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FNIH’s Landmark Study Set to Transform How Depression Is Defined, Diagnosed and Treated
July 29, 2026
Managed by FNIH, the study aims to define depression subtypes based on biology, enabling more individualized care. The program will establish the most comprehensive dataset for depression in history to accelerate future discoveries.
The Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) today announced the launch of the first phase of a long-term study that will collect data across a broad set of measures to identify biomarkers for depression and more clearly define depression subtypes. This effort will move neuropsychiatry beyond diagnoses by symptoms alone and pave the way for more individualized care.
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The initiative is launching with the support of partners representing academia, patient advocacy groups, philanthropists and life sciences companies, with the National Institute of Mental Health and the Food and Drug Administration serving in advisory roles. The project, named Multi-Modal Assessment and Phenotyping in Depression (MAP-D), ultimately aims to commit more than $70 million to the effort and is currently focused on the first $22 million for the three-year pilot phase of the program.
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The FNIH gratefully acknowledges the academic researchers, investigators and subject matter experts who contributed scientific expertise to the MAP-D initiative, including Maurizio Fava, MD (Harvard University), Leanne Williams, PhD (Stanford Medicine), Conor Liston, MD, PhD (Cornell University), and Katherine Burdick, PhD (Columbia University). For an updated list of partners and additional details about the project, go to fnih.org/our-programs/multi-modal-assessment-phenotyping-depression.
Stanford Medicine’s Leanne Williams Joins MAP-D Initiative
July 31, 2026
​​The Vincent V.C. Woo Professor, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and director of the Stanford Center for Precision Mental Health has been selected as a member of the steering committee for a new project led by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, named the Multi-Modal Assessment and Phenotyping in Depression. MAP-D is the largest effort of its kind to define depression subtypes based on both distinct biology and clinical symptoms, enabling more individualized care. With more than $70 million committed, MAP-D will gather data using a broad set of measures — including genetic testing, neuroimaging, digital assessments and patient-reported outcomes — to create the most comprehensive dataset for depression in history, a resource that will serve as the foundation for future research. In her role on the steering committee, Williams will oversee the functional MRI biomarkers for the project, and the inclusion in the project of the standardized Stanford Et Cere image processing system, developed from her research.