General Program Information
The Psychiatry Clinical Research Program at Ben Taub Hospital conducts Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4 clinical trials as well as investigator-initiated research across a broad range of psychiatric and neuropsychiatric conditions, including but not limited to: MDD, TRD, PTSD, GAD, SAD, OCD, ADHD, schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease psychosis, tardive dyskinesia, AUD, OUD, and other substance use disorders. Our program has extensive experience in pharmaceutical trial coordination, and our faculty bring decades of combined clinical and research expertise to every collaboration.
Recruitment Capabilities
Our program’s recruitment capacity is a defining strength of our site. Our faculty hold multiple clinical leadership roles that provide direct access to one of the largest and most diverse psychiatric patient populations in the Houston area.
Our Leadership
Dr. Shah serves as Chief of Psychiatry at Harris Health and Ben Taub Hospital, giving the program direct oversight of and access to the full inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services at Ben Taub. Dr. Moukaddam serves as both the Ben Taub Adult Outpatient Services Director and the Harris Health Psychiatry Outpatient Services Director for all Baylor-related clinics. These roles provide wide-reaching, sustained access to outpatient psychiatric populations across the Harris Health system outside Ben Taub Hospital.
Our Location
Ben Taub Hospital accommodates over 100,000 emergency visits and over 1.5 million outpatient clinic visits annually, with our research office situated directly above Harris Health’s psychiatric emergency room. This proximity to a high-volume, actively treated patient population – including individuals who may not have responded to standard treatment – is an asset regarding enrollment in clinical trials targeting treatment-resistant populations.
About Our Investigators
Our faculty bring a combined ~45 years of clinical research experience across psychiatric and neuropsychiatric research. The program has collectively conducted over 50 clinical trials spanning Phases 2, 3, and 4. Cumulative research funding across the program exceeds $11 million. In addition to this site-specific total, our faculty have also been awarded three multi-site grants amounting to $6.8 million. Individual faculty CVs are available upon request.
Facts and Figures
- ~45 combined years of faculty research experience
- 50+ clinical trials conducted at our site across Phases 2, 3 and 4
- $11M+ cumulative research funding
- 1.5M+ annual outpatient clinic visits at our affiliate hospital
Personnel
Our team includes raters who are IMGs (international medical graduates who have earned an M.D. or equivalent in another country), four dedicated study coordinators, and many experienced sub-investigators spanning multiple therapeutic areas of interest and expertise. These onsite raters and Sub-Is remain available for all research activities, including protocol verification, physical exams, scaling, and AE/SAE management.
Site Information
| Site Name | Baylor College of Medicine |
| Address | Ben Taub Hospital, Neuropsychiatric Center, 1502 Taub Loop, Houston, TX 77030 |
| Setting | County hospital serving the city of Houston and many of its suburbs located within the Texas Medical Center – one of the largest medical complexes in the world. The research office is situated directly above Harris Health’s psychiatric emergency room. |
| Patient Population | Ben Taub Hospital has 402 licensed beds and accommodates over 100,000 emergency visits and over 1.5 million outpatient clinic visits annually, providing regular access to a large and diverse patient population. |
| Therapeutic Areas | Psychiatry, Neurology, Depression (MDD, TRD), Addiction (AUD, OUD, CUD, SUD), Anxiety (GAD, SAD), OCD, ADHD, PTSD, Schizophrenia, Psychosis, Tardive Dyskinesia, dementia (Alzheimer’s disease) |
| Phase Capabilities | Experienced with Phase 2, Phase 3 and Phase 4 clinical trials, with no Phase 1 infrastructure |
Site Amenities
Our site is equipped with the following resources to support smooth trial coordination, participant visits, data collection, and regulatory activities:
- -80°C freezer, -35°C freezer, and refrigerator
- On-site fMRI imaging facilities
- Secure computers and secure Wi-Fi
- Ambient and refrigerated centrifuges
- On-site, in-program raters and Sub-Is
- Dedicated area for study monitors
- Scale and vital signs machine
- Dry ice
- UPS/FedEx drop-off access
Scale Capabilities
Our team is qualified to administer the following clinical scales:
- Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS)
- Attention/Speed of processing: Symbol Coding (BACS-SC)
- Verbal memory: List Learning
- Working memory: Digit Sequencing Task (DST)
- Motor speed: Token Motor Task
- Verbal fluency: Category Instances and Controlled Oral Word Association Test
- Executive functions: Tower of London test (ToL)
- Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST)
- Trail Making Test (TMT)
- Continuous Performance Task – Identical Pairs (CPT-IP)
- Wechsler Memory Scale, 3rd Edition, Spatial Span (WMS-III-SS)
- Letter-Number Span (LNS)
- Hopkins Verbal Learning Test – Revised (HVLT-R)
- Brief Visuospatial Memory Test – Revised (BVMT-R)
- Neuropsychological Assessment Battery – Mazes (NAB-Mazes)
- The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB)
- Speed of processing: BACS-SC, TMT, Category Fluency: Animal Naming
- Attention/Vigilance: CPT-IP
- Working memory: WMS-III-SS and LNS
- Verbal learning: HVLT-R
- Visual learning: BVMT-R
- Reasoning/Problem solving: NAB-Mazes
- Social cognition: Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test – Managing Emotions (MSCEIT-ME)
- Virtual Reality Functional Capacity Assessment Tool (VRFCAT)
- Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)
- Subjective Units of Distress Scale (SUDS)
- Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms – Self-Report (QIDS-SR)
- World Health Organization Quality of Life Assessment (WHOQOL)
- Addiction Severity Index (ASI)
- Patient Global Impressions of Severity and Improvement (PGI-S and PGI-I)
- European Quality of Life, 5-Dimension, 5-Level Questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L)
- European Quality of Life – Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS)
- World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHO-DAS)
- Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System – Sleep Disturbance (PROMIS-SD)
- Arizona Sexual Experiences Scale (ASEX)
- Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI)
- Stanford Expectations of Treatment Scale (SETS)
- Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS)
- Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.)
- Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5), including SCID-5-CT
- Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)
- Massachusetts General Hospital – Antidepressant Response Questionnaire (MGH-ATRQ)
- Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS)
- Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale (CADSS)
- General Anxiety Disorder – 7 Item (GAD-7)
- Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS)
- Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale (AIMS)
- Barnes Akathisia Rating Scale (BARS)
- Physician Withdrawal Checklist (PWC-20)
- Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE)
- Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D, HDRS, HRSD)
- Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A)
- Clinical Global Impressions of Severity and Improvement (CGI-S and CGI-I)
- Timeline Follow Back (TLFB)
- Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS)
- Modified Simpson-Angus Scale (MSAS)
- Insomnia Severity Index (ISI)
- Alcohol Craving Questionnaire – Short Form – Revised (ACQ-SF-R)
- Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol – Revised (CIWA-Ar)
- Clinical Global Impression of Tardive Dyskinesia Severity and Improvement (CGI-TD-S and CGI
- TD-I)
- Calgary Depression Scale for Schizophrenia (CDSS)
- Challenging Behavior Scale (CBS)
- Modified Overt Aggression Scale (MOAS)
- Scales for the Assessment of Positive and Negative Symptoms (SAPS and SANS)
- Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS)
- Changes in Sexual Function Questionnaire – Short Form (CSFQ-14)
- Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS)
- Modified Observer’s Assessment of Alertness or Sedation (MOAA and MOAS)
Interested in Working with Us?
We welcome inquiries from sponsors, CROs, and academic or clinical collaborators. Please reach out if your organization is conducting a study that our site may be able to contribute to, or if you have any questions about our site or our personnel.