Clinical Assessment Core

The Clinical Assessment Core assists investigators in recruiting patients for clinical studies, provides trained diagnosticians/evaluators to conduct clinical assessments in Center studies, and oversees administration of a core battery of behavioral measures.

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Core Personnel

Core Director: Mary Beth Connolly Gibbons,PhD 

Dr. Gibbons is the director of the Center for Psychotherapy Research at Penn. Dr. Gibbons has a program of research focused on developing interventions for depression to meet the needs of community settings. Her program includes adapting evidence-based psychotherapies to meet the needs of community stakeholders, evaluating the comparative effectiveness and mechanisms of change of evidence-based psychotherapies in community settings, and developing and evaluating performance improvement interventions to improve outcomes in the community. Central to this program of research has been the development of pragmatic assessments to evaluate symptoms, treatment mechanisms, barriers to services, and fidelity.

Co-Director: Robert Gross, MD,MSCE 

Dr. Gross is Co-Director of the Clinical Core of the Penn Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). He is trained in both Infectious Diseases and Clinical Epidemiology and has held continuous NIMH funding for his HIV research since 2000. He is an expert in the assessment and analysis of antiretroviral adherence data, risk factors for non-adherence/barriers to adherence, including clinical trials to assess novel adherence interventions. He is currently conducting a large cohort study of the interaction between adherence and pharmacogenetics with treatment outcomes in people with HIV on antiretroviral therapy in Botswana where alcohol use is common and of particular interest in his work.

Co-Director: J.Cobb Scott,PhD

Dr. J. Cobb Scott completed a B.A. in Psychology at Wesleyan University, a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with specialization in Neuropsychology at the San Diego State University/ University of California, San Diego Doctoral Program, and clinical internship at the VA Connecticut Healthcare System. Dr. Scott joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry in 2013. Broadly, his research interests include the cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology of psychiatric disorders and substance use. More specifically, Dr. Scott is interested in characterizing dysfunctional neurocircuitry in PTSD; understanding the brain-behavior overlap between PTSD and substance use; understanding relationships between cannabis use, cognitive functioning, and mental health, and examining the relationship between neuropsychological and everyday functioning outcomes, such as treatment response, in psychiatric disorders.

Co-Investigator: Paul Crits-Christoph,PhD 

Dr. Crits-Christoph has served as director of the Center for Psychotherapy Research at Penn for the past 22 years and has held continuous NIMH funding since 1985. He also served as the Director of the PMHARC Clinical Assessment Core from 2013-2021. In addition to his current work in community based studies of major depressive disorder, he has been involved in as a site PI on large scale multicenter HIV risk reduction trials in the NIDA Clinical Trials Network. He is also co-director of a Scientific Working Group on Addictions and HIV within the Penn Center for AIDS Research.  In addition, Dr. Crits-Christoph has been involved in the development of numerous scales for psychiatric research, including scales for the assessment of manic and depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, interpersonal problems/themes, and scales for measuring treatment process and outcome, such as measures of the therapeutic alliance and treatment fidelity measures.

Co-Investigator: Dennis Kolson, MD,PhD 

Dr. Kolson has trained in both Neurology and Neurovirology and has served as a UPenn site investigator for neurological clinical trials within the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU). His laboratory is particularly focused on the role for the anti-oxidant response in human macrophages in modifying HIV infection and HIV-mediated neurodegeneration. He has had continuous NIH support since 1992 and has several NIH-funded collaborations with numerous collaborators within the University of Pennsylvania and also with investigators at the University of Texas, Temple University, and Drexel University. He is a scientific advisor to the NIH/National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium and serves the CAC as an expert on HIV Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND).

Consultant: Pablo Tebas, MD 

Dr. Tebas is the director and principal investigator of the AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (ACTU) at the University of Pennsylvania. He is one of the founding members of the HIV Reservoirs and Viral Eradication Transformative Science Group of the AIDS Clinical Trial Group. He is currently working on several NIH IPCP grants in carrying out early phase trials of new compounds. He has a specific clinical interest in the treatment of HIV and associated infections, such as hepatitis C. 
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Our Services

Recruitment Services:

The Clinical Assessment Core has a role in recruiting and assessing PMHARC pilot study participants and offers recruitment assistance to all pilot studies. All pilot study PIs are invited to reach out to the Clinical Assessment Core and request meetings to discuss new mechanisms of recruitment. The recruitment experts are Drs. Gross and Tebas who have successfully aided in recruitment for the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and have strong ties to local HIV clinics such as the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia FIGHT. 

In addition, the CAC trains and supervises diagnosticians to conduct all interview-based psychiatric assessments (e.g., Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-V, Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression) for the pilot studies and other NIH funded studies affiliated with the Center. 

Core Battery

One of the primary functions of the Clinical Assessment Core is to oversee the administration of the core battery to PMHARC pilot studies. The goal of administering the same measures across pilot studies is to eventually build a pooled database of core measures containing substantially larger sample sizes than individual studies. This larger database will allow Center investigators to generate broader questions for exploratory analyses regarding the interactions of mental health and HIV status. The core battery includes the following self-report measures:

1.    Risk Assessment Battery (RAB). This is a self-report questionnaire designed to assess high-risk behaviors associated with HIV transmission. The measure yields two scores: Drug Risk Behavior (e.g. sharing needles, IV drug use) and Sex Risk Behavior (e.g., exchanging sex for drugs, unprotected sexual activity).


2.    The Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale (BASIS-24). This is a 24 item self-report inventory designed to measure mental health status from the patient’s point of view. The items cover 6 domains including: depression/functioning, interpersonal relationships, psychotic symptoms, alcohol/drug use, and emotional lability.


3.    PROMIS Item Bank v1.0 – Emotional Distress – Depression – Short Form 8a. This 8-item short-form measure assesses self-reported negative mood (sadness, guilt), views of self (self-criticism, worthlessness), and social cognition (loneliness, interpersonal alienation), as well as decreased positive affect and engagement (loss of interest, meaning, and purpose). 


4.    PROMIS Ability to Participate in Social Roles and Activities Short-Form 8a. This 8-item form assesses one’s perception of their ability to engage in their normal social roles and activities.


5.    The Accountable Health Communities Health-Related Social Needs Scale (AHC-HRSN). This is a 10-item self-report inventory developed by a team at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to assess social determinants of health including living situation, food insecurity, transportation needs, utility needs, and interpersonal safety.


Diagnostic Assessments:


The Clinical Assessment Core also provides consultation and conduct of clinical assessments through a team of trained and supervised diagnosticians. The diagnosticians meet monthly with a diagnostic supervisor to review previous cases thus ensuring proficiency of clinical assessment conduct. Some of the clinical assessments the diagnosticians are trained in include:


1.    The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5). This is a semi-structured clinical interview for DSM-5 diagnoses. Use of this clinical assessment has been frequently used to determine eligibility for participation in a study.


2.    The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D). This is a widely known a clinician-administered assessment scale for depression. 


3.    Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). This clinician-administered scale is to determine the presence of suicidality and suicidal intent.


4.    Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) Training. This clinician-administered scale is considered the “gold standard” for assessing psychotic symptoms for schizophrenia and other disorders.

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For More Information

To learn more about our current treatment programs, research protocols, or to ask specific questions about the Core, please call us at 215-349-5222 or contact us via email:

Mary Beth Connolly Gibbons, PhD: gibbonsm@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
Robert Gross, MD, MSCE: grossr@pennmedicine.upenn.edu
J. Cobb Scott, PhD: scott1@pennmedicine.upenn.edu

 

 


 

 


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