Our Faculty
Home » Our Faculty » Alan S. Brown
Alan S. Brown
Professor of Clinical Epidemiology
and:Professor of Clinical Psychiatry, New York State Psychiatric Institute (home dept.)
Biography:
Dr. Brown is leading several National Institute of Mental Health-funded grants on the relationship between early developmental risk factors and schizophrenia and major affective disorders. Among these studies, Dr. Brown is examining prenatal exposure to influenza and nutritional deficiency as risk factors for schizophrenia. He and his colleagues demonstrated for the first time that serologically documented influenza infection was associated with a threefold increase in risk of schizophrenia in the offspring. The research also demonstrated effects of prenatal exposure to rubella, toxoplasmosis, cytokines, and homocysteine levels on risk of schizophrenia. Dr. Brown is also studying the relationship between early developmental insults and brain abnormalities in schizophrenia, using neuroimaging and neuropsychological assessments. He was also funded by an NIMH grant to examine to examine early life risk factors for bipolar disorder. Dr. Brown is a recipient of the A.E. Bennett Research Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry, an Independent Scientist Award from the NIMH, and Independent Investigator Awards from NARSAD.
Education & Training:
MD, Jeffferson Medical College, 1987
Affiliation(s):
University Affiliations:
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Dept. of Epidemiology of Brain Disorders, Deputy Director
- New York State Psychiatric Institute, Lieber Center
Honors and Awards:
- A.E. Bennett Research Award, 2000
- NARSAD Independent Investigator Award, 2004
Selected
New York City
Activities:
New York City
Activities:
-
Rubella Birth Defects Evaluation Project
We examined the relationship between prenatal exposure to rubella and risk of schizophrenia in a birth cohort of women exposed to rubella during pregnancy in New York City.
Selected Publications:
-
Brown AS, Begg MD, Gravenstein S, Schaefer CA, Wyatt RJ, Bresnahan MA, Babulas V, Susser E "Serologic evidence for prenatal influenza in the etiology of schizophrenia" Arch Gen Psychiatry 61 774-780 2004
Brown AS, Hooton J, Schaefer CA, Zhang H, Petkova E, Babulas V, Perrin M, Gorman JM, Susser ES "Elevated maternal interleukin-8 levels and risk of schizophrenia in adult offspring" Am J Psychiatry 161 889-895 2004
Brown AS "Serologic studies of prenatal infection and schizophrenia" Neuropsychiatric Disorders and Infection Ed. Fatemi S. Hossein Martin Dunitz-Taylor & Francis Group London 43-50 2005
Opler MG, Brown AS, Graziano J, Desai M, Zheng W, Schaefer C, Factor-Litvak P, Susser ES "Prenatal lead exposure, delta-aminolevulinic acid and schizophrenia" Environ Health Perpect 112 548-552 2004
Brown AS, Schaefer CA, Wyatt RJ, Begg MD, Goetz R, Bresnahan MA, Harkavy-Friedman J, Gorman JM, Malaspina D, Susser ES "Paternal age and risk of schizophrenia in adult offspring" Am J Psychiatry 159 1528-1533 2002
Brown AS, Cohen P, Harkavy-Friedman J, Babulas V, Malaspina D, Gorman JM, Susser ES "A.E. Bennett Research Award. Prenatal rubella, premorbid anomalies, and adult schizophrenia" Biological Psychiatry 49 473-486 2001
Brown AS "Prenatal viral infection and adult schizophrenia" International Journal of Mental Health 29 22-37 2001
Brown AS, Schaefer CA, Wyatt RJ, Goetz R, Begg MD, Gorman JM, Susser ES "Maternal exposure to respiratory infections and adult schizophrenia spectrum disorders: a prospective birth cohort study" Schizophr Bull 26 287-295 2000
Brown AS, Cohen P, Greenwald S, Susser E "Nonaffective psychosis after prenatal exposure to rubella" Am J Psychiatry 157 438-443 2000
Brown AS, Van Os J, Driessens C, Hoek HW, Susser ES "Further evidence of relation between prenatal famine and major affective disorder" Am J Psychiatry 157 190-195 2000
Contact Information
Office/Address:
1051 Riverside Dr., Unit 23
New York 10032
E-mail:
