Great Neck, N.Y.—More than 340 patrons gathered in the search for cures to mental illness this past Friday evening on October 30, while celebrating the creation of job opportunities for people with disabilities at NARSAD’s  22^nd annual Awards Dinner at the Pierre. The event, which raised $1 million, was highlighted by the presentation of the organization’s first-ever “Productive Lives” award to Randy Lewis, senior vice president of logistics for Walgreens, and award presentations to eight celebrated researchers for their lifetime accomplishments in brain and behavior research. Mr. Lewis was honored for his commitment to providing an inclusive workplace for people of all abilities, including those with mental illness.

Presenting the award to Mr. Lewis was Senator Pete Domenici of New Mexico, who has been instrumental in helping pass one of the most significant mental-health bills in U.S. history—The Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008. NARSAD Scientific Council president Herbert Pardes, M.D., president and CEO of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, made the presentations to the scientists. Today show contributor Gail Saltz, MD, associate professor of psychiatry at
New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Weill-Cornell School of Medicine, emceed the event.

Researchers and families came together to support NARSAD, which raises funds to provide grants to researchers seeking new insight into causes and possible treatments for mental illnesses that include schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders such as PTSD, and childhood disorders like autism.

In addition to the evening’s honorees and presenters, the evening’s attendees included: NARSAD Chairman Stephen A. Lieber; the organization’s President Emeritus Constance C. Lieber; Dean of the Columbia University Medical Center Lee Goldman, M.D.; Nobel Prize laureates Eric Kandel, M.D., of Columbia University, and Paul Greengard, Ph.D., of Rockefeller University, George Handran, trustee of the Sidney R. Baer Jr. Foundation; NARSAD Board Member Lynnda Maria Davis with husband Steven Davis, Board Chairman of Bob Evans Farms, Inc., and Milton and Tamar Maltz.

Following is the complete list of the eight NARSAD 2009 prize winners selected by NARSAD’s 116-member Scientific Council, a volunteer body of leading experts in mental health research (additional information is available on the NARSAD Web site):

• E. Jane Costello, Ph.D., and Adrian C. Angold, M.D., Duke University

For Contributions to Understanding the Development of
Mental Health Problems:

Psychiatric Disorders Part of Human Condition

Psychological and Behavioral Disorders Can Begin By Age Two

Hormonal Changes, Low Birthweight Linked to Depression in
 Teen Girls

• Brenda Milner, CC., Ph.D., McGill University

Goldman-Rakic Prize for Outstanding Achievement in
Cognitive Neuroscience
 

Founder of Cognitive Neuroscience—
Bringing Together Brain & Behavior

“One of the Most Important Neuroscientists That Has Ever Lived”

For Contributions to Understanding How Gender & Development Influence Brain Function in Health & Disease

• Eric Nestler, M.D., Ph.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine

For Contributions to Discovering How Genes & Environment Interact to Cause Depression

Leading to New Treatments and Possibly Preventing Relapse

• Lewis Judd, M.D., University of California,
  San Diego

For Contributions to Understanding Bipolar Disorder:

Providing a New View: Life Long Impairment vs.
 Acute Isolated Episodes,

Dominated by More Depression Than Mania

New Model of Treatment: People and Clinicians Monitor Moods

In addition, the following prize for outstanding work in schizophrenia by a “young investigator” will be presented to: