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Great Neck, NY, Nov. 5, 2009 — NARSAD, the world’s leading charity dedicated to mental health research, announced today that it has appointed Benita F. Shobe as president and chief executive officer. With more than 25 years of experience leading major philanthropic fundraising initiatives, she will lead NARSAD’s $500 million “Campaign for the Next Decade of Brain and Behavior Research,” to be launched January 2010. Ms. Shobe begins her position immediately. 

“The Board is captivated by Benita’s intelligence, passion, warmth and outstanding record of leadership. Her values align remarkably with those of NARSAD’s,” said Stephen A. Lieber, chairman of NARSAD’s Board of Directors. “We are excited that she will be leading our long-awaited major fundraising campaign. She shares the conviction held throughout the Scientific Council and the Board that the next decade will be a decade of breakthroughs. You’ll soon learn that one of Benita’s favorite words is ‘cures.’” 

Since NARSAD’s inception in 1986, the organization has raised more than $256 million toward research on schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and childhood mental illnesses like autism and ADHD.

The “Campaign for the Decade of Brain and Behavior Research” aims to double NARSAD’s fundraising accomplishments since that time. The $500 million campaign will take place over 10 years, where its first goal will be to increase the funding amount of grants given to early-career scientists. Young Investigator grant amounts will be doubled over the next five years. The campaign’s second goal will be to increase the number of grants given across each of NARSAD’s major funding categories by 10 percent:

• The Young Investigator Award is designed to attract talented young scientists to the field of psychiatric and neuroscience research. Recipients, who are post-doctoral fellows, assistant professors and other scientists at the beginning their careers, receive one- or two-year grants of up to $30,000 per year to launch or advance their independent research programs.

• The Independent Investigator Award provides ongoing support to mid-level investigators, such as associate professors, who have successfully established independent research programs but not yet achieved sustained funding. Recipients receive a two-year grant totaling $50,000 per year.
   
  
• The Distinguished Investigator Award is a dedicated program to fund senior scientists, typically full professors, who are on the threshold of a breakthrough or wish to pursue a novel research idea. Recipients receive one-year grants of $100,000.

Finally, NARSAD aims to increase its endowment to provide funding support in the event of further economic adversities such as encountered over the last year.

The campaign was formally announced during NARSAD’s 22nd Annual Awards Dinner in New York City by Scientific Council President and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital President and CEO Herbert Pardes, M.D., a former head of the U.S. government-funded National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

During his announcement, Dr. Pardes said, “Just twenty years ago, the President of the United States, George Bush, Sr., made a proclamation that the next decade would be the Decade of the Brain.  Over that decade and the decade that we are now finishing, NARSAD has achieved great growth to become the largest philanthropic funder of brain and behavior research. Important advances were made in key areas such as genetics, imaging, electrophysiology and stem cell analysis, and NARSAD established itself as second only to the NIMH as the premier source of research grant funding in its field.”  

As former Senior Vice President of Development and Field Operations for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International (JDRF), Ms. Shobe managed the operations of its chapters across the nation, leading the organization's revenue growth from $109 million in 2000 to $224 million in 2008. She was directly responsible for managing $169.9 million. 

Ms. Shobe joined JDRF in 2000 as the National Director of Field Operations, with responsibility for the development and management of its systems and procedures for all chapters, including budgeting, performance management, awards and recognition, and staff and volunteer development. She oversaw the creation of the JDRF Executive Director Council and developed other processes that have led to heightened communication and revenue growth. From mid-2003 to 2009, she managed the Walk to Cure Diabetes, Special Events and Individual Giving programs, re-engineering all programs to ensure accelerated growth and expansions to record heights.

Before joining JDRF, Ms. Shobe had more than 20 years of progressively responsible positions with respected national charities including the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society as its Vice President for Chapter Development and the Northern California Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as its executive director, among other field-based management and fund-raising positions. 

A graduate of the University of Louisville with a B.S. in Mathematics, Ms. Shobe resides in Manhattan.  

About NARSAD
NARSAD (www.narsad.org) is the world’s leading charity dedicated to funding research on mental illness, including , schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, autism, and anxiety, such as post-traumatic stress and obsessive compulsive disorders. For 23 years, NARSAD has funded more than $256 million in grants to nearly 3,000 scientists worldwide who are studying every aspect of brain and behavior disorders that have prevented people from living healthy, productive lives. Formerly known as the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, NARSAD now supports work on all major mental illnesses.

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