Prevention Research Program Core

The primary goal of the Prevention Research Program is to provide prodromal participants with a structured, high quality clinical care setting within which the Center research can take place. The objectives of this core are to recruit patients with prodromal symptoms and demographically comparable healthy controls, to conduct diagnostic and screening evaluations of potential participants to determine study eligibility and to coordinate their participation in the Center’s projects. Prevention Research Program Investigators include, Tyrone Cannon, Ph.D., Mary O’Brien, Ph.D., Carrie Bearden, Ph.D., Melita Daley, M.D., Joseph Pierre, M.D., Alex Kopelowicz, M.D. For more detailed information about the Prevention Research Program please visit www.schizophrenia.ucla.edu/prevention.

Chronic Schizophrenia Recruitment and Assessment Core

The primary function of the Chronic Schizophrenia Recruitment and Assessment Core is to recruit and clinically assess chronic schizophrenia patients and demographically comparable normal subjects for participation in studies of the Center. This Core screens, recruits and conducts diagnostic interview with the potential patient subjects and the normal comparison subjects. This Core also completes ratings of symptom severity and functional outcome for all chronic schizophrenia patients who participate in Center projects.



Diagnosis and Symptom Assessment Core

The Diagnosis and Symptom Assessment Core is led by Joseph Ventura, Ph.D. The primary goal of this Core is to provide specialized diagnostic and psychiatric symptom assessment training and quality assurance procedures to projects and Cores within the Translational Center for Neurocognition and Emotion in Schizophrenia. The Core trains interviewers who conduct screening and diagnostic evaluation of patients across three phases of illness in the Prevention Research Program, the Aftercare Research Program, and the Chronic Schizophrenia Recruitment and Assessment Core.

Functional Outcomes Core

The Functional Outcomes Core led by John Brekke, Ph.D. provides a range of service functions for the Center’s scientific activities. The Core provides the Center with the best strategies for measuring psychosocial and functional outcomes for individuals with schizophrenia. In addition, the Core focuses on continued development and psychometric testing of measures relevant to functional outcomes in schizophrenia.

Data and Methodology Core

The Data and Methodology Core is led by the Director Catherine Sugar, Ph.D. Dr. Sugar and her staff at the Semel Institute Biostatistics Core (SIStat) provide methodological and statistical consulting, and specialized programming ongoing consultation to Center researchers on data analysis, design of new projects, and conduct of ongoing experiments. The Core is responsible for creating and maintaining the Center’s centralized database as a repository of Center data, and will provide requisite software interfaces to enable Center researchers to enter data reliably, access readily and analyze data properly.

Administration and Training Core

The Administration and Training Core serves the daily administrative needs of the Center. This Core involves Dr. Nuechterlein as Center PI, four other UCLA faculty members who as Center Co-PIs (Drs. Asarnow, Cannon, Green, and Yee-Bradbury), and a full-time administrative analyst (Fe Asuan). Dr. Nuechterlein is ultimately responsible for the direction, administration, and fiscal management of the Center. Drs. Asarnow, Cannon, Green, and Yee-Bradbury play key administrative roles in the Center, aiding Dr. Nuechterlein in overall coordination activities and the major administrative and management tasks that require faculty involvement. These faculty members also coordinate the research career development activities of the Center, including aiding in the recruitment of appropriate trainees for an existing NIMH-supported Training Grant, "Psychological Research on Schizophrenic Conditions." The pre-doctoral and post-doctoral trainees supported by these Training Grants (PI: K. Nuechterlein) are encouraged to pursue translational behavioral research through affiliation with this Center. Under the supervision of Dr. Nuechterlein, Fe Asuan is responsible for organizing and sustaining the grant management, fiscal, personnel, and purchasing activities of the Center. She serves as a primary contact for the Center investigators and staff for routine administrative issues. She oversees the routine operations of the Center’s Administrative Office, as well as all “professional relations” activities, such as the Center website and arrangements for presentations by Center investigators.