FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 30, 2001

UC DAVIS M.I.N.D. INSTITUTE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR NAMED

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Robert Hendren, an expert in neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders in children, such as autism and impulse control disorders, and in psychotropic medications used for these disorders, has joined the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute as executive director. He is also a professor and chief of child and adolescent psychiatry at the UC Davis School of Medicine and Medical Center.

A native of Boise, Idaho, Hendren was professor and director of child and adolescent psychiatry at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the Behavioral Research and Training Institute at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) before coming to UC Davis.

As executive director of the UC Davis M.I.N.D. (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute, Hendren provides leadership to the interdisciplinary organization that studies and treats autism. The institute was envisioned in 1997 by four Sacramento fathers of children with autism and launched by UC Davis Health System in 1998. In addition to autism, the institute also studies and treats fragile X syndrome, dyslexia, attention deficit disorder, Asperger's syndrome and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

Hendren's current research is aimed at demonstrating the diagnostic and treatment matching utility of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology in developing biomarkers for neurodevelopmental psychiatric disorders first evident in children and adolescents who are known to have a biologically based brain component, such as autism, Asperger's syndrome and bipolar disorder.

Hendren has written more than 60 original papers and three books in the field of psychiatry. His most recent book is "Disruptive Behavior Disorders in Children and Adolescents," published in 1999 by American Psychiatric Press Inc. Hendren is a fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the American Psychiatric Association and serves on many national committees. He is board certified in general as well as child and adolescent psychiatry.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Utah, Hendren received his medical degree from Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Kirksville, MO. He completed his residency in general psychiatry at the Mayo Graduate School of Medicine in Rochester, MN, and his child and adolescent psychiatry fellowship at the Yale Child Study Center. He was director of medical student education at the George Washington University School of Medicine until 1986 and was the director of child and adolescent psychiatry and medical director of the Children's Psychiatric Hospital at the University of New Mexico before moving to New Jersey in January 1996. At UMDNJ, he also served as the Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the New Jersey Medical School.

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