The Robert T. Malison Yale-Chulalongkorn Stress, Alcohol Use and Psychopathology Training Program

Abstract Psychiatric disorders are a set of chronic, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), a global public health problem of enormous economic, social, and medical cost to the international community. Stress, alcohol use and other factors (social and environmental; physical disorders) often exacerbate psychiatric disorders. Low and middle income and developing countries are disproportionately affected due to both economic disadvantages and the less well-established institutional infrastructures dedicated to the understanding, treatment and prevention of psychopathology. We propose a collaborative research training program in the multidisciplinary, translational research of stress, alcohol use and psychopathology between Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand (the lead Thai site) Phramongkutklao (PMK) Hospital, also in Bangkok, and Prince of Songkla University (PSU) in Hat Yai, Thailand; and the Yale University School of Medicine in the U.S. The project is directed by leaders in Thailand and the US, Dr. Kalayasiri at Chulalongkorn, and Drs. Potenza and Gelernter at Yale, mPIs for this application. Three major training mechanisms are proposed for Thai trainees, including long- term (1-2-yr) predoctoral and postdoctoral fellowships, and short-term (1-6 month) fellowships. During the five- year program, training responsibility increases at Chulalongkorn, PMK, and PSU (as experience builds) and decreases at Yale. This program builds on an extensive research program in Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine, and on existing training and research collaborations between investigators at Yale and investigators at Chulalongkorn in the study of the genetics and clinical correlates of psychopathology (especially substance use disorders) in Thai populations. The program will contribute to the capacity of investigators at Chulalongkorn, PMK and PSU and more generally in Thailand to conduct state-of-the-art research in interdisciplinary and translational research in psychiatry through a range of training experiences (genetics, molecular biology, clinical, developmental, psychopharmacology, clinical trials, neuroimaging, implementation, community, and policy research); and has strong ongoing potential for clinical translation. The explicit long-term goal of the program will be to build a critical mass of scientists, health professionals, and academics with expertise and a sustainable research environment at the collaborating Thai institutions to better understand, treat, and prevent the NCDs of psychiatric illnesses. This training program is also specifically designed to serve a major public health purpose by enhancing Thailand’s capacity to confront major health concerns including alcohol and other stress-related disorders that are unprecedented in Thailand’s history. The context of this program is a long-term research and training collaboration between Yale and Chulalongkorn that focused on drug dependence which was co-led by at Yale by Drs. Gelernter and Malison. This new program with a new focus is expanded in scope to address the needs of Thailand better and include a Thai mPI, and is now named “The Robert T. Malison Yale-Chulalongkorn Stress, Alcohol Use and Psychopathology Training Program” for Dr. Malison, who passed in July, 2020.