Three young UCLA researchers in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior have been named the 2014 Friends of the Semel Institute Scholars. Tara Peris, Dr. Felipe Jain and Erin Kelly (shown left to right in photo) will receive funding to support two-year pioneering research studies to advance the understanding and treatment of mental illness.
Peris, an assistant professor of psychiatry, is conducting brain-mapping research to determine the most effective treatments for debilitating anxiety disorders. Jain, a postdoctoral scholar, is exploring ways to help the caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia; he will test the depression-relieving effects of a unique form of meditation that he developed. Kelly, a clinical psychologist and postdoctoral scholar, seeks to improve health care for people with serious mental illnesses, many of whom are homeless; she is developing an approach in which "peer health navigators" will teach this population skills such as how to communicate better with their doctors and how to access their personal medical records online.
"The Friends strongly believe that these young researchers represent not only the future of the Semel Institute but also the future of the advancement of the treatment of mental illness," said Vicky Goodman, founder and president of the Friends of the Semel Institute.
