Gavrilova Svetlana Ivanovna - Head of the of the Department of gerontological psychiatry with the Division of the research of Alzheimer"s disease and related disorders of MHRC of the RAS, MD, professor. In 1969 she upheld her PhD and in 1984 she defended her doctoral. Her scientific interests involve important problems of gerontological psychiatry: affective disorders of the elderly (depressive, bipolar disorders, dysthymia), late schizophrenia, chronic delusional psychoses, organic mental disorders of old age and Alzheimer"s disease and related disorders

A Clinical Unit for the study of mental disorders in the elderly was created in the Centre in 1982, on the basis of the Department of psychoses of old age of the Institute of Psychiatry AMS USSR, headed by Prof. E.Ya. Sternberg (1962-1980). In 1998, the unit was transformed into the Department of gerontological psychiatry. Its clinical bases are the in-patient unit of the MHRC RAMS, gerontological out-patient centre within the psychoneurologic out-patient centre #10.

The Department is staffed with 9 research fellows, as well as with psychiatrists, internists, neurologists and medical psychologists.

The structure of the Department consists of in-patient and out-patient units of gerontological psychiatry.

Scope of research activities of the Department:

• Study of the symptomatology, clinical picture, dynamics and outcomes of affective disorders of the elderly.
• Evaluation of the influence of co-morbid somatic diseases on the clinical course and outcomes of depression in the process of brain ageing.
• Elaboration of psychopathological, psychological, genetical and epidemiological aspects of delusional psychoses in old age.
• Clinical and morphological assessment of vascular and frontotemporal dementia.
• Elaboration of problems of clinical gerontological psychopharmacology.
• Clinical and epidemiological assessment of out-patient cohorts of old age.
• Improvement of specialized out-patient care for elderly mental patients.