Poitras Center to fuel early careers of 50 young scientists dedicated to psychiatric disorders research

Patricia and James Poitras, longtime supporters of MIT, have established a fellowship program aimed at young scientists studying psychiatric disorders. This $10 million donation establishes 50 two-year fellowships through MIT's McGovern Institute for Brain Research's Poitras Center for Psychiatric Disorders Research. The program will provide support to graduate students and postdocs for the next decade, creating a long-term talent pipeline focused on psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

The Poitras Center was founded in 2007 with a $20 million gift, aiming to unify basic neuroscience, clinical psychiatry, and molecular biology to better understand and treat mental health conditions. Since its inception, the center has supported groundbreaking research, like an AI-powered tool predicting bipolar disorder risk in adolescents and strategies to match patients with optimal treatments based on brain activity patterns.

The recent gift is particularly crucial as federal funding for mental health research is increasingly uncertain. James Poitras, chair of the McGovern Institute's board, emphasizes the importance of supporting young researchers who drive progress in the field. The inaugural cohort of Poitras Center Fellows includes researchers from various areas of brain research, each working on innovative projects to improve mental health treatments.

The new fellowship program extends the Poitras family's support of mental health research at MIT to over $100 million. Patricia Poitras believes that investing in the next generation of researchers will lead to life-changing treatments and improve the future for countless patients and families.