Study Nodes

TTHSC Lubbock’s Department of Psychiatry serves as the leading provider of child and adolescent psychiatry services in the West Texas region. TTHSC Lubbock is an active member of the Texas Child Mental Health Care Consortium. The Department provides tertiary child mental health services to 558 primary care physicians across 100 clinics in West Texas through the Child Psychiatry Access Network (CPAN) program. More than 159,000 children located in 91 school districts in West Texas are provided mental health services through TTHSC Lubbock’s Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine (TCHATT) program.

Besides research in youth depression and trauma, the Department of Psychiatry is currently involved in multiple research projects that focus on emerging treatment and intervention for substance use disorders. Specific projects focus on controlling cravings, provision of mental health resources in schools and rural communities, and research in other modalities of treatment such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS).

The University of North Texas Health Science Center and the John Peter Smith (JPS) Health Network (UNTHSC/JPS) utilize JPS Health Network sites as primary clinical sites for TX-YDSRN. The UNT Health node covers a region of north central Texas.

The JPS healthcare system’s Behavioral Health Research Division has been recognized for excellence in performance on several past and current clinical trials. The Behavioral Health group at JPS provides a full continuum of behavioral health services, including inpatient and outpatient services.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UT Rio Grande Valley) was created by the Texas Legislature in 2013 as the first major public university of the 21st century in Texas. This transformative initiative provided the opportunity to expand educational opportunities in the Rio Grande Valley, including a new School of Medicine. The UT Rio Grande Valley Department of Psychiatry was established in 2019 and graduated the first resident class in June 2021. Since establishing patient services, our psychiatrists and residents have served approximately 500 children, adolescents and adults per month.

In addition to clinical services, UT Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine currently has a number clinical research grants, including: National Institute of Health grant to research the genetics of depression, dementia and bipolar disorder, Hogg Foundation grant to teach recovery-oriented psychiatry, and a Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to health professionals mental health treatment in integrated primary care settings. Through research, patient services, and building relationships with community agencies, the UT Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine Psychiatry Department is committed to improving the lives and well-being of our Rio Grande Valley community. The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Department of Psychiatry has an experienced team of child and adolescent mental professionals who are supported by Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Counselors, Social Workers and Community Health Workers. Dr. Cynthia Garza serves as the UTRGV Node Lead with Dr. Diana Chapa, Node Co-Lead, for the TCMHCC Youth Depression and Suicide Research Network.

UT Health San Antonio’s Department of Psychiatry, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry serves a large area of southern Texas. The Division’s clinical programs offer services throughout the continuum of care, including outpatient, inpatient, and partial hospitalization settings. Behavioral health care for youth hospitalized for medical conditions is also available. Services extend beyond UT Health San Antonio’s immediate area through telehealth visits in collaboration with several local mental health authorities throughout south central Texas.

The Division has initiated and participated in child and adolescent psychiatric research funded by the National Institute of Mental Health and other organizations. Services at UT Health San Antonio focus on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, bipolar and mood disorders, anxiety, depression, and autism and Aspergers in youth.

UTMB’s Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences’ research team is highly trained in research implementation. The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences provides care to children and adolescents in southeastern Texas with a variety of mental health concerns.

The Department has led or participated in many psychopharmacology studies on mood disorders in youth. These studies contributed to the current evidence-based treatments available for children and adolescents with depression and bipolar disorder. UTMB’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is dedicated to improving access to quality mental health care for children in Texas and participates in TX-YDSRN as an important step toward reaching this goal.

The University of Texas at Tyler Health Science Center is the only academic medical center in Northeast Texas and serves a region of 23 rural counties. The region is characterized by 1) low income and below state average education level, 2) older average age, 3) high rates of chronic illness, 4) high rates of mental health problems, and 5) underutilization/limited access to mental health resources. The Robert M. Rogers Department of Psychiatry serves the community by providing quality, affordable mental health care and training the next generation of providers in culturally competent services.

UT Tyler HSC's behavioral health departments support the University’s goal of improving the quality of life and health in the region through research and clinical care. For TX-YDSRN, UT Tyler HSC has partnered with community mental health providers to address the ever-changing needs of youth in their community.

UTHealth Houston’s Center of Excellence on Mood Disorders is part of the Louis A. Faillace, MD, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.

The Center’s research team has several ongoing clinical trials that focus on major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder. As a continued effort, the team has also established the Greater Area Houston Pediatric Bipolar registry. The registry aims to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying bipolar disorder in children and adolescents.

The UT Southwestern Node is a collaboration with the UT Southwestern Department of Psychiatry and Children’s Health. The Node has extensive clinical and research experience focused on child and adolescent depression and suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

The Department leads pivotal grant-funded clinical research studies for youth with depression and suicide risk. Past projects include the Treatment of Adolescents with Depression Study (TADS), Treatment of Resistant Depression in Adolescents (TORDIA) Study, and Treatment of Adolescent Suicide Attempters (TASA) Study. UT Southwestern research also focuses on the using measurement-based care in primary and specialty care settings to improve clinical outcomes for depressed youth.

The UT Dell Med Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences serves areas of central Texas. The Department acts as a hub for the Child Psychiatry Access Network and Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine initiatives. It is also home to the Center for Youth Mental Health, the Institute for Early Life Adversity Research, and the Center for Behavioral Health Collaborative Care.

The Department seeks to provide cutting-edge basic and clinical research on the underlying neurobiological causes of psychiatric disorders to transform clinical practice and identify novel treatments. Research areas at UT Dell Med include bipolar disorder, depression, trauma, addiction, and care delivery.

TTH El Paso Paul L. Foster School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry is extremely experienced in successfully implementing multiple federal- and state-funded projects serving individuals with anxiety, depression, serious mental illness, and developmental disabilities.

The TTH El Paso Node collaborates with many community clinics for both clinical and research purposes, as well its own outpatient clinic, the county children’s hospital, and two local psychiatric hospitals. Dr. Sarah Martin serves as the Node Lead alongside Dr. Alejandro Fornelli, Node Co-Lead, to support the project and provide representation from the El Paso area.

The Texas Tech Health, El Paso, Department of Psychiatry has an experienced team of child and adolescent mental professionals who are supported by behavioral health consultants and Community health workers. The research team consists of faculty, physicians, research scientists and biostatistician to screen and conduct research on the mental health adolescent population. The team also have clinical research coordinators who have experience in managing multi-site studies at academic institutions, who will work closely with participants in the [Paso Del Norte Region of West Texas] for the Youth Depression Suicide Research Network (YDRSN) Research Project.

The TAMU Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences is committed to providing state-of-the-art, evidence-based psychiatric and psychological care, education, and research. The Department’s mental health clinicians and trainees work to uncover and address the biological, psychological, and socio-environmental causes of mental illnesses and brain disorders.

By focusing on rural communities, the Department seeks to bridge mental health care gaps. The Department is expanding care through the Brazos Valley and central Texas with collaborations with My Health My Resources (MHMR) and the use of telemedicine.

The Lee and Joe Jamail Specialty Care Center is the main node site for research and clinical activities at BCM. The BCM team is highly experienced in serving persons with mental health conditions. Further, the BCM team has a successful track record of coordinating with local community partners to study mental health in youth.

BCM research includes an impressive array of federal- and state-funded projects. These projects include grants to study the genetics of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), deep and innovative phenotyping approaches, neuroethics in pediatric psychiatry, and behavioral treatment of anxiety or obsessive-compulsive disorder among youth with autism.