VISN 5 MIRECC - Research Investigators
Melanie Bennett, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 706-0722
Email: Melanie.Bennett@va.gov
Research Interests: Assessment and treatment of substance use disorders in people with serious mental illness; treatment development; tailoring evidence-based interventions for people with serious mental illness; assessment and treatment of negative symptoms in schizophrenia; treatment of young adults with schizophrenia.
Clayton Brown, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 706-1058
Email: cbrown@epi.umaryland.edu
Research Interests: Longitudinal and multilevel statistical models; models for zero-inflated and other non-normal outcomes; analysis of data from clinical trials; survival analysis; transition models.
Bob Buchanan, M.D.
Phone: (410) 402-7876
Email: rwbuchanan@mprc.umaryland.edu
Research Interests: Phenomenology of schizophrenia, with a special emphasis on negative symptoms and cognition; the neuroanatomy of negative symptoms and social function; and the development of novel pharmacological approaches for people with treatment-resistant schizophrenia, impaired cognition and social function, and negative symptoms.
Amy Drapalski, Ph.D.
Phone:(410) 637-1855
Email: Amy.Drapalski@va.gov
Research Interests: Consumer-oriented tools and strategies to improve quality of care; internalized stigma and its effects; barriers and facilitators of mental illness recovery; development and evaluation of psychosocial interventions for individuals with mental illness and their families; women’s mental health
Richard Goldberg, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 637-1851
E-mail: Richard.Goldberg@va.gov
Research Interests: Serious Mental Illness; Services Research; Medical Co-Morbidity; Quality of Care; Behavioral Health Interventions; Implementation Science; Consumer-led services.
Samantha Hack, Ph.D., L.M.S.W.
Phone: 410-637-1857
E-mail: Samantha.Hack@va.gov
Research Interests: Person-centerd mental health care; mental health care consumer activation and treatment participation; identity-related dispariities in service access and outcomes for mental health disorders; development and testing of interventions for serious mental illness and stress-related disorders; participatory action research, qualitative and arts based research.
Beth Klingaman, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 637-1875
E-mail: Elizabeth.Klingaman@va.gov
Research Interests: Self-efficacy, shared decision making, and behavioral health interventions with individuals with serious mental illness, including women and ethnic minorities; cognitive functioning; neurocognitive effects of health behaviors (e.g., sleep, exercise); impacts of internalized stigma on mental illness recovery; implementation science.
Julie Kreyenbuhl, Pharm.D., Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 637-1864
E-mail: Julie.Kreyenbuhl@va.gov, jkreyenb@som.umaryland.edu
Research Interests: Patient-centered approaches to enhance screening for and management of side effects of psychotropic medications; interventions to improve medication adherence among individuals with serious mental illness (SMI), use of innovative technologies to improve functioning and outcomes of individuals with SMI; pharmacoepidemiology of SMI; use of large automated healthcare databases for research.
Alicia Lucksted, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 706-2490
E-mail: aluckste@psych.umaryland.edu
Research Interests: Applied research towards improving public mental health services for people with serious mental illnesses; self-help interventions among mental health consumers and their family members, qualitative and mixed methods in mental health services research; psychosocial intervention development, testing, and implementation.
Deborah Medoff, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 706-2490
E-mail: dmedoff@psych.umaryland.edu
Research Interests: Design of technology supported mental health services; dissemination of evidence based mental health treatments and services; comparative effectiveness of antipsychotic drug treatments; the role of consumer preferences in mental health treatment choices.
Anjana Muralidharan, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 637-1872
E-mail: Anjana.Muralidharan2@va.gov
Research Interests: Promotion of holistic wellness and recovery among individuals with SMI; the intersection of SMI and aging; family and social support for recovery from SMI; the role and mechanisms of peer support; development and testing of peer-delivered interventions; caring for older adults with SMI in long-term care; promotion of patient and family centered care for individuals with mental illness.
Amanda Peeples, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 637-1863
E-mail: Amanda.Peeples@va.gov
Research Interests: Qualitative research methods; older adults and aging; dementia; improving the quality of dementia care; management of dementia and co-morbidities; long-term and residential care settings; stigma of dementia; autonomy in residential care; long-term care needs, anticipation, and planning of individuals and groups; social support and social control of people with dementia; the social environment of residential care; ethical issues in qualitative research.
Teodor Postolache, M.D.
Phone: (410) 605-7000
E-mail: tpostola@psych.umaryland.edu
Research Interests: Suicide and suicide risk factors; mood disorders; environmental factors (physical, biological, socio-economical) in relationship to brain function and behavior, and physiological mediation of environment-brain-behavior associations (e.g., neuroimmunology, sleep and chronobiology).
Neil Sandson, M.D.
Phone: (410) 605-7506
E-mail: Neil.Sandson@va.gov
Research Interests: Drug-Drug Interactions; general psychopharmacology; treatment-resistant mood and psychotic disorders; resident teaching; ethical issues in psychopharmacology.
Barbara Schwartz, Ph.D.
Phone: (202) 745-8156
E-mail: Barbara.Schwartz@va.gov
Letitia Travaglini, Ph.D.
Phone: (410) 637-1867
E-Mail: Letitia.Travaglini@va.gov
Research Interests: Co-occurring disorders among individuals with serious mental illness, particularly chronic pain; non-pharmacological pain management strategies for Veterans with co-occurring pain and serious mental illness; the use of brief interventions to enhance treatment motivation and engagement; the impact of stigma on health and well-being.
Latrice D. Vinson, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Phone: (202) 632-9592
E-Mail: Latrice.Vinson@va.gov
Research Interests: Improving services for older adults with complex neurocognitive disorders, serious mental illness, and comorbid medical conditions; workforce diversity management in long-term care; promotion of cultural transformation and person-centered care practices in long-term care; and minority aging and health disparities.
