Principal investigator: Dr. Chelsea Sawyers
Funding: Department of Psychiatry
STAR Lab

Our team is currently recruiting youth ages 13-17 with an ASD diagnosis to participant in a new study with us! Participants in this study are asked to complete questionnaires, computer task, and paper and pencil tasks at our facility.  We are doing this study to better understand psychosis experiences of individuals with ASD.  Our goal is to add knowledge to the ASD field to better treatment plans in the future for individuals in the Autism community that experience psychosis.  Compensation is provided.  

If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact the STAR Lab by phone at 804-628-8709 or email starlab@vcu.edu.

Principal investigator: Dr. Chelsea Sawyers
Funding: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
STAR Lab

VCU’s STAR Lab is recruiting teenagers aged 13-17 years old to participate in a research study. This study is looking at how mood relates to how the brain works when making a choice. This study will allow us to learn more about how mood effects decision making. This study will involve completing surveys about your mental and physical health, answering questions about your experiences, and completing game-like tasks on a computer. You may also be invited to complete an MRI brain scan, where you would complete a game-like task while in the scanner. The computer games in this study will present choices between doing two tasks for different amounts of rewards. In this study you will be asked to visit our lab at the Virginia Treatment Center for Children (VTCC) and possibly visit our lab at the collaborative Advanced Research Imaging (CARI) facility. The study visit at VTCC will last 2-3 hours and the CARI visit would last approximately 2 hours if you are invited to a follow-up MRI visit. Compensation is provided.

If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact the STAR Lab by phone at 804-628-8709 or email starlab@vcu.edu. 

To participate in the ENLIGHTEN-Youth Study, volunteers with schizophrenia must be aged 13-17, and volunteers diagnosed with bipolar I disorder must be aged 10-17. All volunteers must be currently receiving treatment with olanzapine, or, if treated with another antipsychotic, have had an inadequate response to that treatment. Additional eligibility criteria apply, which the study team will review with you. 

Participation in the ENLIGHTEN-Youth Study lasts up to 60 weeks (a little over a year) and consists of 21 visits to the study site. Participants will receive the investigational drug or olanzapine once daily as an oral tablet, and they will also undergo vital sign measurements, blood and urine sample collections, and questionnaires, among other assessments. 

If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact FYRN by phone at 804-628-8726 or email fyrn@vcuhealth.org. 

If your young child has been diagnosed with ADHD and still struggles with hyperactivity and inattention, we ask you to consider taking part in the 812P401 Study. We are evaluating a study medication called SPN-812 to see if it has any effect on ADHD symptoms in preschool-aged children. SPN-812 is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Your child may be able to join the 812P401 Study if they:

• Are between 4 years and 5 years 9 months of age
• Have been diagnosed with ADHD
• Have tried non-medication treatment OR have symptoms severe enough to warrant treatment with medication
• Are attending a structured group activity (such as preschool, kindergarten, sports, Sunday school, or childcare)

There are other requirements for taking part. The study team will go over the details with you.

Study-related expenses may be reimbursed, and children in the study will receive close study-related medical care throughout the study. After completing this study, your child may qualify to move on to an extension study.

If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact FYRN by phone at 804-628-8726 or email fyrn@vcuhealth.org. 

The 421 Pediatric Bipolar Study is looking at how safe a potential new medication (study drug) is and how well it works in teenagers with bipolar disorder experiencing major depressive episodes (MDEs). This is also known as bipolar depression. The study drug is approved for the treatment of bipolar depression in adults. However, it is not approved for the treatment of teenagers with bipolar depression. We plan to enroll a wide variety of participants because bipolar depression and medications may affect people differently based on their age, sex, gender, and race/ethnicity.

Your child may be able to take part if they are:

• 13–17 years of age with a diagnosis of bipolar I or II disorder
• Currently experiencing an MDE without psychosis that lasts between 1 and 12 months.

The study will last for about 2 months and about 384 teenagers
will take part in the study. This study has been reviewed by an Institutional Review Board (IRB)/Ethics Committee (EC), which protects the rights, safety, and well-being of participants.

If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact FYRN by phone at 804-628-8736 or email fyrn@vcuhealth.org. 

The 321 Study is looking to learn more about a potential new medication (also called the study drug) for children and teenagers with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The study will look at how safe the study drug is and how well it works in children and teenagers with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.

Your child may be able to take part if they are 13–17 years of age with a diagnosis of schizophrenia

If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact FYRN by phone at 804-628-8726 or email fyrn@vcuhealth.org. 

We are looking for children and teenagers who are:

• 5-17 years of age with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder
• experiencing irritability, which can be expressed as tantrums, aggression, yelling, or self-harming behavior.
• *We are currently only enrolling teenagers who are 13-17 years of age. Younger children will be enrolled later*

The 601/602 Pediatric Autism Study is looking at a potential new (investigational) medication ("study drug") for irritability in autistic children and teenagers. It is hoped that the study drug can:

• help restore the balance of chemicals in the brain that are important for regulating mood
• reduce the severity of irritability and behaviors linked with it

The study will last for about 2 months and include up to 9 study center visits.

If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact FYRN by phone at 804-628-8736 or email fyrn@vcuhealth.org. 

Principal investigator: Dr. Annie Wright
Funding: Information Pending
FAM Lab

The purpose of the study is to better understand the experience of foster parents including their motivations to become foster parents, experience accessing resources, and perceptions of their foster child’s wellbeing. Participants must be over the age of 18, certified foster parents in the state of Virginia, and currently caring for a foster child ages 3-17. The child has to have been in their care for at least the past month and be anticipated to remain in their care for at least another month from the time of participating.

If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact the FAM lab by phone at 804-628-8771 or email fam.research@vcuhealth.org. 

Principal investigator: Dr. Ekaterina Stepanova
Funding: VCU Department of Psychiatry
VAPR Lab

Participate in our study exploring impulsive/reactive aggression in children (ages 4-12), involving two appointments with diagnostic assessment conducted by experts in the field and self-assessment measures. If you are interested in participating in this study please complete our Registry or contact the VAPR lab by phone at 804-628-8737 or email vaprlab@vcu.edu.