APA Awards Achievements in Mental Health Field

Psychiatrists, authors, politicians, and mental health advocates dedicated to improving life for people with mental illness were honored at APA's 2015 annual meeting in Toronto in May.

These are the honorees and the awards they received, as listed in the program book of APA's 59th Convocation of Distinguished Fellows:

William C. Menninger Memorial Convocation Lecture:Nora D. Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Special Presidential Commendations:Dinesh Bhugra, M.D., professor of mental health and diversity at the Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London and president of the World Psychiatric Association; Joe Pantoliano, a filmmaker, actor, director, and a mental health advocate; Chester M. Pierce, M.D., professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and professor emeritus of education at Harvard University; Lori E. Raney, M.D., the chair of APA’s Work Group on Integrated Care, private practitioner, and owner of Collaborative Care Consulting; Susan and Richard Selke, who worked with Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America to create the Clay Hunt Suicide Prevention for American Veterans Act being signed into law in February 2015; and Howard and Jean Somers, who after the suicide of their son, California Air National Guard Sergeant Daniel Somers, dedicated themselves to improving the mental health care provided by the Veterans Administration.

Distinguished Service Award: Jack W. Bonner III, M.D., emeritus professor of clinical neuropsychiatry and behavioral science at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine-Greenville; Joseph T. English, M.D., theSidney E. Frank Professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and director of the Sidney Frank and Haresh Grant Programs at New York Medical College; Dilip V. Jeste, M.D., the Estelle and Edgar Levi Chair in Aging, distinguished professor of psychiatry and neurosciences, and director of the Sam Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging at the University of California, San Diego; Wayne Katon, M.D., professor and chief of psychiatric services and director of the Division of Health Services and Psychiatric Epidemiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine; and Helen S. Mayberg, M.D., a professor of psychiatry, neurology, and radiology and the Dorothy Fuqua Chair in Psychiatric Neuroimaging and Therapeutics at Emory University.

Organizational Distinguished Service Award:Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine, a professional membership organization representing psychiatrists dedicated to the advancement of medical science, education, and health care for people with comorbid psychiatric and general medical conditions.

APA Human Rights Award: Chester M. Pierce, M.D., professor emeritus of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, professor emeritus of education at Harvard University, and senior psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital.

APA Blanche F. Ittleson Award for Research in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:James T. McCracken, M.D., professor and director of child psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles Semel Institute.

APF/Kempf Fund Award for Research Development in Psychobiological Psychiatry:Savita Bhakta, M.D., a postdoctoral fellow at the Veterans Administration San Diego Healthcare System/UCSD School of Medicine; and Neal Swerdlow, M.D., Ph.D., professor, vice chair, and director of the research residency track at the University of California, San Diego Department of Psychiatry.

APA/Lilly Resident Research Award:Kara S. Bagot, M.D., Solnit Integrated Child, Adolescent, and Adult Psychiatry Fellow at Yale School of Medicine Child Study Center; and Carrie Holmberg, M.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Karl Diesseroth, M.D., Ph.D., at Stanford University.

APF Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for a Distinguished Career in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry:James F. Leckman, M.D., Ph.D., Neison Harris Professor of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatry, Pediatrics, and Psychology at Yale University.

APF Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for Prevention:Charles H. Zeanah, Jr., M.D., Mary Peters Sellars-Polchow Chair in Psychiatry, professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, and vice chair for child and adolescent psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Tulane University.

APF Isaac Ray Award:Marvin S. Swartz, M.D., professor and head of the Division of Social and Community Psychiatry and director of behavioral health for the Duke University Health System.

APF Jack Weinberg Memorial Award for Geriatric Psychiatry:Robert G. Robinson, M.D., professor of psychiatry at the University of Iowa.

APA Administrative Psychiatry Award:Herbert Pardes, M.D., executive vice chair of the New York-Presbyterian Hospital Board of Trustees and a past president of APA.

APA Award for Research: Madhukar Trivedi, M.D., professor of psychiatry, chief of the Division of Mood Disorders, and director of the Comprehensive Center for Depression at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

APF Simon Bolivar Award:Carlos A. Zarate, Jr., M.D., chief of the Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch of the Section on Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood and Anxiety Disorders, Division of Intramural Research Programs at the National Institute of Mental Health.

APF Solomon Carter Award:Dorothy Roberts, J.D., the George A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

APF Alexander Gralnick, M.D., Award for Research in Schizophrenia: Philip D. Harvey, Ph.D., Leonard M. Miller Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Division of Psychology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine and senior health scientist at the research service of the Bruce W. Carter Veterans Administration Medical Center in Miami.

APF Judd Marmor Award:Carolyn B. Robinowitz, M.D., special assistant to the executive vice president and dean of the George Washington University School of Medicine and a former APA president.

APA Adolf Meyer Award:Karl Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D., D.H. Chen Professor in the bioengineering and psychiatry departments at Stanford University.

APF David A. Mrazek, M.D., Memorial Award:James L. Kennedy, M.D., director of the Neuroscience Research Department, section head of the Psychiatric Neurogenetics Lab, and head of the Tanenbaum Centre for Pharmacogenetics at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health at the University of Toronto.

APA Award for Patient Advocacy:Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, former U.S. representative for Rhode Island's 1st congressional district and a mental health advocate, author, and chief sponsor of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act.

APF Oskar Pfister Award:Allan M. Josephson, M.D., professor and chief of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry of the University of Louisville School of Medicine.

APF Kun-Po Soo Award:Russell Lim, M.D., health sciences clinical professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Davis.

APF Alexandra Symonds Award:Carol A. Bernstein, M.D., associate professor of psychiatry, vice chair for education in psychiatry, and director of residency training in psychiatry at New York University School of Medicine and a former APA president.

APF George Tarjan Award: Marie-Claude Rigaud, M.D., M.P.H., who has devoted much of her effort and funding to developing the Rebati Sante Mentale, an organization established to build the capacity of mental health services in Haiti.

APA Vestermark Psychiatry Educator Award:Geraldine S. Fox, M.D., professor of clinical psychiatry, assistant dean for graduate medical education, and director of medical student education in psychiatry at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine.

APF/AACDP Research Mentorship Award:Harold Pincus, M.D., professor and vice chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, director of quality and outcomes research at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and co-director of Columbia’s Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research.

APA Hartford-Jeste Award for Future Leaders in Geriatric Psychiatry:Michelle Conroy, M.D., assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine and the associate director of the Yale Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship.

APF Frank J. Menolascino Award for Psychiatric Services for Persons With Intellectual Development Disorders and Developmental Disabilities: Steven L. Thornton, M.D., faculty member of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine at the University of Illinois College of Medicine.

APF Psychiatric Research Fellowship Award:Benjamin Kelmendi, M.D., a PGY-4 chief resident in the neuroscience research track at Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry; and Silvia Bernardi, M.D., a post doctoral residency fellow in psychiatry at Columbia University.

APF Jeanne Spurlock, M.D., Minority Fellowship Achievement Award: Sheryl Kataoka, M.D., M.S.H.S., is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine and assistant professor in residence at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.

Assembly Profile of Courage: Marie-Claude Rigaud, M.D., M.P.H., who has devoted much of her effort to funding and developing the Rebati Sante Mentale, an organization established to build the capacity of mental health services in Haiti.

Assembly Ron Shellow Award:William P. Ulwelling, M.D., M.P.H., an APA distinguished life fellow who has represented New Mexico in the APA Assembly for many years.

Assembly William Sorum Award:Matthew R. Kruse, M.D., a PGY-4 psychiatry resident at the University of Minnesota.

Bruno Lima Award:Charles P. Ciolino, M.D., president of the New Jersey Psychiatric Association who worked closely during disaster relief efforts with victims of both Hurricane Sandy and the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Newtown, Conn.; and Jagannathan Srinivasaraghavan, M.D., professor emeritus of psychiatry at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, for his global disaster relief efforts. ■