The Stanley Medical Research Institute (SMRI) is a nonprofit organization supporting research on the causes of, and treatments for, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Since it began in 1989, SMRI has supported more than $550 million in research in over 30 countries.

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are psychiatric disorders that affect more than 8 million people at any given time in the United States. The neuroscience revolution has brought with it great opportunities for increased understanding of brain diseases such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and SMRI has been on the leading edge of this exciting research.

SMRI funds Treatment Trials of biological interventions which may improve the symptoms of individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. SMRI also provides a list of Repurposed Drugs which are medicines approved for other medical conditions, but may have potential therapeutic benefits for patients who have not responded to traditional psychiatric medication. SMRI provides updates on 9 repurposed drugs that SMRI has supported treatment trials for.

SMRI supports a tissue repository that supplies post-mortem brain samples from individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and unaffected controls to researchers worldwide.  Thousands of data sets from multiple brain regions are publically available for data mining. Over 350 peer-reviewed papers describe the results from various data-sets.

SMRI supports the Stanley Neurovirology Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University and the SPECTS program. These programs are investigating the Gene-Environment interactions that increase the risk of developing psychiatric disorders, particularly in relation to immunology and infectious diseases. SMRI does not have a general grants program; however we consider inquiries from investigators interested in working in our core areas of immunology and infectious disease as they relate to mental illness. The amount of funding for these projects is relatively small and all inquiries and pre-screening of proposed projects should be directed to Dr. Bob Yolken at rhyolken@gmail.com before any formal application is made.

SMRI has a close relationship with and is the supporting organization for the Treatment Advocacy Center (TAC) which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating barriers to the timely and effective treatment of severe psychiatric disorders. TAC promotes laws, policies, and practices for the delivery of psychiatric care and supports the development of innovative treatments for persistent psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.