Several chairs of departments of psychiatry joined psychiatric researchers and patient advocates for the first time last month at APA’s annual advocacy briefing in Washington, D.C.

Funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and its research institutes on mental illness and addictive disorders was high on the advocacy agenda. Armed with tips about meeting congressional representatives and increases in funding requests for Fiscal 2001, the group left for Capitol Hill.

They met with several key members of the House and Senate appropriations committees, including the subcommittee that deals with NIH funding, according to Will Bruno, associate director of APA’s Division of Government Relations.

"APA’s collaboration with the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry [AACDP] is part of our broad effort to meet the new challenges faced by psychiatric researchers and departments of psychiatry," said APA Medical Director Steven M. Mirin, M.D., when he welcomed the group earlier in the day.

Research conducted by NIH was one of many issues addressed at a February meeting cosponsored by APA with the department chairs in Miami Beach, Fla., noted Mirin.

Another important development is APA’s new research institute headed by Darryl Regier, M.D., who directs APA’s Office of Research, said Mirin. Regier was a senior policymaker and researcher at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), where he focused on epidemiology and health services research.

"It is my hope that these and other changes will improve APA’s advocacy and provide more meaningful assistance to psychiatric researchers and chairs of psychiatry departments," said Mirin.

AACDP President James Stevenson, M.D., remarked, "We are pleased that APA has established an advocacy platform with our organization. We appreciate the support of Steven Mirin and Jay Cutler in involving our members in joint advocacy efforts." Cutler is director of APA’s Division of Government Relations.

Lewis Judd, M.D., cochaired the academic consortium with psychiatric researcher David Kupfer, M.D. Judd, professor and chair of the department of psychiatry at the University of California at San Diego, said the partnership with the chairs is the latest effort by APA to build an advocacy coalition that is representative of the field. APA has had a longtime partnership with the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

"Our message is far more effective when we include patient advocates and family members," said Judd.