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Our Mission
 Friends
Research Institute promotes health and well-being through research,
grants administration, education and treatment.
History
“Maryland’s Shame!” screamed the headline in the Baltimore Sun in
the spring of 1955 in an article describing the horrors of the care for
Maryland’s mentally ill. The situation was desperate.
The Sun’s story detailing these patients’ plight attracted the
attention of Baltimorean Edith Klotzman, who quickly rallied to the
cause. Her passion was contagious, and soon her husband Aaron became
involved. That summer, the Klotzmans gathered together a group of their
friends and created a new nonprofit organization, Friends of Psychiatric
Research, familiarly known as Friends. Aaron personally
contributed $2500, representing 1/3 of the total first year’s operating
budget.
 Friends
of Psychiatric Research was based at Spring Grove State Hospital and was
dedicated to fostering research for the mentally ill. In 1960, Friends
received funding for its first Federal grant for research. By
1962, the organization associated with Springfield State Hospital, and
in 1964 Friends was appointed to conduct research for all seven of
Maryland’s mental health hospitals.
During Friends’ association with the State of Maryland, there were
a number of remarkable accomplishments. Friends instituted a “night
hospital” at Spring Grove for women on the road to recovery from mental
illness who still needed the hospital’s support. These women worked
during the day, returning “home” to the hospital each evening. The
program, one of the Nation’s first for disadvantaged women, was an
immediate success. Friends also sponsored two vocational rehabilitation
residences for developmentally challenged children in downtown
Baltimore. Several drug and alcohol abuse treatment centers were
also opened across the city.
 Meanwhile,
seeking new ways to serve, Friends launched two research
projects…endeavors that would ultimately take the organization in a new
direction. The first was a Neurological research project involving
primates, requiring a new research lab and a move away from the State
hospital sites. Also during this period, Friends was approached by the
Veteran’s Administration (VA) to initiate lithium carbonate clinical
trials with 600 patient volunteers. The study’s sponsor, a large
pharmaceutical company, had difficulty identifying a sufficiently large
number of patients with bipolar disorder. Discussions began with VA
hospitals across the country to involve their patients. This was the
first collaborative study for Friends and involved 22 VA hospitals.
Lithium carbonate treatment was ultimately approved by the FDA and has
become an invaluable tool in the treatment of bipolar disorder.
As Friends’ research projects became more diverse and more
numerous, the name of the organization was changed to Friends Medical
Science Research Center, Inc. Friends’ reputation was growing as well.
Physicians, other health professionals and Principal Investigators were
approaching Friends to administer research projects for them.
In June 1964, the Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity,
aware of the growing need to evaluate drug programs in the United
States, sought Friends’ assistance, thrusting the organization into the
national spotlight and into the fast-growing high-tech world of
electronic data collection. The medical research community across
the country took notice.
 Dr. David Nurco, joining Friends in the mid ‘60s, began studying the impact
of drug abuse on families and the community, establishing the Friends
Social Research Center (SRC) as the organization’s primary research
site. Today, SRC conducts research into the demography and effects
of drug abuse on individuals, families, schools and the greater
community.
Beginning in 1971, Dr. John Krantz, one of Friends’ original Board
members, saw the need to treat drug abuse as a disease. His dream was to
provide treatment for adolescent substance abusers, a cause for which he
personally raised $167,000. But fulfilling this dream was expensive… an
additional $450,000 was needed. Friends secured federal funding to
support this care for youthful substance abusers, and the state of
Maryland became interested and offered support. This marked the
beginning of Epoch Counseling Center, now located throughout
metropolitan Baltimore.
Today, state and county governments continue to support this
essential program, and four Epoch Counseling Center sites are addressing
the evaluation, treatment and referral needs of drug, alcohol and
gambling addictions, prevention and rehabilitation.
The increasing number of requests for assistance with grants
administration from VA hospitals led to the establishment of a Friends
branch in Tarzana, California in 1975. The network of VA contracts and
contacts continues to grow. Principal Investigators in California
referred colleagues in Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas and across the
country. An additional California office was opened in Los
Angeles.
Over the years, Principal Investigators involved in intramural
studies at the National Institutes of Health began requesting Friends to
administer their grants, including many pharmaceutical studies.
And as the requests increased, so did Friends’ expertise,
professionalism and efficiency, with staff providing outstanding,
personalized service to scientists at a low overhead rate.
As a result, investigators were able to concentrate fully on their
research while Friends handled the administrative details.
This modus operandi, fine-tuned regularly, continues today. Many
investigators have been with Friends since the beginning; many new
investigators join each year. Nearly 200 studies, including
federal, state and private grants and pharmaceutical clinical trials are
currently being administered by Friends nationally as well as
internationally. |
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