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 Press Release  NARSAD took the occasion to also honor the author and filmmakers of "A Beautiful Mind." They received NARSAD's public service award for their best-selling book and Oscar-winning film that raised awareness about schizophrenia -- one of the most complex and devastating diseases that exist. The benefit gala is NARSAD's most important event of the year. Each year, the organization recognizes outstanding research achievement when it presents what many scientists consider the "Oscars" of the psychiatric research field: the Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research, the Nola Maddox Falcone Prize for Affective Disorders Research and the Ruane Prize for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research. Each of these prizes carries a cash award of $50,000. Research Prizes The recipient of this year's Lieber Prize was Francine Benes, MD, PhD, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She is also director of the Program in Structural and Molecular Neuroscience at McLean Hospital and director of the Harvard Brain Tissue Center at McLean, which collects and distributes postmortem brains from individuals with major psychoses, movement disorders and dementias. Dr. Benes has focused her research on how the brains of people with schizophrenia may be "miswired." She has made many important discoveries, zeroing in on the type of neurons in the brain that might be malfunctioning in people with schizophrenia and affective disorders. Another major focus of her work has been the onset of schizophrenia in late adolescence. She is investigating how normal brain development may actually trigger schizophrenia in vulnerable individuals. She and her colleagues are looking at the dopamine system, which seems to play a key role in schizophrenia, as this system kicks in with an enormous response to stress and emotional turmoil. The Lieber Award committee noted that "her studies helped to spawn a new era of neuropathology focused on specific circuits and neuroscience-based hypotheses of structural deficits in the brains of patients with schizophrenia." The Nola Maddox Falcone Prize was awarded to Paul Grof, MD, PhD, professor of psychiatry at the University of Ottawa and director of Research in Mood Disorders there. Dr. Grof has made outstanding contributions to the understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder. He has conducted pioneering studies revealing the unpredictable recurrent course of bipolar illness and the unique and complete response to lithium carbonate in a subgroup of patients. Using the unique strategy of focusing exclusively on such an illness-responsive subtype in a clinical population, Dr. Grof discovered a genetic vulnerability marker concerning a critical intracellular messenger involved in the regulation of neuronal excitability. Ronald Duman, PhD, professor of psychiatry and pharmacology, and director of the Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities at Yale University School of Medicine, also received the Nola Maddox Falcone Prize for Affective Disorders research. Dr. Duman has made significant contributions in defining the neurobiological mechanisms involved in the effects of stress and antidepressant medications. Dr. Duman's laboratory demonstrated that chronic anti-depressant treatment blocks or reverses the atrophy and cell loss that is caused by stress and believed to contribute to the pathophysiology of depression. In discussing his research, Dr. Duman characterized NARSAD as "an amazing organization." He added that the NARSAD Young Investigator and Distinguished Investigator awards he received were extremely important in his research career. "At the time, my ideas were too novel to be funded by the federal government," he said. "The funding provided by NARSAD is exactly what is needed for young investigators to continue to do cutting-edge research." The Ruane Prize for Outstanding Research in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry went to Judith L. Rapoport, MD, chief of the Child Psychiatry Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Rapoport became nationally known after the publication of her book, The Boy Who Couldn't Stop Washing, which chronicled the suffering of patients with obsessive- compulsive disorder. According to the Ruane Prize selection committee, Dr. Rapoport's research "emerged during an era when it was almost inconceivable to think of children as having a psychiatric disorder. She pioneered the use of medication to help children with attention deficit disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and, most recently, with schizophrenia." Dr. Rapaport has made critical contributions in the study of biological factors in childhood brain disorders. She was the first to investigate atypical antipsychotic medication in children with schizophrenia and demonstrated that the brain development of these children is characterized by dynamic abnormalities. She continues to study the neurobiology of childhood-onset schizophrenia through cytogenetic and candidate gene studies. NARSAD's Public Service Awards NARSAD chose the filmmakers of "A Beautiful Mind" to receive its public service award for crafting a movie that not only raised awareness about schizophrenia, but opened a dialogue about an illness that throughout history has been shrouded in mystery and fear. Sylvia Nasar, author of the best-selling book on which the film is based, was also honored. Ms. Nasar, along with Oscar-winning screenplay writer Akiva Goldsman, were at the gala to accept their awards. "It was a wonderful honor, and I was thrilled to be there" said Goldsman. "NARSAD is an extraordinary organization, and it's always a great pleasure to be able to show my support." The "Beautiful Mind" filmmaking team of Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, who each picked up Oscars for Best Picture (Ron Howard for Best Director, too), were not able to receive NARSAD's award in person, but together videotaped a heartfelt message, thanking NARSAD for the recognition. In the video, Ron Howard also provided a rare glimpse into how making the movie affected him personally, helping him come to terms with the fact that his own family "has not been exempt from having to deal with the issue of mental illness." Research Partners Awards This year, for the first time, NARSAD also paid tribute to eleven individuals or families who have been instrumental in making its Research Partners program a success. The program brings together the donor and the scientist, both of whom are highly motivated to find better treatments for severe psychiatric illnesses. Research Partners designate a major gift to a specific NARSAD scientist conducting a study in their area of interest. In turn, the investigator's grant is named in their honor or as a memorial tribute. The program has grown impressively over the years -- funding more than 400 grants since its inception. All proceeds from the gala dinner benefited NARSAD, the largest not-for-profit, donor supported organization raising and distributing funds for psychiatric research worldwide. |
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