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The APA Board of Trustees has approved the creation of a new APA-affiliated institute to be devoted to advancing psychiatric research and education. In a vote at the Board's October meeting in Los Angeles, Trustees approved the institute and named APA Deputy Medical Director Harold Pincus, M.D., executive director for a three-year term.
The American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education (APIRE) is expected to be up and running by the end of this year, according to APA Medical Director Steven Mirin, M.D., who was named one of the institute's ex-officio directors. The APA Board of Trustees was expected to appoint APIRE's regular Board of Directors no later than this month. That board of directors will then appoint a scientific advisory committee. The scientific advisory committee will be drawn from "respected individuals with expertise and experience to evaluate the scientific and educational merit of [APIRE] activities," according to a summary provided to the APA Board of Trustees.
According to a statement provided to the APA Board of Trustees, the mission of the new institute is to "contribute to the scientific basis of psychiatric practice and policy; strengthen the research infrastructure in psychiatry; enhance psychiatric education, training and career development; improve the quality of psychiatric care through research and training," and provide leadership in developing a consortium of academic institutions and practitioners in the United States and abroad.
"The establishment of this institute reflects APA's continuing commitment to work with the academic community to support and carry out research that will inform and shape the public policy and service delivery issues that profoundly affect the care our patients receive," said Mirin. "The institute will also enable us to more effectively advocate for and support training and education for the next generation of clinicians, teachers, and researchers in our field."
Among the initial projects envisioned for the institute are a relocation of APA's Practice Research Network (PRN) into APIRE, and studies of quality improvement, mental health systems, and nosology. The institute will work to develop research consortia as soon as it is fully functional, according to Pincus.
"I feel tremendously excited about the institute," Pincus told Psychiatric News. "I think it's an enormous opportunity for APA and more importantly for the field as a whole." Pincus, Mirin, others in APA, and the broader psychiatric community are "beginning to generate ideas for the kinds of projects in research and education that the institute might undertake," he added.
The new institute aims to be inclusive in organizing and leading a broad consortium of academic institutions and practitioners, both nationally and internationally, Pincus stressed.
There are several underlying reasons to establish the new institute, according to an analysis reviewed by the APA Board of Trustees. In part, publicly funded research and training activities must be separate from APA's advocacy or guild activities to minimize potential conflicts of interest. Part of the incentive for the new institute stemmed from reviewer comments in response to APA grant applications. Those comments expressed concern about the perceived link between member and patient advocacy interests as creating the potential for "censorship or control of the data by APA that would be inappropriate for a publicly funded network," the analysis states.
"In fact, the APA has never actually exercised any kind of censorship or control over the research that we've been doing," observed Pincus. "However, it is essential to make that absolutely transparent and clear through the establishment of the new institute," he added.
Some reviewers noted that APA would increase chances of federal funding by creating a separate but affiliated organization to perform and promote research. As part of this arm's length relationship with APA, the new institute will not support political or legislative activities directly or indirectly.
Such a structure will free its directors to raise funds from industry, as well as private donors and foundations, the analysis notes. Funding data show that individual and foundation donors are "more likely to provide support to a dedicated institute than to a professional organization," the analysis says. Other professional organizations have successfully developed affiliated research institutes to address concerns similar to those confronting APA.
When all executive positions are filled, the new institute will consist of a scientific advisory committee and a board of directors. The Scientific Advisory Committee will be appointed by the institute's board of directors to evaluate the scientific and educational merit of proposed projects. APA's current institutional review board, chaired by APA counsel JoAnn Macbeth, J.D., will provide oversight regarding research with human subjects.