Prestigious funding for residency/PhD program

The Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the LMU and the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, receive funding from the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation for a residency/PhD training program in the field of psychiatry and neuroscience.

June 28, 2016

The Research College “Translational Psychiatry” is funded 1 million Euros by the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation for the supervision and training of prospective Clinical Scientists.

Clinical Scientists, who are equally at home in the world of research into genetics, molecular science and disease mechanisms as at the patient’s bedside, are essential for recognizing the clinical potential of new findings and transferring them into clinical practice. In collaboration with the International Max Planck Research School for Translational Psychiatry (IMPRS-TP), the Research College “Translational Psychiatry”, funded by the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation, will offer a unique integrated setting for experimental and clinical research as part of a residency training program in psychiatry and psychotherapy. The 2 training sites will be: the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the LMU Munich and the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich.

The Research College offers future specialists in psychiatry and psychotherapy the opportunity to build up basic and clinical research, becoming part of a stimulating expert network. Its declared objectives are solid methodical training and early scientific autonomy. For one year, full-time and a subsequent two years, part-time, the College members will be exempt from clinical duties enabling them to devote themselves to establishing their research. Thereafter, they will pursue both residency training and research in parallel, and thus will be able to bridge the gap between scientific findings and clinical application. The College members will complete their translational neuroscientific and clinical research with a “PhD in Medical Research”.

“A major objective of the Else-Kröner-Fresenius Research College “Translational Psychiatry” is a rapid transfer of new findings in basic research to disease and patient oriented clinical research and clinical application,” states Elisabeth Binder, Managing Director of the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (MPIP) and deputy speaker of the College. In the last 10 years, new research methods in imaging, molecular genetics and experimental modeling have for the first time provided new insights into the complex developmental mechanisms of mental diseases, such as schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorders. “In order to translate this knowledge potential into new therapeutic approaches and to create a new medical care reality, we can now, thanks to the 1 million Euros of funding from the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation, instruct specialists in psychiatry on the fundamentals of basic molecular research,” emphasizes Peter Falkai, Director of the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the Clinic of the LMU and speaker of the College. The already well-established close cooperation between the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry, with its excellent basic research, and the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy of the clinic of the LMU will provide optimal conditions for the Research College interlinked with the IMPRS-TP.

SSH, MM, EF, JK

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