logo Address: 9500 Gilman Drive 0664
La Jolla, CA 92093-0664
Click Here for More Information
Home Research Events Training Giving About Us
 
 
News
 
History
 
staff
In 1983, the UCSD School of Medicine became the first campus in the University of California system to have an Organized Research Unit (ORU) focused on aging – namely, the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging (renamed in 1992, thanks to a generous, endowed gift made by the Stein family). Jarvis Edwin Seegmiller, M.D. was the founding Director of this ORU. The long-term goal of the Stein Institute was to promote interdisciplinary programs concerning the basic biology of senescence, the role of free radicals and other environmental toxins in the aging process, and the pathophysiology of age-related illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, atherosclerosis, and cancer. In addition to supporting research, the Institute was organized to foster training and education in geriatrics and gerontology.

Over the past 25 years, the Stein Institute has brought together a critical mass of scientific talent, encouraged and funded age-related research (including over 85 pilot grants), purchased needed scientific equipment, supported the education of over 150 students, and provided over 275 public lectures on aging as part of its general community outreach. Today, the Stein Institute for Research on Aging is advancing aging research at the UCSD School of Medicine by conducting basic and clinical research, enhancing collaboration among UCSD’s world-renowned scientists, and attracting new researchers to the field – all with the ultimate objective of helping more people age successfully.
Leadership
 
 
Dilip V. Jeste, M.D.
Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair in Aging
Distinguished Professor of
Psychiatry and Neurosciences
Director, Sam and Rose Stein Institute for
Research on Aging
Chief, Geriatric Psychiatry Division
UCSD/VA SD Healthcare System
3350 La Jolla Village Drive
San Diego, CA 92161
Phone#: 858-534-4020
FAX #: 858-552-7404
E-mail: djeste@ucsd.edu
Website:  http://jeste.ucsd.edu

Biography 
Dr. Jeste is Director of the NIMH-funded Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research at UCSD, focusing on psychosis in late-life. He is also the Principal Investigator on several research and training grants, including the Summer Research Institute in Geriatric Psychiatry, a national research training program. Following medical education in India, Dr. Jeste completed psychiatry and neurology residencies at Cornell and George Washington University, respectively. He was Chief of Units on Movement Disorders and Dementias at NIMH before joining UCSD in 1986. He has been President of the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry, and International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology, and is Editor of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Research Focus 

Dr. Jeste’s primary areas of research are psychosis and its treatment in late life. He has conducted studies of clinical, neuropsychological and neurobiological characteristics of Late-Onset Schizophrenia, Aging of Early-Onset Schizophrenia Patients, and Psychosis of Alzheimer's disease. In terms of treatments, he has published on therapeutic and adverse effects (especially tardive dyskinesia) of antipsychotics. He has also been interested in psychosocial treatments as well as certain bioethical aspects of research (particularly decision making capacity and methods for enhancing it) among older people with psychotic disorders. In recent years, he has been seeking to understand mechanisms for overcoming serious mental illness in old age.

Clinical Focus 

Dr. Jeste started the Geriatric Psychiatry program at UCSD in 1986. Two key components of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry are the Senior Behavioral Health program (with inpatient unit and outpatient clinic) at UCSD Medical Center, and the Geriatric Psychiatry Clinic at VA San Diego Healthcare System. Both these multi-disciplinary programs serve older persons with various neuropsychiatric disorders including dementia, depression, schizophrenia, alcohol and substance use disorders, and anxiety disorders. Patients receive psychiatric, medical and neuropsychologic assessments. Treatments include pharmacotherapy, psychosocial therapy, and family education/therapy with caregivers. There are also several training programs in geriatric mental health.

Selected Publications 

  • Jeste DV, Caligiuri MP, Paulsen JS, Heaton RK, Lacro JP, Harris MJ, Bailey A, Fell RL and McAdams LA: Risk of tardive dyskinesia in older patients: A prospective longitudinal study of 266 outpatients. Archives of General Psychiatry, 52:756-765, 1995.
  • Jeste DV, Symonds LL, Harris MJ, Paulsen JS, Palmer BW and Heaton RK: Non-dementia non-praecox dementia praecox?: Late-onset schizophrenia. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 5(4):302-317, 1997.
  • Jeste DV, Alexopoulos GS, Bartels SJ, Cummings JL, Gallo JJ, Gottlieb GL, Halpain MC, Palmer BW, Patterson TL, Reynolds CF and Lebowitz BD: Consensus statement on the upcoming crisis in geriatric mental health: Research agenda for the next two decades. Archives of General Psychiatry, 56:848-853, 1999.
  • Paulsen JS, Salmon DP, Thal LJ, Romero R, Weisstein-Jenkins C, Galasko D, Hofstetter CR, Thomas R, Grant I and Jeste DV: Incidence of and risk factors for hallucinations and delusions in patients with probable AD. Neurology, 54: 1965-1971, 2000.
  • Heaton RK, Gladsjo JA, Palmer BW, Kuck J, Marcotte TD and Jeste DV: Stability and course of neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 58:24-32, 2001.

 
Administration
 
Berry
Barry D. Lebowitz, Ph.D., Deputy Director for Community Outreach and Training

Dr. Barry Lebowitz is Professor of Psychiatry and Deputy Director for Community Outreach and Training of the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego. He moved to UCSD in 2005 after a nearly 30-year career at the National Institute of Mental Health where he served as Chief of the Geriatrics Research Branch. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Dr. Lebowitz is a graduate of McGill University and Cornell University. He was elected a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and an Honorary Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. The recipient of a number of awards, Dr. Lebowitz was most recently honored with the M. Powell Lawton Award of the Gerontological Society of America. Dr. Lebowitz has served on the active or adjunct faculty of several universities. He serves on the editorial boards of a number of scientific and professional journals and is the author of many books and articles in mental health.
 
Maureen
Maureen Halpain, M.S., Executive Director

Maureen Halpain is the Executive Director of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and the Stein Institute for Research on Aging. Ms. Halpain oversees Division of Geriatric Psychiatry’s Research Center whose focus is on studies of late-life psychosis. She is also responsible for the administration of the Division’s training programs. Ms. Halpain is the manager of the NIMH-sponsored Summer Research Institute (SRI) in Geriatric Psychiatry. The SRI is a national training program intended to provide the tools necessary to begin, maintain, and succeed in a research career in the mental disorders of late life to postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty members. She also manages the Summer Training on Aging Research Topics – Mental Health (START-MH) Program. The START-MH is a national research training program in aging for undergraduate, graduate, and medical students. The program introduces potential investigators to late-life research by working with experienced mentors in the field for a three-month period. In her role at the Stein Institute for Research on Aging, Ms. Halpain is responsible for the development and oversight of studies related to successful cognitive and emotional aging. Ms. Halpain is active in a number of community activities including serving as a member of the Board for several organizations including the Senior Mental Health Partnership of NAMI San Diego, the ITN San Diego Senior Transportation Network, and the Lily Brentano Foundation. Ms. Halpain received her graduate and undergraduate degrees from the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. She completed a health policy fellowship at the United States House of Representatives Select Committee on Aging before joining the faculty at UCSD.
 
Jennifer
Jennifer Reichstadt, M.S., Program Director

As the Program Director for the Stein Institute for Research on Aging, Jennifer Reichstadt is responsible for overseeing all research initiatives and research training programs, along with its faculty pilot grant awards. She joined the Stein Institute in Fall 2004 and has since been integrally involved with all facets of the Institute and its operations. Her efforts earned her a UCSD Exemplary Employee of the Year Award in 2006. Jennifer has a Master’s degree in Gerontology from the University of Arizona and has gained professional experience in multiple settings, including program development for a San Diego County-funded health promotion initiative, a Senior Health & Wellness Center in Oregon recognized as a model clinic by the Hartford Foundation, the University of Arizona Center on Aging, and Northern Arizona University’s Gerontology Institute.
 
Jody
Jody DeLaPena-Murphy, MBA, Director of Community Relations

As the Director of Community Relations for Stein Institute for Research on Aging, Jody DeLaPena-Murphy’s primary responsibilities include planning and directing the Stein Institute’s community outreach programs, serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Healthwise newsletter, overseeing the Institute’s website, and working with the Community Board of Advisors to enhance the information exchange between the Stein Institute and the community. Jody joined the Stein Institute in early-2007; however, she is not new to UCSD. She has worked for the UCSD Department of Psychiatry for over 15 years, and most recently served as both the Recruitment Coordinator and Community Health Program Manager for the Advanced Center for Innovative Services and Interventions Research, extensively establishing and enhancing integral community partnerships.
 
Dana
Sandy Dorsey, Executive Assistant

Sandy Dorsey is the Executive Assistant to Dilip Jeste, MD, the Director of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging. She has been Dr. Jeste’s assistant for almost 10 years. She moved to the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego in October 2008. She assists with the preparation of manuscripts and grants, scheduling of travel and meetings, and a variety of other administrative duties. She is a native of San Diego, but went to the University of California, Davis for college. There, she received her degree in Psychology.
 
Dabra
Debra Kain, Director of Reseach Communications, UCSD Health Sciences Communications

Debra is responsible for media relations, including writing and distributing news releases on basic and translational research for departments and research units in the UCSD School of Medicine and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. This includes generating publicity for the faculty and research activities of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging, the Shiley-Marcos Alzheimers Disease Research Center, the UCSD Stem Cell Research Program, AIDS Research Center, Clinical Investigation Institute, Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Neurosciences, Genetics, Pathology, Pharmacology, and Psychiatry, among others. She moved to San Diego to join UCSD in 2005, and has worked in media relations for more than 25 years, including nine years with the University of Wisconsin System and eight with Florida Atlantic University. She has a degree in English from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Scientific Advisory Board
The Scientific Advisory Board is comprised of 14 UCSD senior faculty members representing various disciplines, in addition to one faculty member from neighboring San Diego State University. Together, these individuals provide scientific expertise and input into the UCSD Stein Institute for Research on Aging’s research and training missions.

External Advisory Board
 
The newly established External Advisory Board brings individuals from outside institutions with scientific expertise in various areas of importance to the Stein Institute together to review the progress of the Institute’s research and guide its future research goals. The first meeting of the External Advisory Board was held in San Diego in April 2007. The six members of the External Advisory Board include:

  • George Martin, M.D.
    Professor Emeritus (Active) in the Department of Pathology at the University of Washington, Adjunct Professor of Genome Sciences (Retired) and Director Emeritus of the University of Washington’s Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center
  • Nir Barzilai, M.D.
    Professor of Medicine and Director of the Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine
  • Dan G. Blazer, M.D., Ph.D.
    Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Head of the University Council on Aging and Human Development, and Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina
  • Helena C. Kraemer, Ph.D.
    Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University
  • Richard L. Sprott, Ph.D.
    Executive Director of the Ellison Medical Foundation
  • Michael W. Weiner, M.D.
    Professor of Medicine, Radiology and Psychiatry, and Scientific Director of the Magnetic Resonance Unit at the University of California, San Francisco and San Francisco VA Medical Center.
Affiliated Faculty
 
One of the main purposes of the Stein Institute for Research on Aging is to serve as a central resource for faculty researchers throughout the UCSD School of Medicine conducting research related to aging and/or aging-related diseases. There are now over 120 faculty members affiliated with the Stein Institute for Research on Aging. These individuals represent a variety of departments, including Bioengineering, Biology, Family and Preventive Medicine, Medicine, Neurosciences, Ophthalmology (including the Shiley Eye Center), Orthopaedics, Pathology, Pharmacology, Psychiatry, Reproductive Medicine, and Surgery, along with other Organized Research Units, such as the Moores Cancer Center. For a list of affiliated faculty members, please click here.

On an annual basis, these individuals come together for a faculty dinner event at which the future plans of the Stein Institute are discussed, with input solicited from these talented researchers. To find out more about becoming a Stein-affiliated faculty member, please contact us at 858-534-6299 or steininstitute@ucsd.edu.
Home   |   Research   |   Events   |    Training   |   Giving   |   About Us   |   Contact Us
copyright©2007-2008 The Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging