Nathan Kline Institute, Outpatient Research Department

Who we are....

The Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research (NKI) is a facility of the New York State Office of Mental Health that has earned a national and international reputation for its pioneering contributions in psychiatric research, especially in the areas of psychopharmacological treatments for schizophrenia and major mood disorders, and in the application of computer technology to mental health services. Since 1952, interdisciplinary teams of distinguished NKI scientists have applied their talents and expertise to study the etiology, treatment, prevention, and rehabilitation of severe and persistent mental illnesses.

Located on the grounds of Rockland Psychiatric Center in Orangeburg, New York (20 miles north of New York City), NKI receives additional operating support from federal, municipal, and private sources through the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene. NKI has a strong academic collaboration with the Department of Psychiatry of New York University.

Our mission....

As one of our nation's premier centers of excellence in mental health research, a broad range of studies are conducted at NKI, including basic, clinical, and services research. All of our work is intended to improve care for people suffering from these complex, psychobiologically-based, severely disabling mental disorders.

We focus primarily on:

• patient-oriented research programs emphasizing the causes, diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and care of severe and long-term mental disorders;
• clinically-relevant, basic research on physiological and biochemical aspects of mental disease; and
• research on the cost, quality, and effectiveness of services for patients in mental health programs certified, operated, and/or funded by New York State.

The Outpatient Research Department supervises the implementation of a large-scale community-oriented research program called The Rockland Sample Initiative (rocklandsample.org).  

The NKI Rockland Sample Initiative is a landmark research program aiming to map the brain, understand how it develops and changes over the course of life, and explore the connections between our brain and behavior.  Studies like this have the potential to change how we treat diseases from depression to Alzheimer’s.