UMass Chan professor leads college student mental health clinical trial

A psychiatry professor at UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester is leading a clinical trial studying the efficacy of a peer intervention program designed to help undergraduate and graduate students with serious mental health conditions.

The trial, which is taking place at Boston University and UMass Boston, has peer coaches meet with students on an approximately weekly basis over the course of an academic year. It’s funded through a $4.37-million grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, according to a Monday announcement from UMass Chan.

The professor leading the trial is Maryann Davis, who is the director of the Transitions to Adulthood Center for Research and the Implementation Science and Practice Advances Research Center at the school. 

The study initially launched in September 2020. Some 200 students are participating, according to UMass Chan.The study will run through 2024.