Erick Turner, M.D. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) and in the Department of Pharmacology & Physiology. He is the Medical Director of the Portland VA Medical Center Mood Disorders Program, where he acts as site principal investigator (PI) on several multicenter clinical drug trials. He has 6 years' experience as a clinical researcher in the intramural program of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) in Bethesda, MD and is author of approximately 30 publications in peer-reviewed journals. While at the NIMH, he was an investigator on a number of studies, including clinical trials of patients with seasonal affective disorder, circadian rhythms, and rapid-cycling bipolar disorder. He was PI on one of these clinical trials and PI on a PET study. During his last two years at the NIMH, he was Medical Director of the Seasonal Studies Program at the NIMH, supervising a team of approximately 12 staff members, including 3 other physicians, each of whom had primary responsibility for implementing a research protocol. After the NIMH, Dr. Turner worked for 3 years as a clinical reviewer of psychotropic drugs at the FDA. As a result, he has a unique insider's perspective on scientific and regulatory issues relevant to clinical trials.