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A new developmental epidemiology of schizophrenia: the HRB Schizophrenia Research Unit, 1991-92, and contemporary perspectives of the disease

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

John L Waddington  and
Conall Larkin
John L Waddington
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, St. Stephen's Green, Dublin 2
Conall Larkin
Affiliation:
St. John of God Hospital, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
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Abstract

General aspects of research funding in the biomedical sciences are briefly discussed and some specific issues of policy considered, as they relate particularly to the Health Research Board's Unit strategy. The origins, objectives and workings of the Board's Schizophrenia Research Unit are elaborated, in relation to contemporary perspectives of this illness as a neuro-developmental disorder, and the extent of progress made over it's first year of operation is outlined. It is argued that the ‘neurodevelopmental hypothesis’ now has substantial foundations; it provides an important conceptual focus, both for the field in general and for the Health Research Board's Schizophrenia Research Unit in particular.

Keywords

Research fundingSchizophreniaNeurodevelopment
Type
Perspectives
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 56 - 59
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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