Mission Statement

The Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation (JBRF) was founded in January 2001. JBRF is dedicated to research to determine the etiology of juvenile - onset bipolar disorder to advance the state of knowledge about this condition so that more effective treatments can be found. JBRF is committed to the development of early diagnostic instruments, thus improving the likelihood for a healthy and productive life for children with bipolar disorder.

Professional Staff

Jim Ayres

Executive Director

Jim Ayres is a long-time innovator, thought leader and manager of high-impact foundations and other nonprofits, which have included multiple community foundations and United Ways. He is also the founder and principal consultant of the organizational development consulting practice Strategies for Collaborative Impact and Justice, through which he has supported numerous organizations through periods of organizational growth, transition, and development.

Jim brings to JBRF a deep and personal connection to its mission. He is a resident of Haydenville, MA where he lives with his wife Keira, and two children Jackson and Nate, the younger of whom lives with juvenile onset bi-polar disorder. He, and the family as a whole, have benefitted immensely from knowledge and treatment advanced by JBRF. Jim appreciates the opportunity to “pay it forward” to others on a similar path.

Jim Ayres holds advanced degrees from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, at Tufts University and Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and earned his bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College.

Dr. Demitri Papolos

Research Director
Demitri Papolos is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Co-Founder, and former Co-Director of the Program in Behavioral Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 2001, Dr. Papolos became the Director of Research for the Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation where he established a consortium of clinical and basic researchers from medical centers across the country. They have been engaged in the identification of homogeneous behavioral phenotypes, and more recently, the pursuit of a deeper understanding of the neurobiological and molecular basis of a novel syndrome associated with a discrete heritable behavioral trait and a specific biological marker – a deficit in temperature sensation and heat dissipation. This phenotype, the Thermoregulatory Threat/Survival Disorder (Fear of Harm) is the subject of the workshop. The research has been published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the American Journal of Human Genetics, and in Molecular Psychiatry.

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Board of Directors

John Cosentino

Treasurer
John is a founding partner of the Ironwood Manufacturing Fund, a private equity firm specializing in control investments in manufacturing, distribution and service companies. He has been an individual investor leading several investments in privately held companies and is an experienced executive who has held senior management positions with Danaher Corporation, Rau Fastener, Stanley, Black & Decker and several divisions of United Technologies. John presently leads or serves on the boards of Sturm, Ruger & Co., Simonds International Inc., Whitcraft LLC, Habco Industries LLC, and Addaero LLC. He holds an A.B. cum laude in economics from Harvard and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ira Helfand

ra Helfand, MD is a member of the International Steering Group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapon, ICAN, the recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, and Immediate Past President of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, the founding partner of ICAN and itself the recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. He is also co-Founder and Past President of Physicians for Social Responsibility, IPPNW’s US affiliate, and a member of the Steering Committee of the Back from the Brink campaign. He has published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, the British Medical Journal and the World Medical Journal on the medial consequences of nuclear war and has lectured about nuclear war in Russia, China, Japan, Korea, India, Pakistan, Israel, Turkey, Brazil, Mexico, Columbia, and across Europe and North America. He spoke at the 2013 and 2014 International Conferences on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons and chaired the session on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons at the UN Open Ended Working Group in 2016 that lead to the negotiation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons the following year. 

Dr. Helfand was educated at Harvard College and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and recently retired as staff physician at Family Care Medical Center. He lives with his wife, Deborah Smith, a medicaloncologist, in Leeds, MA, USA, and has two grown sons and two grandchildren.

Herbert M. Lachman

Dr. Lachman is a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He also holds joint appointments in the departments of Medicine, Genetics and Neuroscience. Dr. Lachman became of a member of the JBRF Board of Directors in 2011. He is a co-author of 90 scientific papers, book chapters and reviews. He has also written a book for laymen exploring the role of Darwinian selection in human disease called, “Battle of the Genomes: The Struggle For Survival in a Microbial World.” Dr. Lachman’s primary research interests are the molecular and genetic basis of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and the development of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology to model neuropsychiatric disorders in the laboratory. iPSCs are derived from skin cells and can be turned into human neurons, which can then be studied in animal-free systems. iPSC technology is a very promising tool for developing new drugs for neuropsychiatric disorders. In addition to research, Dr. Lachman sees patients in the Division of Substance Abuse and is very involved in student education at Einstein where he teaches human genetics to first year medical students, and graduate students in the Sue Golding Graduate Division and Clinical Research Training Program. He has received two teaching awards at Einstein. He is also a grand rounds speaker and gives a lecture on the role of genes in criminal behavior at Fordham Law School.

Dr. Lachman is board certified in Internal Medicine and is a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics. He is an editor for the Open Psychiatry Journal and the Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience and has reviewed papers for some of the top psychiatry and neuroscience journals, including Molecular Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, American Journal of Medical Genetics, Human Molecular Genetics and the Archives of General Psychiatry. He has also reviewed grants for 20 NIH study sections. Dr. Lachman lives in Manhattan with his wife and two children.

Steven Mattis

Chairman

Steven Mattis, Ph.D., is President of the Juvenile Bipolar Research foundation. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University. Dr. Mattis is an internationally known neuropsychologist and recognized as a leading figure in the development of the field of clinical neuropsychology in the United States. He has been on the Board and President of the International Neuropsychological Society; on the Board and President of the Clinical Neuropsychology Division of the American Psychological Association; A Fellow of the American Psychological Association; Founding member of the Board and President of the American Board of Clinical Neuropsychology, the Specialty credentialing agent of the American Board of Professional Psychology; and on the Board and President of the American Board of Professional Psychology. He is currently Clinical Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychiatry, New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center and in private practice at Mattis & Luck Center for Neuropsychological Services. Dr. Mattis had been Chief of Neuropsychology in the Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein School of Medicine, Chief of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical Center, and Chief Psychologist at Hillside Hospital-Northshore Medical System. He has over 70 articles in peer reviewed journals, multiple chapters in edited books, and is the author of the Dementia Rating Scale. Dr. Mattis has been a co-editor and reviewer for multiple professional journals and served on the Research Review Board for the Human Development and Aging section of the National Institutes of Health.

For the last 10 years, Dr. Mattis has focused his research and clinical interests on the neuropsychology of psychiatric mood disorders. In collaboration with Drs. Papolos and others, he has published several articles delineating a phenotype of juvenile bipolar disorder which has been termed Fear of Harm syndrome.

Demitri Papolos

Demitri Papolos is an Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Co-Founder, and former Co-Director of the Program in Behavioral Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. In 2001, Dr. Papolos became the Director of Research for the Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation where he established a consortium of clinical and basic researchers from medical centers across the country. They have been engaged in the identification of homogeneous behavioral phenotypes, and more recently, the pursuit of a deeper understanding of the neurobiological and molecular basis of a novel syndrome associated with a discrete heritable behavioral trait and a specific biological marker – a deficit in temperature sensation and heat dissipation. This phenotype, the Thermoregulatory Threat/Survival Disorder (Fear of Harm) is the subject of the workshop. The research has been published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the American Journal of Human Genetics, and in Molecular Psychiatry.