GIM Fellowship Alumnus Breaks New Ground in Study of Affective Disorders

GIM Fellowship alumnus (1995) Bruce Rollman, MD, MPH, now Associate Professor of Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, has been making news in the study of depression and anxiety in patients who are being treated for other medical problems. Dr. Rollman is the first-named author of an article that appeared in the Nov. 18, 2009, issue of JAMA titled “Telephone-Delivered Collaborative Care for Treating Post-CABG Depression.” The article reports results of the Bypassing the Blues study, which resulted in improved health-related quality of life, physical functioning, and mood symptoms at 8 months for patients who received the collaborative care intervention compared to those who received usual care.  Dr. Rollman presented the study as a Late-Breaking Clinical Trial at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in Orlando, FL, in November. The article and the Bypass the Blues website can each be accessed by clicking on its title above.

Dr. Rollman will also make the first public presentation of his team’s "RELAX Trial: Reducing Limitations from Anxiety in Primary Care" on March 5, 2010, at the Anxiety Disorder Association of America’s Annual Meeting in Baltimore. Treatment of anxiety disorders has received less attention in primary care than depression, and in this study Dr. Rollman also applies a telephone-based collaborative care intervention to test its efficacy in relieving them. Click on the conference title above for further details about the ADAA conference.