Meet the Scientists
Melvin G. McInnis, MD is Thomas B. and Nancy Upjohn Woodworth Professor of Bipolar Disorder and Depression, and Professor of Psychiatry, at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is also Adjunct Associate Professor in Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2004, he has served in several roles at the University of Michigan, including Director of the Depression Section in the Department of Psychiatry, Associate Director of the university's Depression Center, and Chair of the Clinical Informatics Committee. He also helped to establish the University of Michigan as an active site in the National Institute of Mental Health's (NIMH) Genetics Initiative for Bipolar Disorder.
Dr. McInnis studied, interned, and was a clinical research assistant at the University of Iceland Hospital in Reykjavik, Iceland. His residency was completed at Bethlehem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals at the University of London. He was a Fellow in Medical and Molecular Genetics at the Center for Medical Genetics at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Dr. McInnis has a long-standing history of research on psychiatric genetics, namely genetic linkages, expression, and patterns associated with depression, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimer's disease. He has served as Principal Investigator for several National Institutes of Health/NIMH-sponsored studies on bipolar disorder in the areas of genetic mapping, genetic susceptibility, and biochemical and genetic pathways, in order to better understand disease etiology. He is actively involved at the university in mentoring junior faculty and research staff on clinical translational research in bipolar disorder.
In addition to his clinical, research, and mentoring roles, Dr. McInnis is a reviewer for several major medical publications addressing genetics and/or psychiatry, including the American Journal of Human Genetics, American Journal of Psychiatry, and Psychiatric Genetics. In 2007, he was elected Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatry.
Masoud Kamali, M.D. joined the Prechter Bipolar Research Group on September 1st 2008. He received his medical degree from Tehran University of Medical Sciences and completed his residency training in adult psychiatry at St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, an affiliate of Columbia University in New York. His professional interests include the treatment and management of severe mood disorders and research towards understanding the neurobiology of mood disorders, impulsivity and suicidal behavior.
Scott Langenecker, Ph.D. has been a member of the Prechter Bipolar Research Team for six years. He is a clinical neuropsychologist within the Neuropsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical Center, an Assistant Professor since 2003. He completed his undergraduate work at the University of Wisconsin at Madison in 1993. After working several years with special needs (e.g., TBI, Developmental Disability) adults in vocational and residential settings, Dr. Langenecker began his graduate work at Marquette University in 1996. He completed doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology in 2001 at Marquette University. Dr. Langenecker completed his internship at the Albert Einstein North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York. His fellowship was at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Clinical Neuropsychology, which he completed in 2003. Currently Dr. Langenecker's research focus is on cognitive and functional imaging predictors of treatment response in mood disorders, including Major Depressive disorder, Bipolar disorder, and Cushing's disease across the lifespan.
Alan Prossin, M.D. joined the Prechter Bipolar Research Group in January 2009. He received an engineering degree from McGill University, a medical degree from The University of The West Indies and completed residency training in general psychiatry at St. Vincent’s Catholic Medical Centers of the New York Medical College. Following the completion of his residency training, Alan joined the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute at the University of Michigan where he completed a research fellowship in the neuroimaging of mood disorders. His interests include the identification of similarities and differences in clinical and biological phenotypes across the spectrum of mood dysregulation.
Kelly Ryan, Ph.D., joined the Prechter team in September 2009 as a Clinical Lecturer. She completed her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Wayne State University and recently completed her postdoctoral fellowship in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Michigan Health System. She has clinical experience working with various medical and psychiatric populations. Her research interests are in clinical neuropsychology, specifically how neuropsychological and illness factors can be used to understand functional outcomes, such as overall well-being and everyday functioning, in individuals with chronic mental and physical illnesses, and ways in which this information might guide treatment.
Erika Saunders, M.D. has been a member of the Prechter Bipolar Research Group for six years. She received a degree in microbiology from the University of Michigan, a medical degree from the University of Iowa and completed residency training in psychiatry and the Resident Research Track at the University of Michigan. After residency, she completed a research fellowship with the Prechter group, with a focus on the relationship between phenotype and genetics of bipolar disorder. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Pennsylvania State University Medical School. Her interests include developing phenotypes in bipolar disorder to improve understanding of the interplay between environmental factors, diagnosis and prediction of outcomes.
Robert Thompson, Ph.D. received his Ph.D. in 1989 from the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, OR and subsequently completed his postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan, under the mentorship of Dr. Stanley J Watson. He oversees the laboratory component of the Prechter Repository that archives clinically valuable blood samples including cell lines and genomic DNA. In parallel, he oversees a basic science research team interested in the anatomical and cell biological regulatory processes in brain regions implicated in psychiatric illness and other endocrine disorders.
Aaron Vederman, Ph.D. joined the Prechter as a postdoctoral fellow on September 1st 2008. He received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Yeshiva University in New York and completed his internship at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit Michigan. His research interests are in clinical neuropsychology and include how affective processing and inhibitory control affect functional outcomes in psychiatric illness.