NARSAD to honor five young scientists at Annual Klerman and Freedman Awards event

July 30 NARSAD will honor five outstanding researchers at the Annual Klerman and Freedman Awards event in New York City.

“The work of these impressive young scientists emphasizes the importance of funding cutting-edge research”

These Young Investigators are among the more than 3,000 scientists NARSAD has supported with funding for brain and behavior research. Since 1987 NARSAD has awarded more than $257 million in 3,790 grants to scientists worldwide. NARSAD is dedicated to finding the causes, improving treatments and preventing the psychiatric illnesses that affect one-in-four people in the United States.

"The work of these impressive young scientists emphasizes the importance of funding cutting-edge research," said Benita Shobe, NARSAD President and CEO. "NARSAD is proud to support research leading to breakthroughs that transform the lives of people living with brain and behavior disorders."

The NARSAD Klerman and Freedman Awards are given in honor of Drs. Gerald L. Klerman and Daniel X. Freedman whose legacies as researchers, teachers, physicians and administrators indelibly influenced neuropsychiatry and continue to inspire scientists today.

The Young Investigators being honored are:

2010 KLERMAN AWARDS

Mani N. Pavuluri, M.D., Ph.D., 2006 NARSAD Young Investigator and Director of Pediatric Mood Disorders at the University of Illinois at Chicago, used sophisticated brain imaging technology (functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)) to identify and map a circuit in the brain that is impaired in pediatric bipolar disorder. She was able to locate the critical interface of affective and cognitive circuitry in the brain where thinking is affected by emotions, and identified greater activation of the amygdala in children with bipolar disorder.

Daniel P. Dickstein, M.D., 2006 NARSAD Young Investigator and Director of the Pediatric Mood, Imaging and Neurodevelopment Program (PediMIND) at Bradley Hospital/Brown University, conducted research to identify the neurological basis that underlies bipolar disorder in children. In examining so-called reversal learning, the ability to flexibly adapt a response to a change in conditions when the initial response is no longer correct, his findings revealed neural alterations in children with bipolar disorder.

2010 FREEDMAN AWARD

David A. Baker, Ph.D., 2006 NARSAD Young Investigator of Marquette University, studied the effects of precursor drug N-acetylcysteine on improving schizophrenia-related symptoms such as working memory and social interaction deficits. His preclinical findings, supported by clinical trials, show N-acetylcysteine leads to significant improvement in symptoms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorders.

2010 FREEDMAN AWARD HONORABLE MENTIONS

Vincent P. Ferrera, Ph.D., 2006 NARSAD Young Investigator of Columbia University, studied ways the brain evaluates risk and reward in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex region of the brain - a process that is believed to be disrupted in patients with schizophrenia and depression.

Benjamin D. Philphot, Ph.D., NARSAD 2006 Young Investigator of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, discovered that the molecular composition of receptors shapes memory formation and the wiring between brain cells. These studies will help guide therapeutic treatments of schizophrenia and other affective disorders.