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Psychologist named to scientific council of major funder of mental health research

Foundation gave Carrie Bearden a boost as a young investigator; now she’ll support junior scientists

Carrie Bearden, a professor of psychology at UCLA and a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, was recently named to the scientific council of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the nation’s top non-governmental funder of mental health research grants.

The voluntary, 177-member scientific council reviews 1,200 grant applications each year and awards funding to support scientists conducting cutting-edge research  to better understand, diagnose, treat, prevent and cure mental illness.

Bearden, whose research is focused on understanding neurobiological risk factors for the development of serious mental illness, won Young Investigator grants from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation in 2003 and 2005. She said the foundation was essential for launching her career as an independent scientist.

“I am forever grateful for the opportunity that that first Young Investigator grant gave me, and am excited to play a larger role in the society that had faith in me way back when,” Bearden said.

The Foundation’s Scientific Council includes two Nobel Prize winners; two former directors and the current director of the National Institute of Mental Health; four recipients of the National Medal of Science; and 13 members of the National Academy of Sciences.