New AJP Editor Sees Translational Research As Central to Journal’s Future

Abstract

Back to table of contents Next article Association NewsFull AccessNew AJP Editor Sees Translational Research As Central to Journal’s FutureMark MoranMark MoranSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:18 Jul 2018https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.pn.2018.7b6AbstractNed Kalin, M.D., has had a distinguished career in research, focusing on the early life mechanisms underlying the development of anxiety and depression.“Translational behavioral neuroscience”—that’s the future of scientific publishing in psychiatry, says Ned Kalin, M.D., the next editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry (AJP). He succeeds Robert Freedman, M.D., Ph.D., who steps down after 13 years as editor on December 31, 2018. “The most important trend I see is the effort to understand the factors that increase risk for various psychiatric illness,” says Ned Kalin, M.D.Photo: Ned Kalin“AJP is an outstanding journal; it is widely read and has a high impact factor,” Kalin told Psychiatric News. “Robert Freedman has done an extraordinary job of making AJP one of the most widely read and cited scientific periodicals. My vision going forward will be around bringing together the best clinical research in our field with more basic research, in what I think of as translational behavioral neuroscience.“The opportunity we have today is in linking treatment-focused research studies with research in relevant animal models that are focused on altered neural circuitry and molecular mechanisms. There are also exciting new advances using neurons in culture, including those that can be derived from stem cells. By bringing together findings from these diverse approaches, we can better understand important mechanisms that underlie the onset and maintenance of psychiatric illnesses and also shed light on new treatment approaches.“I want to make these types of findings accessible to the readership of AJP and help integrate them in a way that can best inform patient care.”Kalin said he would like to see discrete editions of the journal dedicated to a particular topic, with all of the original research addressing that topic at different levels of analysis—genetic, molecular, neuroanatomical, and behavioral. “Editorials and commentary would then integrate these separate papers in an accessible way to help the reader understand what they mean together collectively for patient care,” he said. Last year APA convened a search committee chaired by past APA President Alan Schatzberg, M.D., to recommend a successor to Freedman and allow adequate time for a smooth transition. Twelve individuals applied for the position, and five were selected for interviews. After these interviews, the search committee submitted the top two choices to APA CEO and Medical Director Saul Levin, M.D., M.P.A., and then APA President Anita Everett, M.D. The Board of Trustees approved Kalin’s appointment in March.“We anticipate that the journal, under Dr. Kalin’s leadership, will lead the field and reflect where it is headed in research and treatment,” said Levin. “We are very excited about Dr. Kalin’s appointment as editor of AJP.” Kalin is the Hedberg Professor and chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. He is also director of the HealthEmotions Research Institute at the University of Wisconsin and director of the Lane Neuroimaging Laboratory there. Additionally, Kalin is a principal investigator on numerous NIMH-funded grants, including a grant for an NIMH Conte Center study focused on the early life development of anxiety disorders. He has led a robust research effort at the University of Wisconsin that encompasses molecular, preclinical, and human neuroimaging approaches in an effort to elucidate molecular and neural circuit alterations that underlie the childhood risk for anxiety and depression. Kalin said that the trends in anxiety disorders research are common to those that are emerging in research across psychiatric diagnoses—especially the search for risk factors. “One of the most important trends that I see is the effort to understand the factors that increase the risk for various psychiatric illnesses, trying to understand which factors are specific to one illness and which may be more generic and may increase the risk for a variety of illnesses,” he said. “By translating new findings relevant to the early development of psychopathology, we can begin to think about interventions at younger ages and earlier in the disease process to help prevent the long-term recurrent and chronic trajectories that are so disabling for our patients—whether it’s with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, or schizophrenia.”Kalin said that in addition to publishing the best science in the field of psychiatry, the journal, through its editorials, can be a voice for funding of research and for policies that improve the delivery of care. “I believe we are at a really exciting point of evolution in the way we think about treatment for our patients,” Kalin said. “I’m honored to be editor at this point of evolution when we can expect exciting new developments for our practitioners and our patients.” ■ ISSUES NewArchived