Grant Awarded! The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Severe Mental Illness

A new grant was awarded for our COVID Research Project, which focuses on understanding COVID-19's effects on individuals with pre-existing Severe Mental Illness (SMI), a group with high infection and complication rates from the virus. Using longitudinal data from the NIMH-funded Paisa Cohort, we are employing pre-pandemic data, novel recruitment strategies, and extensive analysis of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and genetics to evaluate mental health and neurocognitive outcomes. Our goals include measuring pandemic outcomes in SMI patients versus controls, identifying predictors, and leveraging EHR and genetic data for predictive modeling.