Director

Dr.  Raz Gross

The Unit's research activity is guided by the basic concept that a psychiatric disorder is a systemic illness, i.e., one that involves all of the body's physiological systems, as well as the sick person's psychosocial systems. The Unit initiates research with potential clinical and health policy implications, on questions pertinent to public health, utilizing modern and updated epidemiological methods.

The research staff strives for an integrative, multidisciplinary investigation of causes of psychiatric disorders, and factors that influence course and outcome at multiple levels: the individual, personal level; the macro levels, as in societal and economic factors and processes; and the micro levels, as in genomics and molecular and cellular processes.

• The Unit concentrates mainly on the following:
• Studies aimed at screening, identifying and managing common psychiatric conditions (such as depression, anxiety, and post partum depression) in community, primary care and general medical settings, and in patients with chronic medical conditions.
• Epidemiological studies of risk factors and antecedents of psychiatric disorders (such as schizophrenia and autism), with emphasis on the role of pre- and perinatal and early life exposures.
• Interventional clinical trials in patients with comorbid psychiatric and medical illness.
• Studies of the effect of psychopathology on health care utilization.
• Genetic studies in schizophrenia and autism.

The Unit includes a team, led by Giora Kaplan, which concentrates on the study of psychosocial and cultural aspects of illness in general, and of psychosocial aspects of health services organization and policy.

The Unit collaborates successfully with research departments and academic centers in Israel and abroad (mostly in the united States).

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