Celebrating the Legacy of the Institute of Psychiatric Research (IPR), and Moving Brain Research Forward

Abstract

The Institute for Psychiatric Research (IPR) at Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine was a free-standing four-story building on the main IUPUI campus (791 Union Drive) just east of Eskenazi Hospital's present location. It was built in 1955-56 by the State of Indiana to house the laboratories of neuroscience investigators operating under the leadership of the IU Department of Psychiatry. For nearly six decades IPR was the home of innovative research (primarily NIH-funded) in neurochemistry, electrophysiology, genetics, neuroanatomy, animal behavior, and molecular biology. For many years it was also the home of neuroscience education on the IUPUI campus. In 2014 the IPR building was demolished as part of the construction of Eskenazi hospital to replace the venerable Wishard hospital campus. IPR faculty relocated to the IU Neuroscience Building at 320 West 15th Street, where they now continue their work along with researchers at Stark Neurosciences Research Institute and other departments. Former IPR faculty Debomoy Lahiri and John Nurnberger have assembled a history of IPR along with illustrations of the building and the faculty and staff who worked there and contributed significantly to psychiatric research.