When Dr. Javeed Sukhera, chair and chief of psychiatry at the Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital thinks about the health center’s past, he describes “pushing the boundaries” and uses words such as “pioneers.”
He doesn’t stop there.
The mental health facility, founded in 1822 in Hartford and among one of the first mental health centers in the nation, has been a veritable “beacon” and a “lighthouse,” in terms of treatment, according to Sukhera.
Now, with an $8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health that will be used to start a center for psychiatric biotyping research at the Institute of Living, “we can continue to guide the way … but not by doing the same old thing,” Sukhera said.
“That is our aspiration,” he said.
Psychiatric biotyping uses brain imaging, genetics, and physiology to study what is occurring in patients and understand subtypes of illnesses, and the hope is to learn to find new and better ways to treat mental health conditions. With the grant, the Institute of Living will be able transform the Staunton-Williams building on site, which is not now used, into modern research and clinical space, according to Hartford HealthCare.
“This significant investment from the NIH affirms our commitment to advancing mental health care,” said Hartford HealthCare President and CEO Jeff Flaks. “At the Institute of Living, we are leading the way in psychiatric biotyping — an innovative approach that will transform lives and redefine the standards of care.”
Sukhera, Dr. Peter S. Yoo, a surgeon and chief academic officer for Hartford HealthCare, and Michael Stevens, director of the Clinical Neuroscience and Development Laboratory, Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center at the Institute of Living, recently described why psychiatric biotyping is of growing importance, their pride in the institute receiving the NIH grant, and their hopes for advancing treatment of mental health.
An important distinction they noted is that for so many branches of medicine, there are tests that can be run, bloodwork to look at, imaging, biopsies and more. In mental health there is no biological test, no X-ray that shows PTSD or EEG that detects bipolar disorder. Sneezing is a symptom can mean a cold, flu or an allergy, but levels of depression can’t be determined the same way.
Dr. Javeed Sukhera, who heads the psychiatry departments at the Institute of Living and Hartford Hospital.
“All of the things we see in psychiatry are difficult to treat (without) having more data,” Sukhera said.
The hope is to change that, to find biological tests, and then treatments, to use for mental health.
“We really think this is going to be a transformative change,” said Stevens.
Stevens said the work might unfold in a way that patients could see research staff, after one of their regular appointments, integrating clinical experience with research. This could include cognitive tests, eye tracking, reading of a script, looking at tone affect, and emotion, “a lot of different measures put together.”
The goal is to look at things in a new way and “remap how people practice psychiatry,” he said.
Stevens said that in considering diagnosis and finding treatment, the benefit could be “if we could cut that down to a month instead of a year,” and make it personal, “how we develop new treatment based on what we learn from these biotypes.”
Of note, Yoo said, is that Hartford HealthCare was chosen for the NIH grant. The grant was approved even amid massive cuts in research funding on the federal level this year.
“This work has the potential to completely redefine our current modern medical approach to psychiatric illness,” Yoo said. “I am so proud that NIH has chosen to put its (investment) in Hartford HealthCare.”
Yoo also stressed that the research is driven toward real-world impact, and that, in a non-university setting, “we think we can stand out … driving discovery, we think we can bring change” and be an “important nucleus for drawing people together.”
“It’s a vote of confidence in the pragmatism of a place like Hartford HealthCare. We are really focused in on research and benefit to patients,” Yoo said.
Yoo said the work also is very much an education project, for new clinicians, scientists, social workers — for all those people to have a basis for understanding mental health care.
“We train people who will go on and work all over,” he said.
Flaks also noted the health care system believes “the future of mental health lies in understanding the individual, not just the illness.
“This is purposeful innovation, setting the pace for more personalized and accessible care for people in Connecticut and across the country,” Flaks said.
Hartford HealthCare’s Institute of Living. (Contributed)
Sukhera, in also noting the research is at a transformational time, mentioned that the Institute of Living, for all of its forward thinking for generations, does have walls around it in the city of Hartford.
“We are literally and figuratively wanting to bring those walls down,” he said. “People deserve a place to heal.”