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this grant that received additional funding of $519,573.

6/10/22

National Institutes of Health/National Institution on Drug Abuse: Center for Neural Circuits in Addiction
Assistant Professor Anna Zilverstand, PhD, is Co-PI, for this grant that received additional funding of $1,945,162.

5/16/22

National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health: Advancing Research on Mechanisms of Resilience (ARMOR): Prospective Longitudinal Study of Adaptation in New Military Recruits
Principal Investigator Melissa A. Polusny, PhD, LP. Study received $541,773.00 in the fourth of four payments.

4/8/22

National Institute of Mental Health: Label-free optical imaging for human mesoscale connectivity with a focus on deep brain stimulation targets
Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is a co-Investigator for this study that recently received $517,532.

4/4/22

U of M's ongoing ABCD Study
Professor Kelvin Lim, MD, is a co-Principal Investigator for this study that recently received $1.7M in additional funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

3/17/22

Assistant Professor Anne Gearity, PhD, LICSW, has been awarded the University of Minnesota Medical Center 2021 Clinical Education Award.

3/10/22

Minnesota Dept. of Human Services and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration: Adolescents Experiencing a First Episode of Psychosis
Professor and Department Head Sophia Vinogradov is the Principal Investigator for this $4.2M grant; most recent funding: $1.2M.

2/14/22

NIH Nat'l Institute of Mental Health Grant: Targeting Cognition and Motivation in Coordinated Specialty Care for Early Psychosis
Professor and Department Head Sophia Vinogradov is the Principal Investigator for this $6M grant; most recent funding: $1,208,180.

1/27/22

Lynne & Andrew Redleaf Foundation: Precision mental health for at-risk mothers: addressing unmet cognitive needs
Professor and Department Head Sophia Vinogradov is the Principal Investigator for this $1.2M grant; most recent funding: $419,015.

1/7/22

NIH Nat'l Institute of Mental Health Grant: Parsing early emerging heterogeneity related to autism spectrum disorder
Professor Suma Jacob, MD, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this grant, which received $668,677 in funding for 2022.

12/10/21

NIH/National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcohol: Choline Supplementation as a Neurodevelopmental Intervention in Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders
Professor Jeff Wozniak, PhD, LP, is Principal Investigator for the final funding of $596,257 for this grant.

11/17/21

NIH National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke: Circuit and Cognitive Mechanisms of Striatal Deep Brain Stimulation
Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this $1.8M grant.

11/5/21

NIH/Nat'l Inst. on Alcohol Abuse Grant: The Healthy Brain and Child Development National Consortium
Assistant Professor Anna Zilverstand, PhD, is a Co-Principal Investigator on this five-year grant with an initial distribution of $1M in funding.

9/7/21

NIH Nat'l Institute of Mental Health Grant: Modeling circuit-specific psychiatric deep brain stimulation and its cognitive effects in an animal model
Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is co-PI on this grant receiving its final funding for a total of almost $1M.

9/7/21

NIH Nat'l Institute of Mental Health Grant: Modeling circuit-specific psychiatric deep brain stimulation and its cognitive effects in an animal model
Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is co-PI on this grant receiving its final funding for a total of almost $1M.

8/24/21

NIH Nat'l Institute of Mental Health Grant: Neurofeedback and Neural Plasticity of Self-Processing and Affect Regulation Circuits in Suicide Attempting Adolescents
Associate Professor Karina Quevedo, PhD, LP, is the PI on this grant receiving continuation funding of $948,534.

7/30/21

NIH Nat'l Institute of Mental Health Grant: Perceptual Mechanisms of Visual Hallucinations and Illusions in Psychosis
Professor Scott Sponheim, PhD, is the PI on this five-year grant that received its final round of funding ($475,822) for a total of just over $2M.

7/23/21

NIH Nat'l Institute of Mental Health Grant: An Adaptive Algorithm-Based Approach to Treatment for Adolescent Depression
Associate Professor Meredith Gunlicks-Stoessel, PhD, LP, is the PI on this five-year grant that received its final round of funding ($608,315) for a total of almost $2M.

7/15/21

NIH/Nat'l Inst. on Alcohol Abuse Grant: Validating an Autonomous Interactive Internet-Based Delivery of an Empirically Supported Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Comorbidity
Professor Matt Kushner, PhD, is the Principal Investigator on this 5-year grant that recently received $455,000 in continued funding.

7/9/21

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health Grant: Implantable Neurostimulators for Control of Oscillatory Brain Networks
Assistant Professor Alik Widge, MD, PhD, is the co-Principal Investigator on this grant that recently received $871,272 in a second round of funding.

6/25/21

NIH/National Institute of Mental Health Grant: Bioinformatics for post-traumatic stress
Assistant Professor Jessica Nielson, PhD, is the PI on this grant, which was recently awarded more than $500,000 in continuation funds.

6/17/21

NIH/NIA (National Institute on Aging) Grant: Linking Connectomics to Biochemical Trajectories of Aging: How the Human Brain Ages Differentially in Key Regions of the Default Mode Network
Asssistant Professor Laura Hemmy, PhD, is a co-PI on this grant that was recently awarded $677,783.00.

6/15/21

NIH/NIDA (National Institute on Drug Abuse) Grant: Center for Neural Circuits in Addiction
Assistant Professor Anna Zilverstand, PhD, is a co-PI on this grant, which received $1,944,149 in year 2 funding.

5/13/21

NIH RO1 Grant: Validating an Autonomous Interactive Internet-Based Delivery of an Empirically Supported Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Comorbidity
Awarded to Matt Kushner, PhD. The 5-year, $2.3M award will enable the researchers to explore the efficacy of a computer-based treatment for alcohol use disorder with comorbidity of anxiety disorder.

4/13/21

Medical School Distinguished Teaching Award for Resident Teachers of Medical Students
PGY1 resident, Kayleb Koslowsky, MD, received the U of M's Medical School Distinguished Teaching Award for Resident Teachers of Medical Students.

4/6/21

Spring 2021 Equity and Diversity Outstanding Unit Award
Under the leadership of Katie Lingras, PhD, LP, and Danielle Vrieze, PhD, LP, the department's Diversity and Inclusion Committee was given the Spring 2021 Equity and Diversity Outstanding Unit Award by the U's Office for Equity and Diversity. 

4/1/21

NIMH Grant: Dysfunctional State Representations in Psychosis: From Neurophysiology to Neuroplasticity-based Treatment
Sophia Vinogradov, MD, is the PI on this $3M funding continuation for the ongoing project.

U of M's ongoing ABCD Study
Kelvin Lim, MD, is the PI for neurological imaging for this study that recently received $1.7M in additional funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

2/23/21

2020 National Blue Ridge Rankings
The department continued to improve for the fourth year in a row, moving from #19 to #16 in the nation relative to its National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding. In addition, three of our Principal Investigators — Sophia Vinogradov, MD; Dorothy Hatsukami, PhD; and Alik Widge, MD, PhD — were ranked in the top 200 in the nation regarding their NIH funding

2/2/21

Society of Biological Psychiatry's 2021 A.E. Bennett Award for Clinical/Translational Research
Alik Widge, MD, PhD, was selected as the recipeient of this prestigious award, which recognizes superb international research in biological psychiatry by young investigators as well as the crucial contributions of those whose efforts have had a very visible and public impact on both the field and the people suffering from mental illness.

1/24/21

Gold Humanism Honor Society Foundation’s Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine Award
Lora Wichser, MD, was selected from more than 100 faculty members based on medical students' recognition of her exceptional contributions to their medical education and demonstration of compassionate care.

1/1/21

Parsing Early Emerging Heterogeneity Related to Autism Spectrum Disorder
Principal Investigator Suma Jacob, MD, PhD, will lead several projects under this $2.25M National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental Health grant

12/30/20

Targeting Cognition and Motivation in Coordinated Specialty Care for Early Psychosis
Department Head Sophia Vinogradov, MD, PhD, is Principal Investigator for this $2.4M grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

11/18/20

Precision Psychiatry: Bringing Brain Science and Measurement-based Care to the Clinic
Department Head Sophia Vinogradov, MD, PhD, leads this $1,173,536.00 grant from the Lynne and Andrew Redleaf Foundation.

11/17/20

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Augment Behavior Therapy for Tics
Primary PI Christine Conelea, PhD, LP, is overseeing this $1.2M NIH/NIMH grant designed to help young patients with tic disorder.

Clinical Simulation Initiative Grant
Dr. Tolu Odebunmi, Dr. Rachel Kay, and Dr. Christina Warner, PGY2 residents, were awarded a 2020 American Directors of Medical Student Education in Psychiatry Clinical Simulation Initiative Development Grant.

9/22/20

Monato Essay Prize winner
Resident Dr. Brooke Resch has been awarded the annual Hermes Monato, Jr. Prize by the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative. The $2,500 prize is given annually for the best rural health paper. Her award-winning essay, “Grandpa Needs Help,” is on page 5.

Federation of Medicine Cannabis Task Force
Lucien Gonzalez, MD, has been nominated to serve as a state representative on the Federation of Medicine Cannabis Task Force. The task force was created in 2019 to first evaluate and then disseminate relevant scientific evidence about cannabis to health care providers and the public.

9/20/20

Control Network Neuromodulation to Enhance Cognitive Training in Complex Traumatic Brain Injury
Nicholas Davenport, PhD, is the Principal Investigator (PI), and Mo Chen, PhD; and Scott Spondheim, PhD, Co-PIs on this $1.7M Department of Defense grant.

9/15/20

Congratulations, Dr. Breanna Engleson, PGY1 resident, for being elected by her peers to be a member of the University of Minnesota Graduate Medical Education Committee (GMEC)! She was appointed to fill a one-year Trainee Representative GMEC member seat on the committee with an annual option to be reappointed through August 2023. This committee is responsible for oversight of U of M-sponsored programs, setting policies, managing institutional support and reviewing programs directly, when necessary. They also review all communication with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education.

9/1/2020

Mechanisms of Ethnic/Racial Differences in Lung Cancer Due to Cigarette Smoking Dr. Dorothy Hatsukami is the PI on this $1.9M NIH National Cancer Institute.

5/1/20

Distinguished Teaching Award
Dr. Lora Wichser was selected by the Medical School Honors and Awards Committee to receive the Distinguished Teaching Award, Year 3 - 4. This award is highly competitive and recognizes individuals with superior teaching skills.

Outstanding Graduate Faculty in Psychology Award
Dr. Aimee Murray received the 2020 Minnesota Psychological Association's Outstanding Graduate Faculty in Psychology Award. This award is given annually to one psychology educator from across the state of Minnesota based on nomination letters, letters of support from past trainees, and student evaluations.

Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award
Dr. Glen Rebman won the Humanism and Excellence in Teaching Award, which is granted to six resident-physicians who have been recognized for their exceptional teaching skills and commitment to the compassionate treatment of patients and families, students, and colleagues. Glen's selection for this award was based on multiple outstanding nominations by third year medical students and ratification by the Gold Humanism Honor Society.

8/12/20

Dr. Lora Wichser has been awarded an Early Career Development Award from the Academic Association of Psychiatry.

Dr. Kaz Nelson was invited by the American Psychiatric Association to be part of a group that will help develop a new APA practice guideline for treating borderline personality disorder. The guidelines are based on a systematic evidence review that is being conducted by the RTI-UNC evidence-based practice center on the benefits and harms of available treatments. The goal is to publish in 2022.

8/5/20

University of Minnesota Researchers Awarded $6.6M to Develop New Device to Treat Mental Health Disorders
Principal investigator Alik Widge, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, has previously developed methods to bring two regions into synchrony when they’re not and force regions out of synchrony to break a connection that is too strong. With this grant, Widge and his team are using these methods of syncing and unsyncing brain waves to develop a novel, human-ready neuromodulation device for people with mental health disorders. His team includes Gregory Molnar, PhD, MSC, associate professor in the Department of Neurosurgery; and medical device development expert, and Mahsa Shoaran, PhD, of EPFL, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland, and expert in signal processing circuits for brain implants. Learn more.

7/1/20

Congratulations to Sasha Zagoloff for being elected by her peers to represent the Medical School in the Faculty Senate. She will join 10 other faculty in the 2020-2023 cohort. We also acknowledge the work that Matt Kushner has done as a current member of the Senate.

7/15/20

Anna Zilverstand, PhD, is part of a $9.9M National Institutes on Drug Abuse grant awarded to the U to establish the Center for Neural Circuits in Addiction. She is part of a team that will create a large data computational platform that integrates findings across many types of experimental studies to reveal the relationships between exposure to addictive drugs, brain circuits and addictive behavior. Learn more about this exciting work!

7/22/20

Congratulations to Dr. Anna Zilverstand and Dr. Michelle Corkrum. The Education & Training Committee of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) selected Anna and Michelle as Travel Awardees for the December 6-9, 2020, Annual Meeting. As 2020 ACNP Travel Awardees, they will be able to experience this year’s virtual meeting. They also won in- person travel award benefits to attend the 2021 Annual Meeting, December 5-8, at the San Juan Convention Center in Puerto Rico.

7/29/20

Congratulations, psychiatric residents Stephanie Wick, MD, on being named a 2020-2022 American Psychiatric Association/American Psychiatric Association Foundation (APA/APAF) Leadership Fellow, and Rebecca Grossman-Kahn, MD, MBA, on being named a 2020-2022 APA/APAF Diversity Leadership Fellow. APA/APAF fellowships give psychiatry residents the experiential learning, training, and professional development they need to be leaders in their field. Fellows get opportunities to work with Congress on health policy, conduct research, expand care access to minority and underserved populations, focus on child psychiatry or substance abuse, and much more. They also get exclusive opportunities to be part of APA leadership councils and network with APA members from around the country.

Dr. Lucien Gonzalez has been invited to join the behavioral and mental health subcommittee of the American Academy of Pediatrics partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau. The work is part of the Supporting Providers and Families to Access Telehealth and Distant Care Services for Pediatric Care grant. As a member, Dr. Gonzalez will help guide assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation of projects related to that area. The goal is to support telehealth access and infrastructure for providing comprehensive care to children and adolescents, including those with special healthcare needs, and other vulnerable pediatric populations, using a medical home approach during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

6/3/20

Congratulations to Dr. Laura Sloan who was awarded the Rappeport Fellowship by the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. This is the highest award in the country in forensic psychiatry given to a resident. This is also the first time a resident from Minnesota has received it. The fellowship provides an opportunity for outstanding residents with interests in psychiatry and the law to develop their knowledge and skills.

5/15/20

Dr. Katie Cullen received a 2020 NAMI Exemplary Psychiatrist Award. This award is given at the national level to psychiatrists who have advocated for access to care, research, and community education programs; and who are recognized as providing compassionate and comprehensive treatment to people with mental illness.

5/19/20

A new $15 million Silvio O. Conte Center grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has given lead researchers David Redish, PhD, and Sophia Vinogradov, MD, the green light at the University of Minnesota Medical School to conduct a new type of research that could reveal better ways to treat one of the most mysterious mental health diagnoses — psychosis. The U joins only a handful of other Conte Centers across the country. Learn more.