VISN I MIRECC

• Completed Mirecc Studies
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• National MIRECC
• Mirecc Educational Videos

In October 1997, the VA launched a series of specialized mental health centers designed to increase understanding of mental disorders and to improve the ability of veterans with mental illness to function in the community. The centers are called, "mental illness research, education, and clinical care centers" or MIRECCs. Modeled after the VA geriatric research, education, and clinical care centers (GRECCs), MIRECCs are intended to marry scientific discovery with state of the art clinical care.

Since the program's inception, eight MIRECCs have been organized in sites that produced the most meritorious proposals in a competitive process open to all VA hospitals. VISN I MIRECC is a combined effort between researchers and clinicians from VA Medical Centers in West Haven, CT, Newington, CT and Bedford, MA and is under the direction of Bruce Rounsaville, M.D. from VA Connecticut. The mission of VISN I MIRECC is to improve services for veterans with "dual diagnosis", that is veterans with histories of mental illness in combination with addiction problems. These veterans have unique needs, because having two types of illness makes it more difficult to recover from either one.

With this mission in mind, MIRECC researchers focus on three areas:

1. Health Services Research: comparing practice patterns, costs, and outcomes of the care of dually diagnosed veterans in VA and non-VA healthcare systems.
2. Clinical Efficacy Research: evaluating innovative treatments including medications, work therapy, and a new approach for money management.
3. Human Neurobiological Research: researching genetic factors for dual diagnosis and using brain imaging to understand changes in the central nervous system of patients with a dual diagnosis.

Key Personnel in the VISN I MIRECC include the director, Bruce Rounsaville, M.D., co-directors, Thomas R. Kosten, M.D. and Robert Rosenheck, M.D. from VA Connecticut , and Gregory Binus, M.D. and Charles Drebing, Ph.D., the Bedford VA site directors. The Director of Education for the VISN I MIRECC is Patricia Sweeney, Psy.D., CPRP.