II. History.

The Texas Research Institute of Mental Sciences (TRIMS) was created by the 55th Legislature in 1957. Known originally as the Houston State Psychiatric Institute, its basic mission was to act as the primary research and training arm of the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation (TDMHMR). William P. Lhamon, M.D., served as the first director of the original Institute, which was composed of a group of scientists and teachers representing psychiatry and the related fields of psychology, biochemistry, sociology, and biophysics. Operating as a pilot project sponsored by Baylor College of Medicine and the Texas Medical Center, the group moved in 1961 from temporary housing on Baldwin . Street to the Texas Medical Center. In 1967, the Institute acquired its present name. At this time, the original research and training mission was altered significantly as TRIMS became a major service provider for patient care. Joseph C. Schoolar, Ph.D., M.D., became Director in 1972, serving until the Institute closed in 1985.

Research activities at TRIMS were determined by examining the needs of the current patient population of TDMHMR and the community needs of the State of Texas. Areas in which research was conducted included schizophrenia and alcohol and substance abuse, which were at that time the most frequent primary diagnoses in the patient population. In addition, research was conducted in such diverse areas as neuropsychopharmacology, gerontology, neuropsychology, child development, and the behavioral sciences.

TRIMS maintained affiliations with Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas system at Houston, offering training programs in psychiatry and clinical and experimental psychology. In addition, programs were offered in social work, public health, psychiatric nursing, occupational therapy, and pastoral counseling. TRIMS conducted continuing medical education programs and served as the governing agent for these programs throughout the TDMHMR system. An annual symposium was held at TRIMS on subjects of current interest, including congenital mental retardation, drug dependence, adolescent psychiatry, aging, and violence. The Clinical Research Division of TRIMS provided treatment for more than 7,000 patients a year, both at the inpatient unit at Center Pavilion Hospital and at numerous outpatient clinics.

Funding for TRIMS was discontinued by the Texas Legislature in the spring of 1985, and the Institute closed in August of that year. Research and training functions were transferred to the Mental Science Institute of the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, which took over the TRIMS building in the Texas Medical Center. Patient care became the joint responsibility of the University of Texas system and the Harris County Mental Health and Mental Retardation agency, and plans were drawn to construct a jointly-administered hospital for these patients, to open in 1987.