The American Psychiatric Association's 'Young Minds In Psychiatry' Awards Extend Their Global Reach

Main Category: Psychology / Psychiatry
Article Date: 22 May 2009 - 6:00 PDT

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The winners of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) prestigious "Young Minds in Psychiatry" awards were announced today at the APA's 162nd Annual Meeting in San Francisco, CA. For the first time, researchers from Nigeria and India have been selected to receive awards, recognizing the exceptional challenges faced by researchers in developing countries.

Dr. Abiodun Adewuya from Lagos State University College of Medicine, Nigeria was selected for his proposal to research the relationship between language dysfunction and cognitive functions and quality of life in patients with first episode schizophrenia. Previous research has mainly focused on those with a long-standing history of schizophrenia. Dr. Naveen Kumar from the Department of Psychiatry at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, India was selected for his proposal to research the predictors of metabolic complications during treatment of schizophrenia with antipsychotic agents in the community.

Also winning a 2008 Young Minds in Psychiatry Awards are Nuria Cruz, M.D., Spain for her proposal to examine the predictors of long-term polarity stability in first-episode bipolar patients; Johannes Hamann, M.D., Germany for his proposal to develop a communication skills training program for schizophrenia patients to enable them to engage in treatment decisions; Manpreet Singh, M.D., United States for her proposal to study the neurobiology of pediatric bipolar disorder using longitudinal multimodal neuroimaging; and Aristotle Voineskos, M.D., Canada for his proposal to examine the oligodendrocyte/myelin/white matter pathway to understand the mechanisms of impaired brain connectivity in schizophrenia.

"The APA is committed to encourgaging young psychiatrists to remain in research through the provision of this truly international Young Minds in Psychiatry awards program. We hope to inspire and foster innovation by recognizing promising international young psychiatrists and supporting their development. This years winners, from the United States, Canada, Germany, Spain, Nigeria and India, will each receive funding to start their careers in research and hopefully this will enable them to stay in the field long term," said Darrel A. Regier, M.D., M.P.H., Director of the Division of Research at the American Psychiatric Association, and Executive Director of the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education (APIRE).

The awards, which were established in 2002 to address the substantial shortage of psychiatric researchers worldwide, are supported by an educational grant from AstraZeneca (NYSE:AZN). The unrestricted career development awards offer promising young physicians the unique opportunity to pursue a career in research. This year there are six awards - two for US/Canadian candidates and four for international candidates, including two that specifically recognize the exceptional challenges faced by researchers in developing countries. Researchers were selected for the 'Young Minds in Psychiatry' awards by the importance and value of their research proposal in severe mental illnesses - either bipolar disorder or schizophrenia.

"AstraZeneca is proud to continue its support of the 'Young Minds in Psychiatry' awards, and we are very pleased that the greater international reach of the Young Minds awards has been maintained this year," said Dr Hans Eriksson, Medical Science Director, AstraZeneca. "We hope that these awards will encourage more researchers to become involved in psychiatric research, with the aim of finding new ways to treat these devastating conditions. We would like to join the APA in congratulating the winners, and we wish them luck in their research pursuits and future careers in psychiatry."

Biographical details about the winners, information on their research proposals and other background information are available here.

Source
American Psychiatric Association