The School of Medicine professor has led numerous clinical trials involving schizophrenia and severe mental illness and been active in psychopharmacology research for the past 25 years.
In November 2021, University of Maryland, College Park President Darryll J. Pines, PhD, MS, and University of Maryland, Baltimore President Bruce E. Jarrell, MD, FACS, named eight professors as the inaugural MPower Professors. This award from the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership: MPowering the State (MPower) recognizes, incentivizes, and fosters faculty collaborations between the College Park and Baltimore campuses.
Deanna L. Kelly, PharmD, BCPP, is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) and an affiliate professor at the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP). She also is the director and chief of the Treatment Research Program and currently acting director of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. Kelly has led and been involved in numerous clinical trials involving schizophrenia and severe mental illness and has been active in psychopharmacology research for the past 25 years.
In 2017, she was awarded the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation’s Maltz Prize for Innovative and Promising Schizophrenia Research.
Kelly graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a doctor of pharmacy degree from Duquesne University’s Mylan School of Pharmacy, and she completed a residency at UMSOP in 1997. She is board-certified in psychiatric pharmacy practice and has been continuously grant funded by the National Institutes of Health for over 20 years.
Can you briefly explain the type of research you do?
I am interested in improving the lives of people with schizophrenia and related disorders, and my research is focused on finding ways to improve care using advances in technology. I am working on cutting-edge projects with technology such as point-of-care monitoring, detection of blood biomarkers such as oxidative stress, and using social media and language signals to prioritize mental health care.
I conduct clinical research to test new treatments and better understand mechanisms and markers of illness. I have much interest and experience with translational work in people with schizophrenia involving inflammation, diet modulation, gut-to-brain connections, and the antipsychotic clozapine.
What drives you to do this research?
I am very passionate about improving care for this population of patients who are often stigmatized and marginalized. I am fascinated by science and enjoy trying to better understand severe mental illness as well as current and future treatment options. We have helped many people on the path to recovery, and I hope that many more people will have the opportunity to improve their care and chances of recovery with the work we do.
What did it mean to you personally to be named an MPower Professor?
It was an amazing honor to be named an MPower Professor. Being recognized for the work I do on a day-to-day basis to improve care and lives for people with severe mental illness validates the importance of my research. The funding will help to expand initiatives and collaborations and lead to opportunities for grant funding.