<qa>  What was the first trial of schizophrenic women?We have been conducting clinical trials in patients with schizophrenia using estrogen as a treatment for many years, and have an international reputation for work in this area. Initially, we conducted an open clinical trial with acutely ill schizophrenic women and added 0.02mg of oral estradiol to the antipsychotic drug treatment of 11 women. Their response was compared to seven women who received antipsychotic drugs alone. The estrogen adjunct group showed dramatic earlier improvement, with significant reduction in positive psychotic symptoms by day 3 of treatment. This suggests that estradiol may act as a catalyst for treatment and could prove to be an important adjunctive treatment in the therapy of schizophrenia. Subsequent to this early pilot study, we conducted a double blind placebo controlled 3-arm study of 100mcg, 50mcg estradiol and placebo transdermal adjunctive patches. Published in Schizophrenia Research2001, our results showed that the 100mcg estradiol adjunct afforded the best outcomes. 