SNF Brain Insight Lecture: Advancing Mental Health Care for All

Advancing mental health care for all

Recent years have seen a much-needed increase in awareness about mental health. This growth has not only promoted a more open dialogue on the topic, but it has also underscored the importance of having reliable access to timely, effective mental health care. Treating psychiatric illness hinges upon getting an accurate diagnosis. But for some, doing so can turn into a lengthy, frustrating process, leaving people without the support they need. For some, the gap between symptoms and solutions is even more pronounced. How can researchers and clinicians come together to improve mental health care for all? How can we reexamine the life challenges of individuals and populations as it relates to mental health and health outcomes? In this event, three experts combine their perspectives across neuroscience, biology, and psychiatry to shed light on groundbreaking innovations in mental health care.

Steven A. Kushner, MD, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, Psychiatrist and Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Co-Director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Center for Precision Psychiatry & Mental Health, will begin by sharing the latest research from the field of precision psychiatry. Unlike many other diseases, mental illness is not routinely diagnosed through tests like bloodwork, genetic sequencing, or brain scans. But what if that possibility became a reality? By creating a deeper, more comprehensive understanding of the biology underlying mental illness, Dr. Kushner’s research forges the path to more tailored treatment plans and, hopefully, better prognoses for a greater number of patients.

Adrian Jacques H. Ambrose, MD, MPH, MBA, FAPA, Chief Clinical Integration Officer for the Department of Psychiatry and the Senior Medical Director for ColumbiaDoctors at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will then discuss the importance of ensuring medical advances improve not only patient care but also ensure meaningful engagement and access in care. How might insights from health innovations catalyze change to promote better overall outcomes for everyone? With his expertise in medical innovation, system integration, and consulting, Dr. Ambrose explores what is needed to improve patient-doctor dynamics, engage all stakeholders, and empower patients seeking health care, especially in mental health.

Following the two talks, Briana Chen, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the lab of Dr. Christine Denny at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, will moderate a discussion and Q&A with the speakers. Audience questions are welcomed, either submitted during registration or live during the event.

About the experts

Steven A. Kushner, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, Psychiatrist and Research Scientist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and Co-Director of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Center for Precision Psychiatry & Mental Health at Columbia University. Over the past two decades, Dr. Kushner has built a research program focused on elucidating the genetic and pathophysiological mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, through a combination of clinical, translational, and fundamental neuroscience approaches, with the long-term goal of developing improved clinical strategies for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of severe mental illness. His group established a highly successful international consortium for the ascertainment of large multiplex families exhibiting hereditary severe mental illness, as well as the world’s largest prospective cohort of women with first-onset postpartum psychosis, which led to the establishment of a highly effective protocol for the prophylactic prevention of postpartum psychosis in women at high risk. Dr. Kushner’s ongoing studies involve genetic discovery studies of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders, in addition to fundamental neuroscience approaches to investigating the underlying biological mechanisms. More recently, his group has been focusing on leveraging deep learning approaches for predicting clinical outcomes from genomic sequencing and electronic health records to improve diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness. In addition, they are pioneering the first large-scale clinical implementation of precision psychiatry in partnership with the New York State Office of Mental Health through an expanded diagnostic workup for individuals with severe mental illness.

Adrian Jacques H. Ambrose, MD, MPH, MBA, FAPA, is currently the Chief Clinical Integration Officer for the Department of Psychiatry and the Senior Medical Director for ColumbiaDoctors at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. For over a decade, Dr. Ambrose has also served as a senior consultant in designing national and global strategy programming for technology integration in health care (e.g. analytic and generative artificial intelligence), safety quality management, physician engagement, wellness and burnout for private and public entities, including Fortune 100 companies, the German government, and the U.S. White House. In addition, he specializes in cultivating psychological safety, team building, and wellbeing for senior managers and executives. Clinically, Dr. Ambrose specializes in treatment-refractory mood disorders for both the adult and child & adolescent populations in interventional psychiatry and novel therapeutics, such as, neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation, rapid acting racemic ketamine & esketamine, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Dr. Ambrose completed his clinical trainings at Dartmouth and MGH/Harvard Medical School, public health training at the National Center for Primary Center, value-based healthcare training at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy & Clinical Practice, and Commonwealth Health Policy Fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He has a Master’s in Health Management and Public Policy from Harvard University and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.

Briana K. Chen, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. She completed her undergraduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and subsequently received her PhD from Columbia University. Dr. Chen’s research focuses on investigating the neural substrates underlying stress resilience, with the ultimate goal of developing sex-specific drugs for the treatment and prevention of stress-related psychiatric disorders. She has filed several patents and received multiple awards for her work, including being listed on Forbes 30 Under 30 and giving a TED talk.

Host or Publisher Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute