Research is a central component of the mission of the Department of Psychiatry. The last two decades have seen an unprecedented expansion of our understanding of the biological bases of mental illness. These have included major developments in genomics, transcriptomics, and other disciplines, as made possible by paradigm shifts in technology. Our Department aims to harness the power of these and other disciplines to transform the delivery of care in mental health, heralding the advent of Precision Psychiatry, in which treatments are individually tailored to patients’ genetic makeup and other personal factors. The opening of the 10-story Biomedical Sciences Partnership Building on the 30-acre Phoenix Bioscience Core (PBC) — shared with the College, the Translational Genomics Research Institute, as well as the University of Arizona Colleges of Pharmacy, Nursing, Public Health and the Eller College of Management — has been a major step forward in the College’s efforts to be a destination institution for the most creative and productive scholars and researchers, in which Psychiatry will play a significant role. Behavioral sciences will also be a key ingredient in the College's new Translational Neuroscience Department[hyperlink] and the federally funded Precision Medicine Initiative, sponsored by the University of Arizona and Banner Health.

Below is a sampling of research interests, representative publication topics and professional online links for several members of our U of A College of Medicine – Phoenix Department of Psychiatry faculty.

  • Ayman Fanous, MD, Professor and Chair of the Department, is a psychiatric genetics researcher whose work has been funded by the VA, NIH, and private foundation grants for more than two decades. His lab is interested in identifying genetic variants increasing the risk of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder in both large population and family-based samples. In particular, this work has recently focused on understudied populations such as those of African and Latino ancestry. He plays a leading role in the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium Schizophrenia Workgroup, which includes investigators from dozens of institutions in Europe, North America, and Asia. He is also deeply involved in the VA-Department of Energy Artificial Intelligence initiative, which aims to use AI to improve healthcare outcomes for veterans. This work utilizes deep learning and genome-wide association to identify risk factors for metabolic adverse effects in patients treated with antipsychotics in VA’s landmark Million Veteran Program (MVP).
     
  • Vladimir Vladimirov, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist with over two decades of experience in the area of post-mortem brain research in psychiatric disorders. Through his collaboration with the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Dr. Vladimirov has access to over 4,000 post-mortem brains from patients with psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression, alcohol, and substance abuse and neurotypical controls. By applying functional genomics approaches in these brains, Dr. Vladimirov’s team aims to uncover the genetic and epigenetic factors underlying the neuropathology of psychiatric disorders. In the past seven years, Dr. Vladimirov has initiated and leading since then an international collaboration with colleagues from the Lieber Institute and Medical University-Sofia, Bulgaria to collect prenatal brains to study the genetic and molecular factors involved in normal and diseased neurodevelopment. Dr. Vladimirov’s research has also focused on developing novel computational approaches for miRNA and gene expression imputation using GWAS and single-cell transcriptomic data. Dr. Vladimirov is a past and current recipient of both private and federal funding and currently his research is supported by three R01s on which Dr. Vladimirov is the PI.
     

  • Eric Reiman, MD, is Executive Director of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, CEO of Banner Research, Senior Scientist at the Translational Genomics Research Institute, Director of the Arizona Alzheimer’s Consortium and NIH-sponsored Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC), and a leader of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative (API). He is also a co-founder and advisor to ALZPath, a start-up company that aims to advance the role of blood tests in the scientific and clinical fight against Alzheimer’s disease, and Chairman of the Board of the Flinn Foundation. A psychiatrist and brain imaging researcher by background, his interests include brain imaging, blood-based biomarkers, APOE and genomics research, the unusually early detection, tracking, and study of Alzheimer’s disease, the accelerated evaluation of Alzheimer’s prevention therapies, and the establishment of new models of research collaboration and clinical care. He is an author of more than 650 publications, a principal investigator of several large NIH,  state, and foundation grants and contracts, a former member of the National Advisory Council on Aging (NIA Council), and a recipient of the Potamkin Prize for his pioneering contributions to the early detection, study, and prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. His overarching goal is to find and support the approval and widespread availability of effective Alzheimer’s prevention therapies within the next three years.

  • Pierre Tariot, MD, is Director of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute and contributing author to over 400 scholarly publications on the topics of diagnosis, therapy and prevention of neuropsychiatric diseases. This work has garnered considerable NIH, philanthropic and industry support. Dr. Tariot launched the Banner Dementia Care Partners program and is featured frequently in the media for his clinical and scientific expertise, including a segment entitled “The Alzheimer’s Laboratory” on CBS News' 60 Minutes.
     
  • Amelia Gallitano-Mendel, MD, PhD, runs her research lab on the Phoenix Bioscience Core, investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying the dual genetic and environmental risks for neuropsychiatric illnesses such as schizophrenia and mood disorders, which share symptoms of cognitive dysfunction. Recently, she has been conducting a pilot study to test a novel, biologically based diagnostic test for schizophrenia. Dr. Galitano-Mendel is the Principal Investigator for three ongoing research projects and an active lecturer and mentor to our medical students and residents.
     
  • Deveroux Ferguson, PhD, leads a College of Medicine – Phoenix based research team studying depression, epigenetics and transcriptomics. Dr. Ferguson recently received a substantial NIH grant to discover novel antidepressants.
     
  • Ahmed Z. Elmaadawi, MD, is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Interventional Psychiatry Service at the University of Arizona College of Medicine–Phoenix and Banner–University Medical Center Phoenix. His work centers on evidence-based interventional psychiatry and neuromodulation for treatment-resistant mood disorders, with a focus on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and ketamine/esketamine therapies. His work emphasizes access, quality, and patient-centered innovation. Dr. Elmaadawi has led and contributed to clinical research in adolescent depression, including adolescent TMS trials, and continues outcomes-focused research that advances protocol optimization and implementation in academic health systems. He has received multiple awards for clinical, academic, and research excellence, maintains international collaborations with universities in Egypt, and serves as Chair of the American Psychiatric Association Neuromodulation Caucus.