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NEW YORK CITY—The
Brain & Behavior Research Foundation celebrated 30 years of
awarding research grants, honored its
Scientific Council, and announced the winners of its annual
Klerman & Freedman Prizes, recognizing exceptional clinical and
basic research by scientists who have been supported by Young
Investigator Grants. The grants
enable early career scientists to pursue
innovative ideas in neurobiological and psychosocial research,
garner pilot data and generate “proof” of concept for the early
detection, treatment, prevention and cure of mental illnesses.
In recognition of its 30th
anniversary, the Foundation published Pathways to the Future:
Thoughts and Insights from the Foundation Outstanding
Achievement Prizewinners, a compilation of short statements
on the current state and future prospects of brain and behavior
research. Many of the contributors are members of the
Foundation’s all-volunteer Scientific Council,
comprised of 168 leading experts across disciplines in brain and
behavior research, including two Nobel Prize winners;
four former directors and the current director of the National
Institute of Mental Health; four recipients of the National
Medal of Science; 13 members of the National Academy of
Sciences; 26 Chairs of Psychiatry and Neuroscience Departments
at leading colleges and universities around the world; and 55
members of the National Academy of Medicine. A robust discussion
of the topic opened the evening’s festivities led by
Herbert Pardes, M.D.
President of the Foundation’s Scientific Council, Executive Vice
Chairman of the Board of Trustees, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital
and Professor Psychiatry, Columbia & Weill Cornell.
“There still remains
much to be learned, but brain and behavior research has made
enormous strides since the Foundation’s inception. In fact,
recent technological advances have made possible experiments
that would have seemed like science fiction 30 years ago,” says
Jeffrey Borenstein, MD, president and CEO of the Brain &
Behavior Research Foundation. “The Foundation’s impact is only
possible through the collaboration between scientists and our
generous donors who understand that investing in brain and
behavior research will continue to bring better treatment and,
ultimately, cures and methods of prevention.”
The Foundation is the
top non-governmental funder of research grants for the early
detection, treatment, prevention and cure of mental illness,
which affects one in five people; 100 percent of every dollar
raised for research—all from private donations—goes to support
research grants.
Six
young scientists received recognition for their remarkable work
in brain and behavior research with the awarding of the Klerman
& Freedman prizes, named for Gerald Klerman, M.D. and
Daniel Freedman, M.D., neuropsychiatry pioneers who played
seminal roles as researchers, teachers, physicians and
administrators. The annual prizes recognize young researchers
whose work in child and adolescent depression, anxiety, unipolar
and bipolar depression, and schizophrenia further advance the
quest to identify the biological roots of mental illness,
develop new diagnostic tools, more effective and targeted
treatments, and pave the way toward prevention.
“The
Klerman and Freedman Prizes recognize outstanding talent across
the field of neuropsychiatry,” noted Dr. Pardes. “The
Foundation’s support is increasingly important during this
downturn in funding for research, especially for young
scientists. This early career recognition often
serves as a precursor to further accomplishments, awards and
prizes,” he adds, noting that NARSAD Young Investigator Grantees
receive an average of 11 to 19 times the original grant amount
in subsequent funding.
The 2017 Klerman Prize for Exceptional Clinical
Research was awarded to Jennifer C. Felger, Ph.D., MSCR,
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral
Science, and Laboratory Director of the Emory Behavioral
Immunology Program at Emory University School of Medicine, and
an Associate Member of the Winship Cancer Institute at Emory
University.
Dr. Felger is being honored for her work on
The Neurocircuitry of Inflammation-Induced Anhedonia in
Depression, which combines basic and clinical approaches to
understand how inflammation affects neurotransmitter systems and
neurocircuits in the brain to affect behavior in patients with
major depression or medical illnesses such as cancer.
“The Young Investigator award was
an invaluable opportunity that allowed me to have my first
independent funding and has really helped to launch my research
program,” she says. “With this award, I was able to determine
the impact of inflammation on reward circuitry in patients with
depression. The award was critical to the overall goal of my
work to develop better treatments for patients with depression
and high inflammation, who are often resistant to standard
antidepressant therapies.”
The 2017 Freedman Prize for
Exceptional Basic Research was awarded to Ilana B. Witten,
Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychology at the Neuroscience
Institute at Princeton University, whose lab works on
interrogating the neural circuitry that supports reward learning
and decision making. Dr. Witten’s work, including her Young
Investigator grant Dopamine, Working Memory, and
Schizophrenia: Dissecting Spatiotemporal Dynamics, focused
on the role of dopamine in cognition.
“My Young Investigator Grant
arrived at a critical juncture in my career, just as I was
establishing my own independent research program,” she says.
“This funding gave me the resources that I needed to take risks
and explore new research directions. Thanks in part to the
support from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation, I have
since been successful in securing funds from the NIH and other
foundations to support my research.”
Klerman Prize honorable mentions were awarded to
Danai Dima, Ph.D., a Lecturer in Cognitive Neuroscience
in the Department of Psychology at City, University of London,
and a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Psychiatry,
Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, and to
Carolyn Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., an Assistant Professor of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and Director of the
Translational Therapeutics Lab at Stanford University, and a
Consult-Liaison Psychiatrist at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs
Health Care System.
Freedman Prize honorable mentions were awarded to
Marcelo de Oliveira Dietrich, M.D., Ph.D., an Assistant
Professor in Comparative Medicine and Neuroscience at the Yale
School of Medicine, and to Elise B. Robinson, Sc.D., M.P.H.,
an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan
School of Public Health and Stanley Center for Psychiatric
Research at the Broad Institute.
For more
detailed information on the Klerman and Freedman prize winners
and their research, visit
https://www.bbrfoundation.org/grants-prizes/klerman-freedman-prizes.
About the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
For the past 30 years
the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation has been committed to
alleviating the suffering of mental illness by awarding grants
that lead to advances and breakthroughs in scientific research.
The Foundation funds the most innovative ideas in neuroscience
and psychiatry to better understand the causes and develop new
ways to treat brain and behavior disorders. These disorders
include depression, bipolar disorder,
schizophrenia, autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder,
anxiety, borderline personality disorder, obsessive-compulsive
disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Since 1987, the
Foundation has awarded more than $365 million to fund more than
5,000 grants to more than 4,000 leading scientists around the
world. This has led to over $3.5 billion in additional funding
for these scientists. The Foundation is also
dedicated to educating the public about mental health and the
importance of research, including the impact that new
discoveries have on improving the lives of those with mental
illness, which will ultimately enable people to live full, happy
and productive lives. For more information, visit
www.bbrfoundation.org. |