Daniel C. Javitt, M.D., Ph.D., Program Director
Tracey Altro, Divisional Administrator

Schizophrenia is a potentially debilitating mental disorder that affects up to 1% of the population worldwide. Symptoms of schizophrenia include positive symptoms, such as paranoia and auditory hallucinations; negative symptoms such as, emotional withdrawal and blunted affected; and cognitive deficits, including disordered thought, learning difficulties and impaired problem solving ability. Negative symptoms and cognitive deficits respond poorly to current medications, and are a major cause of chronic disability in schizophrenia. At present, the etiology of negative symptoms and cognitive deficits are largely unknown.

The Cognitive Neuroscience and Schizophrenia Research Program at NKI is dedicated to improved understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of schizophrenia, as a critical first step in new treatment development. Laboratories in the CNS Program are devoted to exploring neural bases of normal and abnormal cognition through the use of multimodal imaging in both clinical and preclinical settings, combined with in vivo and in vitro neurochemistry and neuroanatomy. In addition, the CNS program maintains active collaborative projects with other major divisions at NKI, including the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging (CABI), the Analytic Psychopharmacology Laboratory (APL), the Clinical Research and Evaluation Facility (CREF) and the Outpatient Research Service (ORS).

First established in 1997, the CNS Program now includes 7 major laboratories and receives over $3.4M per year in Federal and private funding. Through its participation in multicenter research studies, the CNS Program maintains active collaborations with other leading institutions both in the US and worldwide. Within the US, the CNS Program is 1 of 6 sites selected by the National Institutes of Mental Health to develop and evaluate new treatments for persistent cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, through its participation in the TURNS (Treatment Units for Research on Neurocognition and Schizophrenia) . The CNS Program serves as a collaborating site for Schizophrenia Research Centers funded at Columbia University Medical School/New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI), and Hillside Hospital/Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

International collaborations are maintained with Tel Hashomer (Sheba) and Herzog Memorial Hospitals in Israel through participation in a multicenter study of D-serine in treatment of schizophrenia, funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute (www.stanleyresearch.org), and with the Irish Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, Trinity College, Dublin.

Research conducted within the CNS Program was featured in the January, 2004 edition of Scientific American, in an article entitled "Decoding Schizophrenia."

Programs and Laboratories

New Treatment Development Program

The New Treatment Development Program is dedicated to the design and implementation of new behavioral and psychopharmacological approaches for the management of persistent symptoms of schizophrenia. Research is based on the PCP/NMDA model of schizophrenia, which provides a unique pharmacological model for both negative symptoms and cognitive dysfunction in schizophrenia. which was first proposed in 1991.

Director: Daniel C. Javitt, M.D., Ph.D.

Personnel: Pamela Butler, Ph.D.
Nadine Revheim, Ph.D.
Charles Schroeder, Ph.D.
John Foxe, Ph.D.
Henry Sershen, Ph.D.
Dongsoo Kim, Ph.D.
Gail Silipo, M.A.

Collaborating investigators: Leslie Citrome, M.D., CREF
William Greenberg, M.D., ORS
Karen Nolan, Ph.D.,
Linda Kline, R.N.

Laboratory for Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging

Cognitive Neurophysiology Laboratory

Experimental Psychopathology Laboratory

Behavioral Psychopharmacology

Histology and Postmortem Neuropathology Laboratories

For further information, contact Dr. Javitt at