Claire Foley

About Claire Foley

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Josh Salvi receives 2020 NIMH Outstanding Resident Award

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Joshua Salvi, MD, PhD, PGY3, has been selected by the NIMH as the recipient of a 2020 Outstanding Resident Award. Winners of this highly competitive award will participate in a virtual conference with senior NIMH leadership and with national thought leaders in psychiatric research during a virtual conference being held this fall.

Research Summary: I am particularly keen to apply my background in dynamical systems modeling, in which mathematical equations can be used to characterize any system by the way it changes over time, to the study of psychiatric pathology. Dynamical-systems modeling has previously been applied to the study of a wide range of phenomena: in some cases, a single mathematical equation can describe the evolution of an epileptic seizure, an economic collapse, the onset of an earthquake, or the electrical properties of a single neuron. Given the rich temporal complexity of psychiatric phenomena, I am intrigued by the application of similar approaches to characterize the varying features of behavior at different time scales and under different conditions. The goal of this work is to unveil clinically useful behavioral phenotypes that can enhance diagnostic certainty, target treatment paradigms, and further psychiatric research.

Dynamical systems can also be applied to the study of behavior. In particular, I have begun to use dynamical-systems modeling to quantify and segment the compulsive behaviors of human patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). OCD serves as an attractive target for dynamical systems modeling due to its often overt and visible compulsive behaviors. Furthermore, there already exists a body of literature positing the involvement of neural pathways in the basal ganglia that can be targeted therapeutically. We can readily measure behavior in patients with OCD by combining clinician-rated scales, medication administration, natural language from the electronic health record, wrist actigraphy, neuroimaging, and in some cases neural activity recordings from patient with implanted electrodes to capture the dynamics of compulsions and subsequently develop clinically meaningful behavioral phenotypes. This unbiased description of compulsive behavior could lead to the identification of patterns that might be more biologically meaningful than our current classification system and might offer clinically-relevant data, for example, a prediction of treatment response.

Moving forward, I ultimately wish to have a career as a physician-scientist in which I direct a laboratory that uses dynamical systems modeling to translate observations about OCD across mouse models and human patients. After residency, I plan to apply for a research fellowship to expand upon this work and in time, better understand meaningful differences in our patients.

 

-MGH McLean Adult Psychiatry Residency Program 

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Charles Bray ’22 Lands Competitive Summer Internship at McLean Hospital

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Charles Bray ’22 has landed a summer internship within The McLean Mental Health Research Summer Program, which seeks to engage scientific curiosity, create research opportunities, and promote academic success in mental health research for promising young Black, Indigenous, and underrepresented students of color interested in pursuing a career in research or have not yet explored the possibility.

“To me this program is an answered prayer,” Bray says. “It affirmed that I can achieve great things.”

Bray says the past three years of working on his natural science major have been filled with many ups and downs, but with the encouragement of his family, friends, and mentors, he hasn’t wavered on his commitment to serving others and becoming a doctor.

“I’d been looking for a research internship to gain sustained experience in a lab, and bring me closer to potential mentors who are doctors and medical scientists who could guide me into that field, and this internship will give me all of that at a world class hospital. I’m so grateful to my academic advisor [Associate Professor of Chemistry Susan] Mitroka-Batsford, [Ph.D.,] who has really become a mentor for me, pointing me in the right direction and being willing to recommend me. I’m also grateful to the members of the McLean Mental Health Research Summer Program committee for providing me with this amazing opportunity.”

This 10-week (June-August) paid summer research program offers research experience to undergraduate BIPOC students currently in a two- or four-year college/university. The intensive experience involves three components:

  • Mentored basic science or clinical research experience in a laboratory at McLean Hospital
  • Workshops to teach and promote strategies for scientific success
  • Outreach and community engagement in collaboration with McLean’s Brains Matter outreach program

Students also join workshops on how to use various data analysis and statistics software, such as Image J and Prism.

Bray is a biotech major with a 3.4 GPA. He is also an accomplished track athlete, a member of the Civic Corps project, and a resident assistant at WSU. And an R.A. he creates a healthy living environment, encourages residents to meet one another to form a close-knit community, and create inclusive programs that promote healthy relationships, diversity, and emotional stability.

The McLean summer interns are mentored by current principal investigators and research fellows who recognize the importance of cultural competency in science education and have experience working with trainees from populations underrepresented in STEM and higher education.

The McLean Summer Research program offers support so students may also attend and present their work at a scientific conference, such as the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. These conferences are an opportunity for students to present their research work at a scientific meeting and enhance their professional development skills. These meetings create a welcoming scientific community where students can be their whole self. Universities across the nation attend to recruit minority students to their graduate programs.

 

-Worcester State University News