Roads Not Taken
By Thomas Insel on
NIMH’s director talks about the need for research that explores the frontiers of science and funding efforts to encourage innovative research.
Posts about Research Funding
The Pay-Offs of ARRA
By Thomas Insel on
Balancing Immediate Needs with Future Innovation
By Thomas Insel on
Dr. Insel responds to discussion from the National Advisory Mental Health Council concerning the need to balance research funding for basic science and mental health services.
We Are the Government
By Thomas Insel on
NIMH’s “government bureaucrats” are really dedicated public servants devoted to good patient care, improved treatments, and scientific discovery.
Treatment Development: The Past 50 Years
By Thomas Insel on
Dr. Insel discusses the state of psychiatric research and development (R&D) in the public and private sectors
Investing Wisely in Public Health
By Thomas Insel on
Dr. Insel on investing in research.
NIMH Impact on Public Health
By Thomas Insel on
NIMH research can have a significant impact on public health through innovations and projects that cross the four objectives outlined in NIMH’s Strategic Plan.
Funding Science in a Time of Austerity
By Thomas Insel on
Dr. Insel discusses the impact of difficult budget times on mental health research.
Big BRAINS Academy: NIMH Awards Program Fosters Creative New Scientists
By Thomas Insel on
With the charge to become vanguards for the next generation of scientists, NIMH recognized the 12 recipients of the 2010 Biobehavioral Research Awards for Innovative New Scientists—or BRAINS.
The Economics of Health Care Reform
By Thomas Insel on
Dr. Insel discuss what NIMH is doing to support economic research in light of mental health parity and health care reform.
Looking forward to 2011
By Thomas Insel on
Dr Insel discusses research priorities for 2011.
Investing in Innovation
By Thomas Insel on
NIH has created several funding mechanisms aimed at supporting innovative, unconventional research.
Taking Clinical Research to the Next Level
By Thomas Insel on
Dr. Insel discusses the evolution of clinical research and changing priorities in clinical research funding.
More on Public Trust and Conflict of Interest
By Thomas Insel on
Dr. Insel addresses recent misconceptions pertaining to financial conflict of interest.
NIMH — Reducing Conflict of Interest, Ensuring Public Trust
By Thomas Insel on
Dr. Insel discusses progress in the approaches for identifying and preventing financial conflicts of interest.
NIMH’s BRAINS Awards—In Support of Creativity
By Thomas Insel on
NIMH recognizes the first seven recipients of its BRAINS awards.
Who Will Develop the Next Generation of Medications for Mental Illness?
By Thomas Insel on
Today’s treatments for mental illness may be good but they are not good enough. As industry pulls back, NIMH will have to step in and play a bigger role in fostering development of a new generation of evidenced-based medications for people with mental illness.
Tracing the Brain’s Connections
By Thomas Insel on
A picture of the brain’s connections is emerging from an effort to create a reference atlas of the human “connectome.” Much like variation in the human genome, highly individual variation in circuitry occurs within a universal, intrinsic functional architecture.
Disorders Without Borders
By Thomas Insel on
NIMH is increasing its commitment to global mental health. The Institute is already invested in research around the globe. In 2009, NIMH supported nearly 200 grants in 51 countries. Our portfolio has included AIDS prevention in sub-Sahara Africa, studies of autism in Saudi Arabia, and research on mental health systems in Chile. With such a broad international portfolio, so many unmet needs for mental health research in the United States, and so little new money available for research, why would NIMH want to invest more globally?
Re-Thinking Classification of Mental Disorders
By Thomas Insel on
Can we develop a clinically useful diagnostic system based on neuroscience and genetics? Not yet. But, in the spirit of beginning a long journey, NIMH is taking its first step with the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) project.
Ensuring Public Trust
By Thomas Insel on
NIMH’s aggressive approach towards identifying and preventing financial conflicts of interest.
Looking Forward in 2010
By Thomas Insel on
This week’s issue of Nature, the first of 2010, includes an editorial entitled “A Decade for Psychiatric Disorders”. Phil Campbell, the editor of Nature, argues that the understanding and treatment of conditions such as schizophrenia are ripe for a revolution. At NIMH, we agree with this assessment. Indeed, the revolution is already underway with extraordinary recent findings from genomics, imaging, and clinical trials. The banner for this revolution is pathophysiology, understanding the mechanism of disease as a critical step to developing novel, effective, and safe treatments and preventive strategies. As Campbell says, “There is much to be done, and a decade is the timescale over which enhanced commitment is required.”
2009, A Remarkable Year For NIMH
By Thomas Insel on
From the extraordinary funding opportunities presented by the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) to significant new investments in research and resource infrastructure — this has been a remarkable year for our Institute. I would like to reflect with you on how the work of 2009 has prepared us for the year ahead.
Autism Progress
By Thomas Insel on
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) has made a substantial commitment to research designed to discover autism’s causes and improve diagnosis and treatment. Not only has NIMH become the lead institute for autism research at NIH, we have become the largest single source of funding for autism research in the country.
Focusing Our Funding Opportunity Announcements
By Thomas Insel on
The NIMH Strategic Plan provides a framework to focus and accelerate mental health research so that breakthroughs in science become breakthroughs that can tangibly improve mental healthcare and the lives of people living with and affected by mental illness. For the Institute to pursue most effectively its mission of transforming the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses, we must be able to adapt to and fully explore the constantly changing scientific landscape that comes with the increased pace of research progress.
NIMH and the Recovery Act
By Thomas Insel on
Last February’s announcement that funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) will be used to support job creation and retention in biomedical research presented an exciting opportunity for NIMH. These supplemental funds arrived just as the Institute was launching the implementation of its new Strategic Plan. For some months now, the Institute has been diligently working to implement a series of ARRA funding initiatives that will aggressively pursue the Plan’s objectives.