The scientific team includes influential thought leaders in the treatment of psychiatric disorders from academia and leading pharmaceuticals.

Michael J. Detke, MD, PhD | Chief Medical Officer & Director, MedAvante Research Institute

Dr. Detke is a psychiatrist with more than 20 years of research experience and extensive clinical and drug development expertise. Before joining MedAvante, he served as Executive Director for Neuroscience Medical Research at Lilly Research Laboratories in Indianapolis. In that position, he oversaw all CNS assets in early phase development, including all psychiatric, neurologic, and pain indications. Previously at Lilly, Dr. Detke was Senior Medical Director responsible for Phase III development for Cymbalta (duloxetine HCl) and Phase IV for Prozac (fluoxetine). This included registration and regulatory commitment trials for Cymbalta indications, including major depressive disorder, diabetic peripheral neuropathic pain, generalized anxiety disorder, fibromyalgia and chronic pain, as well as pediatric trials. 
    
Dr. Detke also teaches and supervises medical students and residents in patient care as Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Indiana University School of Medicine. He is a current research affiliate at McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Detke graduated summa cum laude with a BA and MS in Psychology at Yale University, and later received his MA, MD, and PhD degrees at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was awarded NIH and NIMH fellowships. His training in medicine and psychiatry were conducted at Harvard Medical School, at the Mt. Auburn, McLean, and Massachusetts General Hospitals, and he completed a fellowship in psychopharmacology at Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital.

Dr. Detke has published more than 50 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals since 1989. He serves as a reviewer for numerous such journals, and is a member of selective scientific organizations such as the ACNP and SOBP.

Janet B. W. Williams, DSW | Vice President of Clinical Development

Dr. Williams has over 30 years of clinical research experience in both industry and academia. Before coming to MedAvante in 2007, she worked for 32 years in academic settings, including as Professor of Clinical Psychiatric Social Work in the Departments of Psychiatry and Neurology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and as Research Scientist and Deputy Chief of the Biometrics Research Department at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. She is now Professor Emerita at Columbia University.

Dr. Williams is well-known for her work on the development of psychiatric classifications and instruments to measure psychopathology. Her contributions include:

• Interview guides for the Hamilton Rating Scales and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale
• A leading role in the development of the Third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), as well as subsequent revisions
• Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID), a standard for diagnostic evaluations (as co-author)
• PRIME-MD and its self-reported version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), to help primary care physicians make mental disorder diagnoses (as co-author)

Dr. Williams has a BS in biology from Tufts University, an MS in marine biology from the University of Massachusetts–Dartmouth, and an MS and DSW in social welfare from the Columbia University School of Social Work. She is the author of many rating instruments and interview guides, and more than 240 scholarly publications. Dr. Williams serves on the editorial boards of several psychiatric and social work journals. She has received recognition and numerous awards for her achievements and contributions in social work and psychiatry.

• Founder and former President of Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR)
• Member of the highly selective American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP)
• ISI Highly-Cited Researcher in Psychology/Psychiatry
• Columbia University School of Social Work Alumni Association Hall of Fame
• SSWR Lifetime Achievement Award
• Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement Award in Health & Mental Health Policy and Practice
• National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Social Work Pioneer®
• Fellow of the American Psychopathological Association (APPA)

John M. Kane, MD | Chief Scientific Advisor
Dr. Kane is Vice President for Behavioral Health Services of the North Shore - Long Island Jewish Health System. John is also Chairman of Psychiatry at The Zucker Hillside Hospital, where he directs the NIMH-funded Advanced Center for Interventions and Services Research in Schizophrenia. He is Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Neuroscience and holds the Dr. E. Richard Feinberg Chair in Schizophrenia Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Dr. Kane also currently serves as President of both the American Society of Clinical Psychopharmacology and the Schizophrenia International Research Society.

Dr. Kane has previously been a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors for NIMH, and he has served on the council of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He has chaired the NIMH Psychopathology and Psychobiology Review Committee as well as the Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the Food and Drug Administration.

During his career, Dr. Kane has been the principal investigator on 19 major grants from the NIH and has also received support for his research from foundations and pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Kane received his BA from Cornell University and his MD from the New York University School of Medicine. He has authored more 300 scientific articles and serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals.

Dr. Kane is a recipient of the Arthur P. Noyes Award in Schizophrenia, the NAPPH Presidential Award for Research, the American Psychiatric Association Foundations' Fund Prize for Research, the Kempf Fund Award for Research Development in Psychobiological Psychiatry, the Lieber Prize for Outstanding Research in Schizophrenia, the Heinz E. Lehmann Research Award from New York State, and the Dean Award from the American College of Psychiatrists.

Earl Giller, MD, PhD | Senior Scientist
Dr. Giller is a psychiatrist with more than 40 years of clinical research experience in both industry and academia. Earl came to MedAvante in 2006 after 14 years at Pfizer, where he was Executive Director, CNS Clinical Development. At Pfizer, he was a global clinical leader for drugs in development for psychosis, depression, and anxiety, including the antipsychotic drug, ziprasidone (Geodon), which led to FDA approvals for schizophrenia and bipolar mania.

During his career, Dr. Giller has gained extensive clinical experience in both inpatient and outpatient settings and has received grant support from the VA, NIMH, and the pharmaceutical industry to research treatment of a broad variety of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Dr. Giller received his MD, and a PhD in Neurochemistry, at New York University School of Medicine. Following postdoctoral work at the NIH and an internship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Giller completed his psychiatry residency at Yale School of Medicine and joined the Yale faculty in the Department of Psychiatry. After 11 years at Yale, Dr. Giller became tenured Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine.

Earl is an author on more than 80 peer-reviewed original articles, numerous abstracts, book chapters, and presentations. He has edited two books on post-traumatic stress disorder, has reviewed grant proposals for the NIH and other funding agencies, and has served as a reviewer for multiple journals.

Kenneth A. Kobak, PhD | Senior Scientist
Dr. Kobak is a psychologist with more than 30 years of clinical research experience in both industry and university medical settings. Throughout his career, he has focused on clinical assessment, rater training, rating scale development, and clinical trials methodology. Prior to MedAvante, Dr. Kobak founded the consultancy Research Training Associates, where he developed new methodologies for training and calibrating raters in clinical trials using new technologies, such as:

• Videoconferencing–to remotely teach and observe trainees’ applied skills
• Interactive CD and Internet tutorials–for didactic training and testing
• Digital audio–for monitoring rater performance during clinical trials

At the University of Wisconsin Medical School and Healthcare Technology Systems, Dr. Kobak managed a clinical trials unit, and pioneered the use of computer-administered rating scales in clinical trials. He authored computer-administered versions of several clinician-administered rating scales, including depression and anxiety scales that are widely used by industry today, and a computer-administered version of the PRIME-MD, a diagnostic interview that was published in JAMA.

Dr. Kobak received his BA, MSSW, and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He authored a paper on rater training that was presented at NCDEU and published in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. He is co-author of the Rater Applied Performance Scale (RAPS), which is widely used by industry to evaluate raters applied clinical skills in administering symptom rating scales, and is co-author with Dr. Janet Williams of the SIGMA, a structured interview guide for the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale.

Dr. Kobak received several NIMH Grants to develop and study rater training methodology for depression, schizophrenia, and autism. He received a New Investigator Award from NIMH in 1996, and is a core member of the Depression Rating Scale Standardization Team (DRSST).

Scott A. Reines, MD, PhD | Senior Scientist
Dr. Reines has more than 30 years of experience, including broad experience as a senior executive in pharmaceutical R&D. Scott is currently involved in various consulting activities including roles as Senior Scientist, Foundation for NIH, and as medical/scientific advisor for MedAvante. Before retiring in 2008, he was Senior Vice President for CNS, Pain, and Translational Medicine at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical R&D. During his five years at J&J, Dr. Reines had responsibility for the approvals of:

• INVEGA for schizophrenia
• REMINYL extended release for Alzheimer’s disease
• RISPERDAL CONSTA for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder
• RISPERDAL for autism
• TOPAMAX for migraine headache and monotherapy in epilepsy

His research groups also led development programs for the analgesic drug tapentadol, the long-acting antipsychotic agent paliperidone palmitate, and other potential treatments for CNS disorders.

Before J&J, Dr. Reines served as Vice President, Clinical Research with responsibilities for Psychopharmacology, Neuropharmacology, Gastroenterology, and Ophthalmology at Merck. There, he was responsible for the development of numerous medically important drugs, including therapies for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting, migraine headache, Parkinson’s disease, and glaucoma.

Dr. Reines received BS magna cum laude in chemistry from Cornell University, his PhD in bio/organic chemistry from Columbia University, and his MD from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He has published in numerous scientific journals including Science, JAMA, NEJM, and the ACNP journal Neuropsychopharmacology. He recently served as the first industry co-chair of the Neuroscience Steering Committee, Foundation for NIH Biomarkers Consortium, and is a member of the Institute of Medicine Forum on Neuroscience. He previously served for five years as a member of the National Drug Abuse Advisory Council and its Bioethics Task Force.