NARSAD Awards Groundbreaking Research
NARSAD: The Mental Health Research Association (previously known as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression) is one of the powerful private engines behind psychiatric research in the United States. For two decades NARSAD has sought private donations for psychiatric research, given research grants worth $199 million to more than 2,000 scientists, and bestowed annual awards on investigators who have made outstanding contributions to psychiatric science. Here are the winners of NARSAD's 2006 awards:
The Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research was presented to Jeffrey Lieberman, M.D., chair of psychiatry at Columbia University, for adding to the understanding of the development and progression of schizophrenia and for advancing knowledge about the mechanisms and effectiveness of antipsychotic drugs. For example, through a series of studies, he focused on elucidating the psychobiology of individuals experiencing their first episode of psychosis and showed that they experience progressive changes in the structure of their brains. | |||||
The Falcone Prize for Affective Disorders Research went to Lori Altshuler, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles, for enhancing the understanding and treatment of individuals with severe mood disorders, especially bipolar disorder and recurring depression. Using brain imaging, she uncovered mechanisms involved in these disorders that are localized in the temporal lobe, especially the amygdala, and conducted studies on the effects of mood disorders on endocrine and reproductive function. | |||||
The Ruane Prize for Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatric Research was shared by David Brent, M.D., chair of suicide studies at the University of Pittsburgh, and David Shaffer, M.D., a professor of child psychiatry at Columbia University, for their innovative inquiries into youth depression and suicide. | |||||
The Goldman-Rakic Prize for Cognitive Neuroscience was given to Joaquin Fuster, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at Los Angeles, for his pioneering discoveries about the brain's cerebral cortex, especially its cognitive functions. For example, Fuster studied attention and memory and the integration of information across different sensory modalities, which can be critically altered in mental illness. | |||||
The Sidney R. Baer Jr. Prize went to Lorna Role, Ph.D., a professor of anatomy and cell biology at Columbia University, for her research on the combined effects of candidate schizophrenia genes. | |||||
Four of the six NARSAD awardees were present at the awards ceremony in New York City this past October. From left: Jeffrey Lieberman, M.D., Joaquin Fuster, M.D., Ph.D., Lorna Role, Ph.D., and David Shaffer, M.D.
Credit: Charles Manley
