From the UCLA Center for World Health’s 2017-18 Annual Report:
Nelson Freimer, MD, is Director of the Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics and Associate Director for Research Programs of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. His laboratory aims to use large-scale genomics methods to identify the genetic basis of complex traits, particularly neurobehavioral disorders such as depression. In partnership with Universidad de Antioquia in Colombia, and through funding from the NIH, he and his colleagues are analyzing common genetic variation in 8,000 patients with severe mental illness to better understand the genetic relationship to diseases such as major depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.