NARSAD Honors Groundbreaking Psychiatric Researchers

Each year at its Gala Awards Dinner, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) awards a handful of psychiatric scientists who have made outstanding lifetime achievements relevant to schizophrenia and the depressions.

The researchers awarded at this year’s Annual Gala Awards Dinner, which was held in New York City on October 17, were Ross Baldessarini, M.D., of Harvard University; Leon Eisenberg, M.D., of Harvard University; Robert M.A. Hirschfeld, M.D., of the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston; Robin Murray, M.D., D.Sc., of the Institute of Psychiatry in London, England; Solomon Snyder, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University; and Leonardo Tondo, M.D., of Harvard University.

Baldessarini, Hirschfeld, and Tondo received the Nola Maddox Falcone Prize for Affective Disorders Research. Baldessarini and Tondo have provided unique insights into bipolar illness and the ability of lithium to improve and prevent manic-depressive episodes and to decrease suicidality. Hirschfeld is an innovative leader in the early identification and treatment of bipolar illness.

Eisenberg received the Ruane Prize for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research. He has been a leader in child psychiatry for more than 40 years through his work in pharmacological trials, research, teaching, and social policy and for his theories of autism and social medicine.

Murray received the Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research for providing fundamental insights into the importance of early brain development in schizophrenia. He has also made landmark contributions to understanding schizophrenia risk factors.

Snyder was awarded the Dr. Patricia S. Goldman-Rakic Memorial Prize for Cognitive Neuroscience. During the 1960s and 1970s, Snyder and his team identified the brain’s dopamine and opiate receptors and then went on to define the role of several endorphins as neurotransmitters. ▪