The Recognition and Prevention (RAP) program is dedicated to the early identification and treatment of adolescents and young adults (ages 12-22) who are considered to be at clinical high risk for developing serious psychiatric illness as adults, especially schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The major goal of the RAP program is to prevent illness from developing in at-risk youngsters. Since the onset of the RAP program in 1998, over 300 young people have participated in both treatment and research components of the RAP program. While a high rate of clinical improvement has already resulted from the RAP intervention procedures, new treatment strategies, both pharmacological and psychosocial, continue to be evaluated, with a particular emphasis on family involvement. From a research perspective, the RAP program is focused on identifying biologically based risk factors and understanding the neurodevelopmental processes leading to illness, ranging from the earliest genetic factors through the causes of the long term disability often characteristic of illness. The RAP Program is funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and several private foundations, and has recently joined two large multi-site consortiums, the first, a psychosocial treatment trial funded by the Robert Wood Johnson foundation, and the second, funded by the NIMH, a project to identify the biological mechanisms underlying illness.

Dr. Cornblatt is the Director of the RAP program. She is currently an Investigator at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Professor of Psychiatry at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Associate Director of Psychiatry Research at the Zucker Hillside Hospital.  Dr. Cornblatt has had a career-long interest in research concerned with the causes and treatment of serious mental illness. In addition to the studies in progress as part of the RAP program, she has developed the Continuous Performance Test - Identical Pairs (CPT-IP) version, a measure of attention and working memory, an internationally validated and used measure that is now a principal component of the MATRICS battery, the current standard for measuring neuropsychological change in clinical trials.  Most recently, she has initiated a RAP program project assessing early social and role functioning as the critical step in intervening to prevent the long-term disability associated with severe mental illness.  Dr. Cornblatt, is the co-director of the International Prodromal Research Network which sponsors international collaborations and prevention studies and is a member of the North American Prodromal Longitudinal Studies (NAPLS) consortium, one of the largest and most successful prevention collaborations worldwide. She is also on the board of directors for the International Early Psychosis Association, and is on the editorial board of the journal Early Intervention in Psychiatry. She recently received awards from the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill (NAMI Queens/Nassau) and the Lorinda de Roulet Award from Katz Women’s Hospital for the achievements of the RAP research program. Dr. Cornblatt has authored or co-authored over 100 scientific articles and book chapters.  

Name:   Andrea Auther, PhD
Position:   Associate Director
Research:   Dr. Auther is the Associate Director of the Recognition and Prevention (RAP) Program. Dr. Arthur received her Doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology from St. John's University in Queens, NY, and has been working with adolescent and young adult participants in the RAP Program since 2000. She supervises clinical diagnostic interviews, provides individual and group psychotherapy, and collaborates on a wide variety of research endeavors. Dr. Auther was a recipient of a Young Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) to study the role of substance use in the development of psychosis, one of her main research interests. Dr. Auther has also co-authored several research instruments including measures of social and role functioning and prodromal bipolar symptoms. Dr. Auther has presented research and treatment findings to national audiences.
E-mail:   aauther@lij.edu
Web Site: http://www.rapprogram.org/

Recent Publications:

Cornblatt B, and Erlenmeyer-Kimling L: Global attentional deviance as a marker of risk for schizophrenia: Specificity and predictive validity.  Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 94:470-486, 1985.

Cornblatt B, Lenzenweger M, Dworkin R, Erlenmeyer-Kimling L: Positive and negative schizophrenic symptoms, attention, and information processing. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 11:397-407, 1985.

Cornblatt B, Risch N, Faris G, Friedman D, Erlenmeyer-Kimling L: The Continuous Performance Test, Identifical Pairs Version (CPT-IP): I. New findings about sustained attention in normal families. Psychiatry Research 26:223-238, 1988.

Cornblatt BA, Lenzenweger MF, Erlenmeyer-Kimling L: The Continuous Performance Test-Identical Pairs Version: II. Contrasting attentional profiles in schizophrenic and depressed patients.  Psychiatry Research 29(1):65-85, 1989.

Cornblatt B, Keilp J:Impaired attention, genetics and the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Schiz Bulletin 20:31-46, 1994.

Erlenmeyer-Kimling L, Adamo UH, Rock D, Roberts S, Basset AS, Squires-Wheeler E, Cornblatt BA,. Endicott J, Pape S, Gottesman I: I. The New York High Risk Project: Prevalence and comorbidity of Axis I disorders in offspring of schizophrenic parents at 25 years of follow-up. Archives of General Psychiatry, 54:1096-1102, 1998.

Cornblatt B, Obuchowski M, Roberts S, Pollack S, Erlenmeyer-Kimling L: Cognitive and behavioral precursors of schizophrenia.  Development and Psychopathology 11:487-508,1999.

Cornblatt, B. & Malhotra A. Impaired attention as an endophenotype for molecular genetic studies of schizophrenia.    Neuropsychiatric Genetics, 105:11-15, 2001.

Cornblatt, B., Lencz, T., Kane J.M. Treatment of the schizophrenia prodrome: is it presently ethical?  Schiz Res 51: 31-38, 2001.

Cornblatt, B.  The schizophrenia prodrome: promise for prevention. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 3(2):93-98, 2001.

Cornblatt, B., Lencz T., Obuchowski, M. The schizophrenia prodrome: Treatment and high-risk perspectives. Schizophrenia Research, 54(1):177-186, 2002.

Cornblatt, B. The New York high risk project to the Hillside recognition and prevention (RAP) program. American Journal of Medical Genetics, 114(8): 956-966, 2002.

Seidman LJ, Giuliano AJ, Smith CW, Stone WS, Glatt SJ, Meyer E, Faraone SV, Tsuang MT, Cornblatt B. Neuropsychological Functioning in Adolescents and Young Adults at Genetic Risk for Schizophrenia and Affective Psychoses: Results from the Harvard and Hillside Adolescent High Risk Studies. Schizophr Bull, 2006 32(3), 507-24.

Addington J, Cadenhead K, Cannon T, Cornblatt B, McGlashan T, Perkins D et al. North American Prodrome Longitudinal Study (NAPLS): A Multi-Site, Collaborative Approach to Prodromal Schizophrenia Research. Schizophr Bull. 2007 33(3):665-72. Epub 2007 Jan 25.

Cornblatt B, Auther A, Neidham T, Smith C, Zinberg J, Johnson J et al. Validity and preliminary findings for two new measures of social and role functioning in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull. 33(3) 688-702. Epub 2007 Apr 17.

Cornblatt B, Lencz T, Smith CW, Olsen R, Auther AM, Nakayama EY et al. Can anti-depressants be used to treat the schizophrenia prodrome? Results of a prospective, naturalistic treatment study. J Clin Psychiatry 2007. 68(4) 546-57.

Cannon TD, Cadenhead K, Cornblatt B, Woods SW, Addington J, Walker E, Seidman LJ, Perkins D, Tsuang M, McGlashan T, and Heinssen R.  Prediction of Psychosis in Ultra High Risk Youth:  A Multi-Site Longitudinal Study in North America.  Archives of General Psychiatry; 65(1): 28-37, 2008.

Harvey PD and Cornblatt BA  Pharmacological treatment of cognition in schizophrenia: An idea whose method has come. American Journal of Psychiatry, 165(2): 163-165, 2008.

Auther A, Lencz T, Smith T, Bowie C, Cornblatt B. Overview of the first annual meeting on the schizophrenia prodrome. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 29, 625-631, 2003.

Cornblatt B, Auther A. Treating early psychosis: Who, what, and when? Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 7 (1), 39-49, 2005.

Cornblatt, B, Auther, A, Niendam, T, Smith C, Zinberg, J, Bearden, C, Cannon, T. Preliminary findings for two new measures of social and role functioning in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 33 (3), 688-702, 2007.

Auther, A.M., Gillett, D.A., & Cornblatt, B.A. Expanding the boundaries of early intervention for psychosis:  Intervening during the prodrome.  Psychiatric Annals, August, 2008, 38(8):528-537.     

Auther A, Lencz T, Smith T, Bowie C, Cornblatt B. Overview of the first annual meeting on the schizophrenia prodrome. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 29, 625-631, 2003.

Cornblatt B, Auther A. Treating early psychosis: Who, what, and when? Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience, 7 (1), 39-49, 2005.

Cornblatt, B, Auther, A, Niendam, T, Smith C, Zinberg, J, Bearden, C, Cannon, T. Preliminary findings for two new measures of social and role functioning in the prodromal phase of schizophrenia. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 33 (3), 688-702, 2007.

Auther, A.M., Gillett, D.A., & Cornblatt, B.A. Expanding the boundaries of early intervention for psychosis:  Intervening during the prodrome.  Psychiatric Annals, August, 2008, 38(8):528-537.