Deconstructing Bipolar Disorder:  Evidence from Community and Family Study Data

Kathleen Ries Merikangas, Ph.D.

Introduction

Dr. Merikangas is Senior Investigator and Chief of the Genetic Epidemiology Branch in the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).  Dr. Merikangas received a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in experimental psychology and music from the University of Notre Dame. She received clinical training through an NIAAA-sponsored master’s program and internship at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic at the University of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine, where she continued to conduct clinical research on the Affective Disorders Clinical Research Unit while she pursued a Ph.D. in chronic disease epidemiology from the University of Pittsburgh School Of Public Health.  Through a Career Development Award from the NIMH, she completed postdoctoral training in population genetics/genetic epidemiology at the Yale University School of Medicine, where she joined the faculty and ultimately became a Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, Psychiatry and Psychology and the Director of the Genetic Epidemiology Research Unit in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health. She came to the NIH in 2002 as part of the development of the Mood Disorders Program in the Intramural Research Program at the NIMH. Dr. Merikangas has authored more than 300 scientific publications and has presented lectures throughout the U.S. and in more than 20 countries.  Her current research program at the NIMH Intramural Research Program focuses on: (1) population based studies of mental and physical disorders in adults and youth; (2) multigenerational family studies designed to identify the core features and biomarkers of genetic and environmental factors underlying the familial transmission of bipolar spectrum disorders: and (3) the application of mobile technologies to examine patterns of motor activity, mood and sleep in mood disorders.  The branch is currently collaborating on a large population- based cohort study of physical mental comorbidity in Lausanne, Switzerland, and coordinating a collaborative network examining motor activity and health, with a particular focus on mood disorders, the mobile Motor Activity Research Consortium on Health (mMARCH).

Learning Objectives

1. Present background on methods to study the phenomenology of bipolar disorder
2. Demonstrate the value of epidemiology in understanding bipolar disorder
3. Demonstrate the value of employing mobile technologies to study the inter-relationships of functional domains underlying bipolar disorder

Live webcast available at:  http://videos.mayo.edu/live

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Credit Statements

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Archived webcast available at: Psychiatry & Psychology Video Library

Industry Acknowledgment (if applicable): None.

Disclosure Summary

As a provider accredited by ACCME, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine (Mayo School of Continuous Professional Development), must ensure balance, independence, objectivity and scientific rigor in its educational activities.   Course Director(s), Planning Committee Members, Faculty, and all others who are in a position to control the content of this educational activity are required to disclose all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest related to the subject matter of the educational activity.  Safeguards against commercial bias have been put in place.  Faculty also will disclose any off label and/or investigational use of pharmaceuticals or instruments discussed in their presentation.  Disclosure of this information will be published in course materials so those participants in the activity may formulate their own judgments regarding the presentation.

Listed below are individuals with control of the content of this program who have disclosed…

Relevant financial relationship(s) with industry:  None

No relevant financial relationship(s) with industry:

Brian Palmer, M.D., Michael Bostwick, M.D., Karen Grothe, Ph.D., Lois Krahn, M.D., Jarrod Leffler, Ph.D., Larissa Loukianova, M.D., Mary Machulda, Ph.D., Patricia Maus, M.D., Amber Pearson, Jeffrey Staab, M.D., Cosima Swintak, M.D., Kristin Vickers Douglas, Ph.D., Cynthia Harbeck-Weber, Ph.D., Michael Zaccariello, Ph.D., Georgina Rink

Speaker: Kathleen Ries Merikangas, Ph.D.

References to off-label usage(s) of pharmaceuticals or instruments in their presentation:

None