Richard D. Weiner Records, 1933-2022

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Summary

Creator:
Weiner, Richard D., 1945-
Abstract:
Dr. Richard David Weiner, MD, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, received his training and spent the bulk of his career as a psychiatrist and faculty member in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Duke. Weiner's research interests are in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and is considered a world authority on this treatment modality, particularly in terms of research to optimize safely and efficacy of the equipment used to deliver ECT, as well as regulation of these devices by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Includes materials documenting Weiner's work with ECT at Duke, as well as national activities in this area. Types of materials include publications, publicity, clippings, conference proceedings, reports, reprints, administrative records, photographic materials, presentations, ECT records, FDA materials, and legal materials. Materials date from 1933 to 2022.
Extent:
3 Linear Feet (2 cartons)
Language:
English
Collection ID:
MC.0181

Background

Scope and content:

Includes materials documenting Dr. Richard Weiner's work with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) at Duke, as well as national activities in this area. Types of materials include publications, publicity, clippings, conference proceedings, reports, reprints, administrative records, photographic materials, presentations, ECT records, FDA materials, and legal materials. Materials date from 1933 to 2022.

Biographical / historical:

Dr. Richard David Weiner, MD, PhD, received his SB from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering (1967) and his MSE in Systems Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania (1969). He completed both his PhD in Physiology with a specialty in Neurophysiology and his MD at Duke University (1973). Upon graduation, he completed his training at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for his Psychiatry Residency (1974-1976) and an Electroencephalography (EEF) Fellowship at Duke University (1977-1978). He joined Duke as a Medical Research Associate in 1977, and, in 1979, became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences. Throughout his career, Weiner held numerous appointments in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences including Associate Professor (1984-1997), Professor (1997-2021), Interim Chair (2015-2017), Director of Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) Program (1991-2020), Executive Vice Chair (2017-2018), and Professor Emeritus (2021-present). Weiner also worked as the Staff Psychiatrist (1980-1990) and the Chief of the Mental Health Service Line (1993-2015) at the Durham VA Medical Center.

Weiner's research interests are in electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and is considered a world authority on this treatment modality, particularly in terms of research to optimize safely and efficacy of the equipment used to deliver ECT, as well as regulation of these devices by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For over 3 decades, he represented the American Psychiatric Association (APA) in a series of FDA regulatory deliberations, which were crucial to the viability of clinical practice in this area and have led to considerable research, publications, and publicity in this area of ECT and application of brain stimulation techniques to the treatment of mental disorders.

More specifically, Weiner's research in ECT, first, in a study of unilateral versus bilateral ECT in elderly unilateral ECT non-responders, showed that switching to bilateral ECT is associated with a more substantial and enduring response. His research also showed that switching to bilateral ECT is associated with an increase in memory impairment compared to continuing unilateral ECT. Other ECT work focused on the effects of various types of stimulus dosing paradigms on therapeutic response, memory impairment, and EEG abnormality. This work already suggested that moderate intensity dosing improves therapeutic response, but at the cost of more substantial memory effects. With respect to this latter study and other pilot work, Weiner and researchers demonstrated an ability to separate EEG seizures produced by various kinds of ECT treatment parameters with the intent to continue this work in order to more fully develop electroencephalographic models of treatment adequate with ECT.

During this career, Weiner published more than 225 peer reviewed journal articles; gave more than 250 invited presentations; served as a consultant for ECT research programs at multiple universities; and received numerous grants including Long-Term Effects Of Electroconvulsive Therapy awarded by National Institutes of Health (1987-1988, 1991-1993), 2/8 Prolonging Remission in Depressed Elderly (PRIDE) awarded by National Institutes of Health (2009-2016), and Accurate and reliable computational dosimetry and targeting for transcranial magnetic stimulation awarded by National Institutes of Health (2019-2020).

In 2021, after 44 years of service at Duke, Weiner retired. Among Weiner's awards and honors, he received the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Merit Award (1988); Honored Speaker Award from the Association for Convulsive Therapy (2000); Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry (2003); and is a Distinguished Life Fellow at the APA

Acquisition information:
A2022.016 (gift by Richard Weiner, February 2022)
Processing information:

Processed by Lucy Waldrop: January 2023

Arrangement:
Organized into the following series: Records, 1933-2022.
Rules or conventions:
DACS

Contents

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Restrictions:

This collection may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals or IRB approval may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which Duke University assumes no responsibility.
Contains Medical Center Administrative records. These include records of the officers of the University, as defined in the Bylaws, the deans of schools and colleges, and departments, institutes, and other offices as designated by the President. For a period of twenty-five years from the origin of the material, permission in writing from the director of the office of record and the Medical Center Archivist is required for use. After twenty-five years, records that have been processed may be consulted with the permission of the Medical Center Archivist. (Issued by the Office of the Chancellor, December 1, 1975).

Terms of access:

Copyright for Official University records is held by Duke University; all other copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Richard D. Weiner Records, Duke University Medical Center Archives.