President’s Blog

President’s Letter
William A. Carlezon, Ph.D.
January 1, 2025

Dear Colleagues,

We officially live in interesting times.  Many of us are planning for continencies we never thought possible.  We don’t have answers to important questions.  Now more ever, we need to band together to find the things that link us together and provide strength and resilience.  I want to assure you that, in 2025, the ACNP will be a source of strength for our members and the broader scientific community, as we continue without interruption our mission of advancing clinical care, research, and education in ways that reduce stigma and improve mental health outcomes.

As described briefly in the Business Meeting, I have eight main goals for 2025—with the first two being recent, emergent additions.

Goal 1 is to update and formalize ACNP’s plan to maintain full activities in the event of revenue disruption.  It is important to note that ACNP has always had a plan to set aside reserves that sustain its activities in the event of crisis, so what is new here is that we will be formalizing the timeframe and preparing for a broader range of possibilities.  Fortunately, the combination of careful stewardship by a long list of Treasurers (currently David Rubinow) and the savvy business instincts of ACNP/Parthenon leadership (Sarah Timm and her team) already has the organization in a very strong position.

Goal 2 is to promote efforts at an organizational and individual level to advocate for NIH.  I believe that this goal reflects what our country’s NIH Directors would ask of us if they were able.  The NIH Directors who come to ACNP each year have worked tirelessly to devise strategies to improve human health, inform the membership of priorities, and get grant support to deserving investigators.  ACNP comprises committees (including the Liaison Committee co-chaired in 2025 by Sahib Khalsa and Melissa Brotman) as well as individual voices that are well-positioned to help us determine how to most effectively advocate for a strong NIH.  The need to advocate for NIH has transitioned from being something that someone else worries about to a process in which we must all become involved.

Goal 3 is to address the growing size of the annual meeting to ensure that ACNP’s most precious attributes are maintained.  Membership surveys tell us that attendees place great value on the small size of the meeting, primarily because that brings opportunities to participate and network with thought leaders.  The ACNP membership has been watching the meeting-size issue take shape over the past few years, but it reached a crescendo this year when for the first time ever we reached our cap (2000 attendees).  Members who did not make their personal invitations early in the process found themselves—often to their great surprise—unable to invite colleagues or trainees.  The 2000-attendee threshold has always been critical, because exceeding it will make it necessary to use multiple hotels, hold program events at off-site convention centers, and travel on shuttle buses.  Many members worry that this type of growth will result in the loss of things that represent the very essence of the ACNP Annual Meeting and differentiate it from others.  Managing this issue will be a priority in 2025, but in some ways more information is needed, as external forces may exert downward pressure on the size of the annual meeting.  At minimum, the ACNP will make the existence of the current cap, and the potential consequences of not making invitations soon after the process opens, clearer to our membership in advance.  In parallel, we will be working closely with the Membership Committee (co-chaired in 2025 by Olu Ajilore and Aysenil Belger) in planning for the future and ensuring that we minimize the likelihood of an over-correction.

Goal 4 is to understand the factors that motivate established investigators to attend the annual meeting.  The ACNP has been hugely successful in bringing more early-career investigators to the annual meeting.  In this respect, the annual meeting is virtually unrecognizable when compared with the first time I attended, in 1996, as an invited trainee.  Many of today’s invited attendees tell us that they especially value the opportunity to present their work and network with peers as well as thought leaders who often represent their scientific heroes.  It can be tempting to feel like these thought leaders are at the annual meeting for us, to teach and be ever-gracious recipients of networking efforts.  However, we mustn’t forget that they also come to learn, and to bring home new ideas that keep their programs on the cutting-edge.  I have been seeing some of my contemporaries and scientific heroes make a conscious choice to come to ACNP less frequently.  Since the presence of established investigators is an essential part of what is so unique and special about ACNP, we need to better understand the factors that contribute to their decision to come to the annual meeting and, where possible, create incentives that ensure their continued participation.

Goal 5 is to devise a sustained (career-spanning) mentorship program.  ACNP already has a variety of mentorship programs that match an early-career attendee with a mentor while providing a foundation for meaningful interactions.  These matches are made via the thoughtful efforts of the Education & Committee (co-chaired in 2025 by Joshua Roffman and Debra Bangasser), but there is no formal mechanism to ensure that they extend beyond one annual meeting cycle.  What would make this new program different is that mentee and mentor will select each other in advance, and commit to a sustained relationship that extends beyond a single meeting.  As envisioned, it would provide both mentee and mentor with support to travel to the annual meeting over several consecutive years and resources to ensure that a formal update occurs with minimal distraction.  This goal may also help to offer a unique opportunity that incentivizes meeting attendance for established investigators.  I look forward to working with Council to explore the feasibility of this type of mentorship program—ensuring that it complements our existing programs while filling a meaningful gap, and that resources are available to support it, as the number of simultaneously active awards accumulates with time.

Goal 6 is to establish ACNP’s leadership in outreach programs that reduce stigma and enhance participation in the scientific endeavor.  Our membership includes independently-functioning groups who, across the globe, bring creative approaches to their local communities that provide education about the brain and how medical research occurs.  The most effective programs both teach and listen, actively encouraging conversations that enable deeper insight into the perceptions that perpetuate the stigma of mental illness and create barriers to selecting science as a career or participating in research studies.  ACNP will seek to be a go-to resource for groups that participate in these types of activities, by helping to identify the strategies that are most effective, sharing lived experiences from approaches that have succeeded or failed, and devising methods to offer our insights to others who wish to participate in these efforts.

Goal 7 is to include program elements that focus on factors outside the brain that influence mental health and the use of digital-based approaches to study, diagnose, treat, and prevent psychiatric illness.  As we make great strides in understanding the molecular and circuit mechanisms that regulate brain function and behavior, we need to also embrace the fact that processes occurring elsewhere in the body play crucial roles.  A deeper understanding of the myriad ways in which these processes affect, and are affected by, the brain will hasten the development of new treatments that are truly revolutionary and transformative.  Rapid advances in digital technologies will continue to offer unprecedented opportunities to collect data and identify relationships among these processes that are too complex for the human eye to see, while creating new challenges that require careful management.  I look forward to working with the 2025 Program Committee co-chairs (Staci Bilbo and Tallie Z. Baram) to ensure that selections for our marquee Presidential Lecture events are complemented by the type of well-rounded program that ACNP attendees have come to expect.

Finally, Goal 8 is a “stretch goal”: to explore the possibility of an ACNP “Grand Challenge” award.  The purpose of this award would be highly-targeted support of a new therapeutic approach that needs a final push toward the finish line.  Given all of the uncertainties we suddenly face as an organization and a field, it is perfectly clear that the timing of this goal may not be optimal.  However, the question of whether ACNP could participate in this type of endeavor has been the subject of grassroot curiosity in the poster halls for many years.  A key element of any program of this type would be the ability to devise a type of payback agreement in the event of success, making the award more of an investment than a “give-away”.  As formulated, this goal can be accomplished by simply opening discussions and getting a better understanding what this type of program would need to look like in order to have a meaningful impact, with decisions on how to proceed left to a time when the future is clearer.

I recognize that it is both a great honor and a great responsibility to be entrusted with the role of ACNP President.  I look forward to benefitting from the wisdom and experience of ACNP Council (which includes Past Presidents Helen Mayberg, Kerry Ressler, and David Rubinow, as well as President-Elect Deanna Barch), the passion and creativity of the ACNP membership, and an extraordinarily capable ACNP Staff (led by Erin Shearon and Sarah Timm) as we set a course that keeps us as strong as we can be.

Sincerely,

William A. Carlezon, Ph.D.

ACNP President

President’s Letter
Helen S. Mayberg, M.D.

Dear Colleagues,

The annual meeting is less than two weeks away and the program promises an exciting mix of plenary lectures, symposia and workshops, mentoring activities and social events, with time and space to catch up with old friends and hopefully, make new ones.

Chair Tracy Bale, co-Chair Stephanie Bilbo, and the entire Program Committee have worked diligently to organize a diverse, balanced and cutting-edge schedule, and I am hopeful that people will also be inspired by the Distinguished Lecturer and Presidential Symposia speakers that I have selected for the plenary sessions.

As everyone is aware, this will be our last year in Arizona, and the attendance will be a record high–2,000 attendees–requiring for the first time, a cap on invited guests–something everyone must now anticipate as we balance the numbers of invited trainees, non-member speakers, industry participants and active members and their guests. This cap will carry forward as we move to new meeting venues, starting with The Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas in January 2026.  Identification of meeting locations that achieve our size, scientific and cultural requirements and that match the majority vote for a warm climate, a single inclusive facility at a reasonable price point has been accomplished by the focus, diligence, creativity and special magic of Sarah Timm and Erin Shearon (nee Shaw) to negotiate on our behalf. This will be a work-in-progress as we try out these new venues over the next few years.

Musings on the Year as President

What I have learned this year is that we are a College of diverse and committed scientists and clinicians with the unwavering shared goal to make the world a better place through great science and creative mentoring.  I have been moved by the thoughtful work of each committee to meet their charge and advance the College towards its mission. I have been inspired by the openness and thoughtful discourse of Council to think deeply about scientific, funding, cultural and educational challenges as well as ensuring we remain agile to grow and stay relevant to the evolving needs of our constituency.

The College has been busy.  As President, I did my best to listen, facilitate and avoid unnecessary sharp turns.  With a diverse group of engaged Committee members and an active and committed Council, we have worked to sustain momentum on initiatives implemented over the past several years and to give them needed time to grow and mature.

We have continued to focus on a variety of mentoring opportunities for early career investigators and to facilitate increased involvement of previously underrepresented groups, while also ensuring that the meeting continues to be relevant to both our active and long-contributing Fellows and Emeritus members.

Towards this last goal, we have worked on a new plan to expand mentoring opportunities to all member of the College. The ACNP Senior Leaders Advising on Careers (SLAC) Committee, chaired by Suzanne Haber, has launched a near-peer program to provide a new formal resource for mid-to senior level researchers during critical career transitions. The Career Transition Mentoring Network (CaTMN) will draw on College expertise when one is considering a promotion opportunity, a lateral move to another institution, leadership positions such as a Chair, Center/Institute Director, or Dean, a move in or out of academia, government, or industry, or downsizing a lab, among many career transition topics.  If you are interested in learning more and volunteering to be a near-peer network member (currently Fellows and Emeritus members), please click here.

Among the many activities supported by the College, I was particularly gratified to see the actions of the Scientific Communication and Liaison Committees and their leadership in our advocacy activities for neuroscience, patients and society. Their sustained engagement on many fronts included partnership with the American Brain Coalition and their activities on Capitol Hill, endorsement and sign-on to various lobbying efforts impacting neuroscience and mental health funding, and direct public outreach including multiple presentations at the Neuroscience Forum, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, and at the United Nations. ACNP members have been at the table this year to educate and advocate on the need for evidence-based neuroscience approaches to address serious mental illness to relieve the suffering and disability of our patients. The generosity of time and knowledge shown by individual scientists towards these many efforts is the embodiment of our collective mission and core values of ACNP.

On other topics, Council has had thoughtful discussions about the role of the press at our meetings weighing the importance of a protected environment to openly discuss and debate works in progress without premature pre-publication publicity with the interest in early dissemination and public education. This will be a topic of ongoing discussion in the Scientific Communication Committee and hopefully among the members and meeting attendees at large.  We have further worked to strengthen dialogue with industry and government partners with the shared goal to develop novel treatment targets for neuropsychiatric disorders through careful curation of new business members to further expand the diversity of meeting participants and new collaborations.  Past President Kerry Ressler will continue to champion a new Stakeholder Initiative to Advance Translation in Mental Health Treatments, a topic more important than ever with the yet unknown change in the trajectory of federal funding.  We are moving steadily forward with our new digital journal, NPP-Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience, joining a growing set of platforms to publish novel datasets in new formats.  This year also marked the start of a Strategic Planning Task Force to consider our priorities to maintain our relevance, growth and progress as we work to fulfill our core mission while seeing new opportunities going forward over the next 5 years.

I finish this year as President humbled by the ongoing vision, culture and mission that the College represents, and grateful for the opportunity to make a small but hopefully meaningful contribution to our shared goal to catalyze scientific innovation that leads to new treatments that impact the lives of people who suffer from neuropsychiatric disorders.  While I am proud of our progress this year, I remain circumspect about the ongoing and emerging obstacles that impact our activities as a scientific community.  Understanding the brain is hard, forward movement on seemingly actionable discoveries that can impact patients is often slow, and systemic change is at best, incremental; but openness and readiness for change is a necessity of the creative process in each of our own labs and in our work together for the ACNP.

I look forward to the meeting and sharing in the excitement of your latest work and ideas. Safe travels and see you in Phoenix.

Sincerely,

Helen S. Mayberg, M.D.

ACNP President

President’s Letter
Kerry J. Ressler, M.D., Ph.D.

Dear Colleagues,

I am humbled and honored to work with all of you this year in my capacity as President of the ACNP, which is my scientific home as well as a source of inspiration, rejuvenation, and friendship. Our community affords a unique venue for our members, guests and invited speakers to share exciting new advances in science at the intersection of brain, behavior, and therapeutics as well as to deliberate, discuss, and debate issues of importance to the College.

ACNP’s core purpose is to contribute to alleviating human suffering by advancing dissemination of knowledge of the brain as well as the biology, prevention, and treatment of brain disorders.  I feel that we are now at an inflection point in our field, where decades of exponential progress in neuroscience is being integrated with human genetics, digital phenotyping, and big data, towards deriving new effective therapeutics based on our understanding of the brain.  However, there are complex hurdles to overcome, and as many have pointed out previously, we face a critical gap in translation of potentially transformative discoveries, due to remaining lags in development and implementation of new neurobiologically-driven pharmacological and device therapeutics. I believe that ACNP can play a critical role in its leadership through academic, governmental, industry, and regulatory relationships to help overcome this gap.

As I briefly described at the ACNP Business Meeting, I propose the below areas of focus for 2023 that build upon the work and achievements of our College. As a premier organization of leaders in Neuroscience & Psychiatry, ACNP is uniquely positioned to help transform our fields through Bridging the Translational Gap, through several initiatives:

Inspiring next-generation Academic-Industry-Government conversations for translation of Neuroscience Discoveries to Novel Interventions. Working with Alik Widge, Danielle Graham and the Liaison committee, along with others, I hope that ACNP can be considered a convener for critical stakeholder discussions, both at the ACNP annual meeting as well as through other opportunities to bring our college expertise to FDA / NIH and other stakeholders along with industry.  These discussions need to address how do we bridge this translational gap; how can we enhance opportunities for public/private consortia; how can we help to leverage FDA Breakthrough Therapy and Fast Track drug designations while focusing on biologically defined subtypes of our broad heterogeneous clinical phenotypes. As others have said, multilateral collaborations between academia, the non-profit sector, and the pharmaceutical industry are the most certain near-term paths to progress, harnessing existing capabilities under pre-competitive models.  I hope to help ACNP to further these opportunities and discussions to support efforts to rapidly bring new neurobiologically-informed, safe and effective treatments to patients.

Empowering new approaches to enhance robustness and predictability across model systems to de-risk translation and transform understanding of human neuroscience & pathology. Working with Georgia Hodes, Zoe Donaldson and the Animal Research committee along with others, I hope that ACNP can inspire scientists and stakeholders to both acknowledge and overcome prior limitations of our preclinical discoveries.  We need new approaches, collaborations, and consortia to identify and implement predictable and robust targets, as well as mechanistic and predictive biomarkers, and to integrate our knowledge of molecular networks and circuits.  I hope that ACNP can be a force for change and improvement in identification of preclinical tools from cells, circuits, and behaviors to identify and de-risk discoveries for translation.  Finally, I hope we can help to utilize progress in the genomics sector for translational, biologically informed approaches to advance genomics targets from consortia such as the Psychiatric Genomics Consortia and PsychEncode, among others, combined with translationally relevant model systems.

Enhancing innovative technologies and approaches to digital and quantitative phenotyping across patients and models for discovery and translation. Working with council, the Scientific Communications committee, the new Neuropsychopharmacology Co-Principal Editors – Tony George and Lisa Monteggia, and college members, I hope that the college can support and help create opportunities for discussion, identification, validation and publication of transdiagnostic and cross-species robust models and tools.  These approaches are critical for the initiatives mentioned above.  One particularly exciting new development is the pending launch of a new journal, NPP-Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience, led by Bill Carlezon, to facilitate such publications and discussions.  I also look forward to working with our 2023 Program Chair, Victoria Risbrough, co-chair Tracy Bale, and the Program committee to encourage submissions at the annual meeting to expand our understanding of cross species / cross model validated models and tools, explore satellite meetings and other ways to expand these discussions.

Finally, as part of our core mission and values, we must continue important ongoing college initiatives including: 1) continuing and expanding diversity initiatives such as the URM Near Peer Mentorship Program, installing our first DEI officer, expanding BIPOC and LGBTQIA2S+ initiatives, among many others; 2) continuing to expand our clinical research initiatives; and 3) expanding our global outreach and engagement of international societies.  Through Diversity & Inclusion, Education & Training, and Global Outreach committees, made up of many dedicated college members, we will continue to work towards progress in these very critical missions.

In closing, I thank the recent past presidents, Carlos Zarate, Linda Brady, and Maria Oquendo, as well as our Council, Erin Shaw and Sarah Timm for their outstanding leadership of and dedication to the College. Finally, I thank the dedicated members and co-chairs from all of our committees and task forces who will work diligently to carry out their charges from Council in 2023.

I very much look forward to a productive year and the exciting opportunity to see all of you in person again in 2023!

Sincerely,

Kerry J. Ressler, M.D., Ph.D.

President

What is the College’s Role in National Public Policy Discussion
Kerry J. Ressler, M.D., Ph.D.
March 1, 2023

Dear Colleagues,

I hope this message finds you well and settling into the new year as best as possible. As we plan for ACNP’s activities in 2023, I wanted to share some deliberations and feedback from Council. In particular, events of the past year caused Council to further examine the role of ACNP as a College, focused on research and education, in national discussions of issues spanning politics, healthcare and science. Throughout these discussions, we have been mindful of the fact that ACNP’s stated mission is “to advance scientific understanding of, and to facilitate communication about, disorders of the brain and behavior in order to advance their prevention and treatment.”

In the fall of 2022, the national issue to draw such attention related to the Supreme Court ruling on Dobbs v Jackson, overturning Roe v Wade, and limiting reproductive rights in some states. To best represent the College, Council sent a survey to ACNP membership to obtain feedback regarding the Liaison Committee’s draft statement opposing this ruling. While only 21% of the membership participated in this survey, the majority endorsed the draft statement.  Notably, we received passionate comments on both sides of the question, with many expressing clear support for the statement and others raising questions of whether, and when, we should make policy statements representing the entire College.

Council agrees that Dobbs is a very consequential Supreme Court decision, and the College is in complete and unwavering support of women’s health. This discussion raised several complex issues: 1) what is the College’s policy regarding making statements on political issues that are not squarely within (or limited to) the ACNP research/education mission, and 2) what should the College explicitly state about this specific court decision.  We all agree that there aren’t easy answers to these difficult questions, despite everyone’s wish to do the right thing and to represent the College membership in the best way possible.

Related to political and public health statements broadly, Council agreed that the College, as a community of Psychiatry and Neuroscience leaders, has expertise that is relevant to public policy and hence is important to share widely. On the other hand, the range of potential policy statements could be large – including not only the proximal issue of the mental health impact of limitations on women’s healthcare, but also many topics including wide-ranging concerns such as homelessness, health care financing, gun violence and gun laws, racial/ethnic diversity, structural racism, LGBTQ+, education freedom, anti-vaccine movements, climate change, immigration, science education and so many others.  At a time when we recognize the need for our expertise and the importance of College members standing up to anti-science voices in the country, the Council felt that we need a policy statement clarifying when the College should make formal statements.

This discussion led to the following new ACNP Policy:

Policy Statement on Commenting on Public Policy Issues

The principal function of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) is to further research and education in neuropsychopharmacology and related fields by:

• promoting the interaction of a broad range of scientific disciplines of brain and behavior in order to advance the understanding of causes, prevention and treatment of diseases of the nervous system including psychiatric, neurological, behavioral and addictive disorders;
• encouraging scientists to enter research careers in fields related to these disorders and their treatment; and
• ensuring the dissemination of relevant scientific advances in these disorders.

Official ACNP statements related to public policy and social issues will only be generated if the statement is directly relevant to ACNP’s mission and purpose. Specifically, such statements should review existing data that could guide policy, while also suggesting relevant future research.

This policy statement is designed to provide guidance to our Liaison Committee and our newly created Scientific Communications Committee (the latter combines the Public Information and Publications Committees).  This committee has been charged with recommending to Council when, and what, position statements should be made to government and regulatory bodies, industry, and the public through our website, social communications, and publications outreach. In all cases, such statements will be based on the College’s expertise in collecting and interpreting data.

In addition to informing members about this new policy, I want to speak personally as ACNP’s current President. I oppose health-care related legislative actions that are not evidence-based, limit an individual’s options for health care, or place mental health at risk. In my opinion, data clearly indicates that mental health will be adversely affected with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs (1-3). Further, I believe that access to evidence-based care that is right for the individual without arbitrary limitations, without threats, and without harm should be granted to all. I know that I, and many of my ACNP colleagues, stand in support of our colleagues in medicine and mental health advocating for universal access to essential healthcare.  In this vein, I’d like to highlight statements from our sister organizations:

American Psychiatric Association:

https://psychiatry.org/News-room/News-Releases/APA-Statement-on-Dobbs-v-Jackson; 

American Psychological Association, and the National Association of Social Workers: 

Major Mental Health Associations Decry U.S. Supreme Court Decision Overturning Roe v. Wade;

Combined physician organizations representing > 400,000 physicians and medical students: Physicians: SCOTUS Decision Jeopardizes Patient-Physician Relationship, Penalizes Evidence-Based Care (.pdf).

I look forward to working with members of our College through the Liaison, Scientific Communications and other committees to represent our important mission in neuroscience, healthcare, and mental health through Capitol Hill briefings, congressional educational events, public outreach and other opportunities, locally and nationally.

Thank you all for your commitment to making the world a better place, particularly through your work and leadership in Psychiatry and Neuroscience. We recognize that challenging times may call us to be more vocal advocates for rational, evidence-based decision making, science, and healthcare.

I look forward to working with you in this mission as we continue to discuss, deliberate, and learn how to do more and do better for the field and our patients.

All my very best,
Kerry Ressler, M.D., Ph.D.
ACNP ’23 President

References:

1. Zandberg J, Waller R, Visoki E, Barzilay R. Association Between State-Level Access to Reproductive Care and Suicide Rates Among Women of Reproductive Age in the United States. JAMA Psychiatry. 2023 Feb 1;80(2):127-134.
2. Ogbu-Nwobodo L, Shim RS, Vinson SY, Fitelson EM, Biggs MA, McLemore MR, Thomas M, Godzich M, Mangurian C. Mental Health Implications of Abortion Restrictions for Historically Marginalized Populations. N Engl J Med. 2022 Oct 27;387(17):1613-1617.
3. Wisner KL, Appelbaum PS. Abortion Restriction and Mental Health. JAMA Psychiatry. 2023 Feb 8. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36753289.

President’s Letter
Carlos A. Zarate, Jr., M.D.

Dear Members,

I am truly honored to serve as President in 2022. ACNP is my home away from home, a place where we get to meet, catch up, talk science, have engaging discussions, and set up collaborations—some of which may never happen but nevertheless generate inspiring new ideas. More importantly, ACNP is the place where we get to see the future of our College take shape by bringing in and engaging with the best and the brightest, those who will make future discoveries and develop better treatments for our patients. I fondly remember my first invitation to attend the ACNP meeting. I fell in love with the meeting and have not missed one since the 1990’s. I plan to keep attending for years to come.

I will focus on four main goals for 2022, which I briefly summarized at the Business meeting.

The Future of ACNP Annual Meetings in a Newly Hybrid World

As a College we need to plan for the future by setting up the infrastructure that will help us adapt rapidly and efficiently to our changing world, regardless of whether those changes are occurring in science, technology, training, advocacy, or economics, among many other considerations. One major decision to be made this coming year is whether to have our annual meeting be hybrid or only in person. As we make this decision, we also need to keep our planned growth in mind. The number of attendees permitted to attend is currently capped at 2000, and we are close to that number. Having hybrid annual meetings from now on would allow us to expand our capacity. This expansion, in turn, would further diversify our College both in terms of its membership and science areas, help us connect with other societies to exchange science and ideas, and allow us to continue sharing what our College is about. This discussion will be spearheaded by our Virtual Task Force, chaired by Judy Ford.

Enhance the “Clinical” in Clinical Translational Research

In 2022, we will seek to expand the College’s emphasis on clinical translational neuroscience while maintaining the highest standards of science and ethics and synthesizing basic and clinical science findings to better translate our work into meaningful discoveries and treatments. As you all know, our College is very strong in terms of “bench”, but I believe we must pay equal attention to addressing “bedside” issues, with the added goal of facilitating the link between both areas and filling gaps in our knowledge. This, I believe, will give us the best chance to develop desperately needed improved treatments for our patients. I would also like to see continued focus on cutting-edge research, methods, and tools to study the neurobiology of neuropsychiatric illnesses, including collaborations across government, academia, industry, and other interested parties to develop urgently needed novel treatments. I am committed to maintaining high-caliber science and will work on behalf of the College to integrate its mission and activities with those of other organizations devoted to neuroscience, clinical psychiatry, psychology, epidemiology, public health, advocacy, and pharmacology.

Enhance and Embrace Inclusiveness, Diversity, and Equality

One of the most important commitments I made to the College concerned my efforts to expand diversity of representation—including of thought, scientific background, and opinions—which I strongly believe can enhance both our science and its clinical applications. Towards this end, I will facilitate the underrepresented minority Near Peer Mentorship Program and report back on its success; if successful, I will consider expanding this flagship program. I will also continue to ensure that we have the highest quality membership as well as meeting experience by advancing diversity, inclusiveness, and equity initiatives. I will strongly support these initiatives through the Education & Training Committee co-chaired by Vaishali Bakshi and Lorenzo Leggio; the Membership Committee co-chaired by Paul Kenny and C. Neill Epperson; the Program Committee co-chaired by Rajita Sinha and Victoria Risbrough; the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force co-chaired by Marisa Spann and Sade Spencer; and the Women’s Task Force co-chaired by Stephanie Borgland and Kathleen Brady. I’m truly excited by our potential to enhance diversity in our College and am confident that the work by our chairs, co-chairs, and members will help expand diversity and representation among members and trainees.

Expand Global Outreach Efforts

I believe that permitting participation in some aspects of the ACNP annual meeting via virtual attendance will allow us to expand global outreach and engagement with different societies and institutions who focus on neuroscience, clinical research, neuropsychopharmacology, drug discovery, and drug development. Our goal in this area will be strategic, seeking out future members who can bring expertise that we lack but need for the future growth of our College. This, in turn, will help us fulfill our College’s mission and vision. We will also continue to promote the College by increasing collaborations and submissions to the ACNP program through outreach to key clinical research and neuroscience societies. This effort will be carried out by the Virtual Task Force, the Program Committee, the Education and Training Committee, and the Latin American Task Force chaired by Alan Frazer.

I will work with President-Elect Kerry Ressler and the chairs of the Task Forces and Committees to address these important issues for the College. I also wish to take a moment to thank the recent past Presidents, Linda Brady and Maria Oquendo. I look forward to working with them as well as with Council members Rita Valentino, David Rubinow, William Carlezon, Marina Picciotto, Carrie Bearden, Ellen Leibenluft, Mary Philips, and Diego Pizzagalli. Of course, I also wish to give an enormous thanks and my gratitude to Sarah Timm and her wonderful team at Parthenon Management Group for their outstanding leadership, support, and dedication to the College. None of this would be possible without their contributions.

I feel a tremendous sense of gratitude to the ACNP and am driven by a deep desire to pay the College back for the many gifts and wonderful memories it has given me. I will work hard to serve the College and fulfill its important mission. I look forward to a productive and, more importantly, a fun year, particularly the opportunity to see all of you virtually and in person in 2022.

Sincerely,

Carlos A. Zarate, Jr., M.D.

President

President’s Letter
Linda S. Brady, Ph.D.

Dear Members,

It is a great honor and privilege to work with all of you this year in my capacity as President of the ACNP. The ACNP is my scientific home. The annual meeting affords a unique venue for our members and invited speakers to share exciting new advances in science at the intersection of brain, behavior, and therapeutics as well as to deliberate, discuss, and debate issues of importance to the College.

As I briefly described at the ACNP Business Meeting in December, I propose three areas of focus for 2021 that build upon the work and achievements of our past ACNP Presidents, our Council, our Committees and Task Forces, and our members.  These are:

Advance the Mission of the College.  Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, our scientists have continued to conduct research and publish cutting-edge basic, translational, and clinical findings that are vital to the development of novel treatments for psychiatric and substance use disorders. Through the hard work of the Program Committee and co-chairs Guillermo Horga and Rajita Sinha as well as our NPP Editor Bill Carlezon, we will continue to develop an outstanding scientific program and enhance the scientific impact of our Journal. In particular, I will encourage a continued focus in two high-impact areas: 1) novel technologies developed through the BRAIN initiative to enable identification of biologically similar subgroups within brain and behavioral disorders; and 2) high-quality, openly shared, multi-modal biomarker and clinical data to identify circuits and pathways for intervention.  I will also work with the Program Committee to enhance the representation of high-quality clinical research in the scientific program through targeted outreach to key clinical research societies to solicit strong clinical research for submission to the ACNP.  In addition, I will work with the Animal Research Committee, co-chaired by Mar Sanchez and Andre Der-Avakian, to continue the committee’s efforts to educate and inform the community about the value of animal research.

Enhance Collaboration and Communication Among all of Key Stakeholders.  The ACNP affords the perfect venue for members and invited speakers to interact with academic, government, and industry scientists and our advocacy partners to share and discuss cutting-edge, basic, translational, and clinical research to advance treatments that address the needs of individuals who suffer from mental illness and substance use disorders.  I will work with the Liaison Committee, co-chaired by Stephen Strakowsi and Kimberly Vanover, to foster alliances and initiatives among these stakeholders and to encourage, through targeted outreach, the submission of successful public-private partnerships focused on advancing therapeutics development to our scientific program and Journal.

Vitalize the College by Embracing Diversity and Inclusion.  Over the past years, our committees and task forces have made progress in advancing the diversity and inclusion of members in the College, but more needs to be done. I will strongly support the outreach efforts of the newly formed Career Development Committee, which supersedes the Membership Advisory Task Force.  It will be co-chaired by Mercedes Perez-Rodriquez and Karen Szumlinski.  This committee together with the Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, co-chaired by Jair Soares and Marisa Spann, and the Women’s Task Force, co-chaired by Kimberly Yonkers and Stephanie Borgland, will identify, encourage, and aid the recruitment and application of diverse and under-represented members (URMs) to the College. I will then rely on the Membership Committee, co-chaired by Anne Andrews and Paul Kenny, to evaluate and select a diverse set of new members, and on the Education and Training Committee, co-chaired by Robert Swift and Vaishali Bakshi, to select a diverse set of Travel Awardees to foster their development and interest in becoming members of the College.

New this year, Council will convene a Task Force on URM Mentoring to develop a plan for outreach initiatives focused on: broadening the pipeline of URMs interested in brain research careers; providing mentoring and resources to recruit URM members; and better engaging URM members in the College. I will work with President-Elect Carlos Zarate and the chairs of the Career Development Committee, Diversity and Inclusion Task Force, the Membership Committee, and the Women’s Task Force to address this issue of importance to the College.

In closing, I thank the recent past Presidents, Maria Oquendo and Marina Wolf, our Council, and Sarah Timm for their outstanding leadership of and dedication to the College. I especially thank Sarah and her talented team at Parthenon Management Group who embraced the challenge of COVID-19 in 2020 and quickly pivoted to develop an amazing virtual meeting platform so that the ACNP could have a highly successful meeting!

And, I thank the members and co-chairs of all of the committees and task forces who will work diligently to carry out their charges from Council in 2021.

I look forward to a productive year and the opportunity to see all of you in person in 2021!

Sincerely,

Linda S. Brady, Ph.D.

President

ETHICS, #METOO AND THE PROVERBIAL ICEBERG
Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D.
March 9, 2020

The #MeToo movement has had a salubrious effect on our culture writ large.  The days of suffering in silence because of overt bullying and abuse seem to be on the wane.  More and more, organizations and the country as a whole have been standing up to unethical behavior and doing something about it. While we acknowledge progress, we also know that there is more work to be done.

You may be asking yourself: “What’s ACNP’s stance on members’ unethical behavior?  Do they care about scientific misconduct?  Sexual harassment?  Abusive treatment of students and postdocs?  Financial improprieties?”  I would say those are mighty good questions, especially if you are a Twitter savvy scientist!  ACNP has a very rigorous and fair approach to such issues and a Council that engages in careful and thoughtful deliberation.  ACNP’s goal is to ensure that the tone and experience of the Annual Meeting is one that is professional and safe.  It seeks to have a membership that meets the highest bar in terms of ethical behavior.  This is what we seek, it is not a statement of where we are, just yet.

I thought it would be useful to outline the ACNP’s current procedures for managing allegations of unethical behavior.  It’s pretty straightforward, but thorough. First, ACNP has a robust Ethics Committee that examines allegations of conduct violating Principles of Scientific Conduct (approved February 2000, amended April 2010) and/or Conflict of Interest Policy.   Generally, evidence is based on the fact that the member is disciplined, expelled, convicted or adjudged liable in a final decision or judgment of a university, medical school, funding entity, employer, local, state, federal or national professional or regulatory body, or a judicial or disciplinary body. Operationally, complaints are initially evaluated by the President, Ethics Committee Chair and Executive Director. Together, they determine whether there are grounds for discipline and if so, forward it to the Ethics Committee.  If the Ethics Committee deems the complaint to be valid, Council notifies the respondent of a hearing, where the respondent and his/her legal counsel have the opportunity to be heard.  During the hearing, the Ethics Committee’s evaluation is also reviewed, and a final determination is made.

ACNP strives to be fair to all of its members, including those who suffer mistreatment and those accused of unethical behavior. Of course, by necessity, that takes time. While ACNP is proud of the policies in place, the College recognizes the importance of ongoing improvements, including additional protections for those that are underrepresented or victimized. We recognize that overt abuse is the tip of the iceberg and that microaggressions, whether intentional or accidental, are cumulatively exhausting and not addressed by current ACNP policies. Further, current policies do not address protections during investigations which are paramount to promoting a safe and inclusive environment.

I am proud of the systematic, meticulous procedures that have been in place at ACNP for years, yet I recognize that we can and need to do more. With this in mind, ACNP will continue to work to improve our culture and support the continued diversification of science. We have established an email account specifically for collection of suggestions to promote a more inclusive environment and chip away at the proverbial iceberg. I invite you to send me your recommendations for ways in which we can institute positive change in our College at diversity@acnp.org.

Diversity drives better science and leads to improved human health. ACNP is committed to building a culture of inclusion and support, with the goal of promoting the best science. In the end, our scientific mission is best served by a fair, thoughtful process and an inclusive, supportive culture. While we aren’t there yet, together, we can get there.

President’s Letter
Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D.

Dear Members of the College,

It is a privilege and an honor to serve as your President for 2020.  Having served the College in various roles (Membership Committee, Program Committee, Council), the opportunity to contribute in a different capacity is exciting.  ACNP is my scientific home and the annual meeting is the professional bright spot of my year.

As I mentioned in the Business Meeting last December, I have proposed four initiatives for 2020.

The first initiative is to develop strategies for recruitment of the next generation of outstanding scientists conducting cutting edge research with continued focus on diversity defined in the broadest sense.   Most of our membership growth has depended on having individuals self-select or be identified and encouraged by their mentors to apply.  There exist opportunities for more proactive outreach to potential members that can diversify the scientific portfolio and sociodemographic characteristics of the College.  This initiative will necessarily rely on the wisdom of the Membership Committee who evaluates and selects applicants for membership and of the Education and Training Committee, which selects our travel awardees with special attention to diversity and is responsible for fostering their development and ultimately their membership in the College.

Leveraging our assets to promote the mission of the College is a second initiative.  Thanks to the College’s portfolio’s excellent performance under the guidance of our distinguished Treasurer, supported by the Audit/Finance Committee, we are in a position to invest in efforts that support the mission of the College.  Thus, I will work with the Education and Training Committee and with the collaboration of our sister societies, to develop opportunities to further education in neuropsychopharmacology.

My third initiative is informed by my experience as President of the American Psychiatric Association.  In that position, I learned first-hand about the capacity that professional and scientific societies have to influence policy.  They can do so by organizing congressional briefings in which scientists and stakeholders talk about research findings with immediate public health impact; by organizing meetings between scientists and members of the Senate and Congress to discuss the need for ongoing research funding; and by showing that this is a bipartisan issue.  This is a job that our colleagues at NIH and other federal funding agencies cannot do.  We know that the nation’s health depends on research dollars to support fundamental and clinical science.  By working with the Liaison Committee to strengthen our partnerships with societies with similar missions, we can increase our reach to policy makers and work to ensure protection/expansion of research funding and support for animal research.  By supporting advocacy for the outstanding science that we discuss at our meetings and read about in our journal, this initiative has the potential to will benefit the College and its members.

A fourth initiative will support both the education and the research mission of the College.  While we want to improve educational opportunities for budding basic, translational and clinical neuroscientists, it is essential to improve the pipeline.  A key strategy for this is to ensure that graduate and medical schools are exposing their students to the excitement of neuroscience research relevant to psychiatric and addictive disorders, so that they choose it as a focus for their career.  Thus, I will work with the Education and Training Committee to engage the AAMC and other organizations to expand the time spent in SOM/Neuroscience curricula on psychiatric and substance use disorders.

Of course, the success for any ACNP President relies heavily on the outstanding work and support that Parthenon Management Group provides in ensuring that we keep our eye on the ball as we work towards fulfilling Presidential initiatives, while continuing to ensure the highest quality programming and functioning of ACNP.  Thank you to Sarah Timm and her outstanding team!

I owe a debt of gratitude for the vision and dedication of the immediate past Presidents, Marina Wolf and Steve Hyman, as well as that of our illustrious Council. Together, they have set the stage for what I hope will be another fabulous year for ACNP.

I look forward to hearing from you and to a productive year!

Sincerely,

Maria A. Oquendo, M.D., Ph.D.

What does Council do anyway?
Marina E. Wolf, Ph.D.
December 2, 2019

When I was deciding whether to run for President, I talked to members of various ages about how they perceived the ACNP leadership. Especially among the younger members, I detected wariness about the Council – a sense that the goal was protecting the status quo rather than making way for the new. And of course, those rumors about satanic rituals.

In part as a reaction to this, I have posted several blogs during my Presidency to explain specific issues facing the College and how the ACNP leadership is responding (examples are mentioned below). On my way out, I’d like to give a broader perspective on Council’s purpose and our accomplishments in 2019.

Council is a remarkable organism. Except for certain key components – Drs. Kupfer and Coyle (long-standing Treasurer and Secretary, respectively) and Sarah Timm (Executive Director) – the membership turns over rapidly (2 out of 6 elected Council members are replaced every year).  One consequence is that some issues are discussed over and over again, as new members are brought up to speed. This sounds like a negative, but it is not. Rather, this fosters ongoing re-examination of vital issues with continuous injection of new viewpoints. Stability is achieved because each group, whatever its exact composition, has a genuine desire to do what is best for the College and its members, a willingness to undertake respectful but honest debate, and extensive experience with how organizations such as ACNP operate most effectively. Contrary to the perception I mentioned above, the bias is nearly always towards policies that bring the ACNP more in line with the needs of younger scientists and with changing scientific and societal landscapes.

Council meets twice each year in person – at the annual meeting and in the summer – and there are biweekly calls of its Executive Committee. All Council members are welcome to join these calls. Many of us also participate in a large number of other calls related to activities of specific committees or task forces. Lots of discussion – so far, no satanic rituals that I am aware of.

So what did we do this year?

A big item was updating the Strategic Plan – this was largely the work of a Strategic Planning task force that consisted of Council and non-Council members. The new plan was recently posted to the website. Check it out – it contains many forward-looking ideas.

Preparing our College and Neuropsychopharmacology for the implementation of Plan S has also consumed a great deal of time on the part of Council and the Plan S Task Force. Briefly, Plan S is an initiative for open access publishing launched in September 2018 by European funding organizations. Its goal is to implement policy to ensure that all scientific publications resulting from public grants will be published in open access journals or platforms by 2021. How Plan S is ultimately implemented will profoundly affect how we publish and access the literature. Our efforts to prepare for Plan S are ongoing. The issues surrounding Plan S are so complex and change so rapidly that I did not even attempt a blog post.

The enhancement of diversity and inclusivity within our College and at our annual meeting remains a vital goal. Please see my diversity blog for a detailed update on steps taken by Council and the Minority Task Force towards this goal. We have made progress but there is a long way to go.

Then there was the issue of the name change, laid out in gory detail in my name-change blog. The question of whether the original name matched our current identity has been simmering for over a decade. I am proud that this Council decided to resolve the debate through a thoughtful and transparent process, and succeeded. As you know, the decision was made to retain our original name.

This year, as in other years, Council, the Ethics Committee, and our legal counsel dealt with complaints against members alleged to have violated our Code of Conduct. Although such investigations are not made public, there is an established procedure that is triggered by each complaint. We continue to work on strategies to reduce violations. This is why you are bombarded with reminders about the Code of Conduct in emails leading up to the meeting and during the meeting. One strategy new for 2019 was the creation of an Annual Ethics Attestation accompanying the dues payment process.  This requires members to attest they will abide by the ACNP Principles of Scientific Conduct, the Conflict of Interest Policy statement, and Code of Conduct.   It also asks them to attest that they have not been convicted of a felony or had any disciplinary action taken by their employing institution or any granting agency. Additional strategies to improve compliance with the Code are presently being considered.

Science and organizations like the ACNP are not insulated from politics. On nearly every Council call, we discuss support of advocacy efforts, for example, strategies proposed by the American Brain Coalition to encourage development of new drugs for CNS disorders. We also discuss policy or proposed legislation affecting our members. If warranted, we send letters to appropriate government officials, often in partnership with like-minded organizations.  For example, we supported the Medical Marijuana Research Act of 2019 which amends the Controlled Substances Act so as to lessen the regulatory burden and facilitate research on marijuana and its constituent compounds by qualified scientists, and we opposed an EPA directive calling for a drastic reduction in the use of animal models and elimination of their use by 2035.

Efforts continue to update the composition and policies of the College to match the changing scientific landscape. For example, the Council along with the Liaison and Membership Committees has developed strategies to increase participation by scientists from industry, biotech and technology companies, and we recently approved a new system with tiered levels of corporate sponsorship. With support of Council, the Program Committee has solicited proposals designed to incorporate cutting-edge scientific fields and approaches into the annual meeting. The Latin American Task Force continues to promote involvement of Latin American scientists in the ACNP, as well as initiatives to promote growth of related research and conferences in Latin American countries.  All of these initiatives bring up the question of how we should manage growth of the ACNP. This thorny issue was discussed in an earlier blog (Why don’t we go back to Hawaii?).

Council also develops charges for all ACNP committees and task forces and reviews reports by these groups annually. One significant change made this year was updating the Audit Committee, the scope of which was limited to evaluating the annual audit, to an Audit/Finance Committee with broader responsibilities for overseeing our expenditures and investments.

Finally, Council responds to initiatives proposed by our members. For example, in response to concerns raised by members of the Program Committee, effective in 2021 the summer Program Committee meeting will be changed to an e-meeting to reduce our carbon footprint.  I am proud of the members who initiated this proposal and proud of the Council for instantly embracing it. Not bad for a bunch of dinosaurs.

This is a partial list, but I hope it gives you a sense of what the Council does and why it exists. I have learned a tremendous amount through my service on Council. It is an experience I would recommend to all of you. Although I shed the tiara next month, I will stay on Council for 2 more years (this is the policy for past-presidents). I look forward to continuing to work with an outstanding group of colleagues to serve the ACNP.

See you in Orlando!

Best wishes,

Marina Wolf
ACNP President

Why don’t we go back to Hawaii?
Marina E. Wolf, Ph.D.
October 28, 2019

It is the eternal lament. Many of us have very happy memories of meetings on the Big Island or Maui (1978, 1985, 1989, 1993, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2011). Science is our constant, but these meetings felt special – our kids swam with dolphins and people renewed wedding vows.  Why, then, do we presently seem to be oscillating between FL and AZ?

The answer is that we need a hotel that provides enough rooms for most of us and offers a conference center that can handle our talks and poster sessions. If we add a requirement for warmish weather during the meeting, we have outgrown all but a small number of hotels. In Hawaii, the only option would be a mega-hotel on the Waikiki Strip in Honolulu. This would not be the Hawaii we remember fondly. Rather, we would be spending a great deal of money and flying a long way to be in a crowded, touristy and urban locale. Revisiting Mexico is not an option. It is very challenging for some attendees to travel outside the US, so current ACNP policy is to restrict our meetings to US territories. Puerto Rico? See second-to-last paragraph of this blog.

Of course, our options would broaden if we held scientific sessions in a convention center, rather than using a hotel with its own conference center. But this might come at a cost. Would sessions and mentoring events be well attended if people had to bus from hotels to the conference venue? Would you run into the senior scientist or potential collaborator who you would love to meet if the poster session took place in an enormous convention center?  Would conversations migrate from the convention center to restaurants or informal gathering places with the same ease we now enjoy? Efficiency also matters. Say what you will about the Diplomat, but it is nice to be able to go from your room to the conference center simply by walking down a long hallway, and later go from the conference center to the beach in less than 5 min. The hotels we have utilized in the Phoenix area offer many of the same benefits. In sum, face-to-face conversations and their unexpected turns can make all the difference in developing an innovative new project or cementing a mentoring relationship, and the odds of such interactions increase when we are all living and working in the same space.

The existing strategic plan of the ACNP is to limit growth so that we can avoid the convention center scenario and maintain an intimate and collegial atmosphere at the meeting. As an aside, it is important to keep in mind that this is not the most important reason for our stringent membership selection process. First and foremost, we must maintain our stature as an organization of world-class scientists and clinicians because this sets us apart, gives us leverage when we speak on research, educational or policy matters, and attracts the next generation of top scientists to our ranks. In addition, members must be willing to enthusiastically serve the College, not just list it on their CV.  This is one reason the Membership Committee looks favorably on applicants who have previously participated in one or more annual meetings. Presumably, such applicants understand the commitment they are making.

Let it not be said, however, that there is no romance left in the souls of the Council members and the Parthenon staff. As you may have noticed, the 2021 meeting will take place in San Juan. If you are of a certain age, this evokes even fonder memories than Hawaii! The upcoming meeting will not, however, be a rerun of those golden days when nearly everyone stayed at the Caribe Hilton – where the lobby flowed into the open-air bar and then the beach – and crammed themselves like sardines into the poster venue in their parking garage. We no longer fit, not by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, we will try a hybrid model, in which we stay at the Caribe and surrounding hotels but hold scientific sessions in the newly remodeled San Juan convention center. This convention center is very small and reasonably close to the hotels, qualities that we hope will mitigate the concerns about large convention centers that I listed above, especially when combined with the beauty and fun of San Juan. However, there are other potential downsides, including costlier and longer flights, heavy traffic on the route from hotels to the convention center, and the risk of another catastrophic storm (San Juan suffered substantial damage during Hurricane Maria in 2017).

As you attend the next few meetings, please give some thought to the relative value you place on good weather, a resort location, a venue that maximizes our interactions by offering everything under one roof, and ease of access from all parts of the country. Going forward, we are trying to identify new hotels on the US mainland that offer most of the above at a reasonable cost – hence the “Orlando experiment”! I’m looking forward to seeing all of you there.

Marina Wolf, ACNP President

The College’s Commitment to Diversity
Marina E. Wolf, Ph.D.

In this blog, I hope to convince you that the ACNP is committed to further enhancing diversity and inclusivity within our College and at our Annual Meeting. Not only is this the right thing to do – it is also one of the best things we can do for the future of the College, based on numerous studies showing that diversity in the workplace boosts important outcome measures. However, many of the simple and obvious steps to increase diversity have already been taken by the ACNP leadership, with limited success, leaving us in more challenging territory. An important part of our ongoing Strategic Planning process is to identify additional ways to improve the recruitment of outstanding scientists from URM groups and to foster a climate of inclusion for scientists of all backgrounds at the Annual Meeting.

The blog is organized into four sections: a summary of the numbers, steps we are taking to enhance the pipeline of URM scientists potentially interested in the ACNP, improvements to the Annual Meeting to increase inclusivity and make it more useful and welcoming for URM scientists, and additional issues and ideas to consider as we work to further advance these goals. If you only read one section, please read the last section (“We need to do more”) and send your ideas to acnp@acnp.org.

I’m drawing in part on resources provided by the URM Task Force and Natalie Zahr. I thank them for their work.

Numbers. For decades after the founding of ACNP, the membership included only a handful of scientists from URM groups.  The earliest mention of the need to recruit URM scientists is the Strategic Plan developed in 2004. As of 2018, scientists from URM groups represented 5% of the total membership, up from 3% in 2011. Not surprisingly, change has been most rapid at the Associate Member level (7% in 2014 and 11% in 2018), while representation has grown more slowly for Full, Fellow and Emeritus members (due to the larger denominator). It is sobering to consider the situation in real numbers rather than percentages. For example, considering the ACNP as a whole, only 66 out of 1237 members are scientists from a URM group. In terms of meeting attendance, this translated into just 17 URM attendees at the 2014 meeting and 23 in 2018. We are trying to obtain comparable statistics for the Society for Neuroscience and for categories of NIH Awards to put this into context and to help us set targets for URM membership levels in the future, but I think we can all agree that these numbers are disappointing in any context.

Pipeline. An inadequate pipeline is widely recognized as contributing to low representation of people from URM groups in the STEMM fields. Expanding this pipeline has been a focus of ACNP efforts and we are having some success. I am proud to report that, of the 2019 Travel Award Class, 22% are URM scientists. In addition, to encourage continued advancement of past URM Travel Awardees in the College and more generally in the field of neuropsychopharmacology, ACNP offers two years of additional support following the initial award year, contingent on brief documentation of continued progress in the field which is reviewed by the Education & Training Committee. Over the past six years, an average of 82% of the URM past Travel Awardees have taken advantage of this opportunity, which includes waiver of registration, hotel accommodations, airfare, and coverage of additional expenses including childcare.  In addition to trying to keep URM scientists in the pipeline, the Diversity Invitation Bank was developed to attract URM scientists to our Annual Meeting by allowing members to offer one invitation to a URM scientist in addition to their usual invitation. The Diversity Invitation Bank was recently updated by Council to include not only African American, Hispanic, Native American, Pacific Islander, and scientists with a disability, but also LGBTQ+ scientists. Please note that this change is, at present, restricted to the Diversity Invitation Bank. A more general broadening of URM categories is discussed in the last section of this blog.  At the level of encouraging membership, Council approved a policy change in 2013 allowing members to write one additional letter of nomination if the additional nominee is a woman or a URM.

Finally, the ACNP partners with the APA to support the APA Research Colloquium for Junior Psychiatrist Investigators, which is designed to increase the pipeline of young investigators in the field while increasing the quality of training and mentoring. This prestigious program, which includes a half day training session at the ACNP Annual Meeting, includes a substantial number of URM scientists (28% in 2019). We hope that this experience puts the ACNP on the radar of these promising young investigators!

These strategies for bringing URM scientists to the Annual Meeting are proving effective at increasing the number of URM members of the ACNP.  Out of the 66 members in the College who are URMs, 39% are past Travel Awardees, 58% are past Invited Guests, and 3% were invited to the Annual Meeting from the Diversity Invitation Bank. Furthermore, from 2014-2018, the acceptance rate of URM applicants into Associate Membership paralleled the overall rate of acceptance.

At the meeting. The Travel Award Program and other initiatives discussed above bring URM scientists to the meeting and into the membership, but what do we do to make the meeting more useful and welcoming? A key development was the establishment of the Minority Task Force in 2013, which primarily consists of URM members of the College and focuses on URM recruitment and career development. The Task Force oversees two URM Annual Meeting Events, the Under-Represented Minority Women’s Networking Session (a breakfast focusing on the unique challenges and opportunities of navigating a career in academic medicine as a URM woman) and the Minority Task Force Networking Reception. In 2017, the College established the Dolores Shockley Minority Mentoring Award to an ACNP member who has been particularly successful in mentoring young scientists from underrepresented minorities in the field of neuropsychopharmacology and related disciplines to increase visibility of the contribution URMs are making to the College. Finally, the Minority Task Force and others within the ACNP are working to increase the visibility of URM related content on the ACNP website through a variety of strategies. For example, we are planning to add a URM subheading to the Annual Meeting tab to highlight URM events at the meeting, and a URM subheading in the Career tab that will highlight URM trainee events, funding and training opportunities, blogs, testimonials, and educational presentations like Ted Talks that are relevant to the goal of increasing diversity and inclusivity within the College.

We need to do more. The message to this point is that the ACNP is committed to increasing diversity and inclusion, and we have already implemented numerous policy changes to better accomplish this goal. As noted above, advancing this effort is an important part of the Strategic Planning now underway for the ACNP. I welcome your suggestions along these lines. However, while policies can be “legislated”, this is not true for some other ingredients that are important for achieving more equitable representation as well as improving inclusivity and the climate of our College and its meeting.

One issue is the potential contribution of unconscious or implicit bias, which leads us to attribute particular qualities to members of a certain group and therefore treat them differently. In the ACNP this could affect our behavior at many levels: who we choose to mentor and encourage towards participation in ACNP, how we assess the CV’s of those applying for Travel Awards or Membership, and perhaps whether we decide to stop at a particular poster or strike up a conversation while waiting in line for a drink at the poster session. Many universities and organizations have instituted training to increase recognition of our implicit bias, and the ACNP Council is discussing making such training a requirement for registration for the Annual Meeting as well as conducting mandatory training before any reviews are conducted (e.g., prior to selecting Travel Awardees, Members, or panels).  There is no doubt that making individuals aware of their unintentional involvement in perpetuating inequalities will benefit the workings of the College. However, we cannot stop there. I refer you to a very thoughtful Lancet article (1) arguing that the current focus on implicit bias – which is mainly directed at initiating change at the level of the individual – must not divert attention from broader structural inequalities that have an even more devastating effect.

Another issue is whether we go far enough with our Code of Conduct (https://acnp.org/annual-meeting/code-of-conduct/) to promote inclusivity. My sense is that we do. The Code is clear and when it is violated a series of events is triggered to investigate and, if appropriate, to sanction the perpetrator. Most members are completely unaware of this process because it is conducted in a manner consistent with protecting the privacy of those involved. Despite our “radio silence” in this regard, please be assured that nothing is swept under the rug. Thus far, none of the complaints made have been related to discrimination or harassment directed toward a member of a URM group. I hope that this reflects reality rather than unwillingness of URM scientists or other attendees to report violations of the Code.

At present, a discussion is underway within the Minority Task Force and the Council about expanding the definition of URM – for the purposes of College membership statistics and applications for Travel Awards and Membership – to include LGBTQ+ scientists, scientists with disabilities, and scientists from disadvantaged backgrounds, including those from low income families and those who are the first in their family to attend college. Similar discussions are underway at the NIH and other professional societies. One important issue is how broadening the definition of URM will affect the development of goals for recruitment of particular groups of URM scientists. To pose a hypothetical example, if all first-generation scientists are white, we could get a false sense of reaching equity with regard to groups that would remain under-represented. This is not a small issue, as setting specific and measurable goals for increasing diversity of the ACNP membership, and then devising strategies to reach those goals, is an essential part of the Strategic Planning process.

Distinct from the question of representation in the College is the issue of the climate of the Annual Meeting. At the July Council meeting, we discussed some simple strategies that will be implemented this year to make the Annual Meeting more welcoming to all scientists.

The fact remains that, even with the multiple policy changes instituted by the ACNP and outlined in this blog, we have taken decades to creep to the level of 5% URM scientists in our membership and we are still working to improve the climate of the Annual Meeting. I hope that this blog communicates the fact that our slow pace does not reflect a lack of desire to achieve change, and captures the complexity of steps on the table to accomplish change at both the individual and organizational levels. Although progress is slow in coming, it is coming.

(1) C Pritlove, C Juando-Prats, K Ala-leppilampi, JA Parsons. The good, the bad, and the ugly of implicit bias. Lancet 393 (1071), p. 502-504. Published: February 09, 2019 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32267-0

Marina Wolf, ACNP President

Name of our College and our Journal
Marina E. Wolf, Ph.D.

Dear ACNP Membership,

I’m using my first blog post to update you on the responses to February’s survey about changing the name of our College and our Journal. Approximately 31% of members responded, for a total of 24 pages of collated comments (single spaced). The majority of survey responses on “both sides of the aisle” were thoughtful and conveyed a sincere desire to make the best choice for the future of the College. Here I summarize my impressions of the most salient points. I thank Judy Ford for helpful suggestions on this document.

COLLEGE NAME CHANGE
From a total of 351 responses, 197 said Yes (Support name change), 82 said No (Do not support), and 72 were not sure or had other suggestions. The majority of comments were enthusiastically supportive of changing the name of the College, and this support came from individuals who self-identified as newer members as well as those who self-identified as older members.  Below I’ve paraphrased representative comments from those in favor and those opposed. Of course there is sampling bias inherent in these types of surveys where only a fraction of the total membership respond, which makes it important to hear from the maximal number of members when this comes to a vote (see last paragraph of this post).

Comments in favor

• When the college was formed, the frontier was indeed pharmacology. Now, the field has broadened, and we should broaden the name of our College accordingly.
• The current name may discourage participation of scientists who think their research is not related to pharmacology. Supporting this (albeit anecdotally), some stated that they had initially disregarded the College for this reason and began participating only when they learned the name was not “accurate”.
• The name change will not only attract new members but will re-energize our College, ensuring its continued relevance and making an excellent meeting even better.
• The new name more accurately captures the mission, the membership, and the scope of work presented at the meeting. It preserves the ACNP acronym but makes it stand for what we are.
• Many short comments conveyed excitement over the proposed change, describing it as long overdue, forward-looking, appropriate, and more inclusive.

Comments opposed

• “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” appeared in many comments. Individuals expressing this opinion were skeptical about the justification provided for considering a name change, given lack of hard data showing that people really are turned off by our current name and ample data that we are very popular (e.g., meeting size continues to grow, and we have more applicants for travel fellowships and membership than we can possibly accept).
• We can find another way to attract investigators in important fields that should be better represented in the College.
• Neuropsychopharmacology is a more inclusive term than the alternative being proposed. Under this “brand”, we have been able to serve as a unique and unified voice for the interests of our diverse membership. The alternative runs more risk of misunderstanding, mainly due to excessive focus on Psychiatry at the expense of other disciplines.
• A name that honors our traditions and history does not have to be accurate in all eras.

Problems with the proposed name
The new name proposed by the Council (American College of Neuroscience and Psychiatry) was criticized not only by opponents of a name change but also by some supporters, as summarized below.

• Placing “and” between Neuroscience and Psychiatry implies a division between the two that runs completely counter to the ACNP’s long-standing goal of positioning itself at the intersection of “brain, behavior and therapeutics”.
• There is growing overlap between traditionally defined psychiatric illness and neurological illness (e.g., AD, OCD, Tourette’s, and ADHD). Specifying “Psychiatry” serves the unintended purpose of driving an apparent wedge between Psychiatry and Neurology at a time when we should be trying to bring them together. It also risks alienating other clinicians important to the ACNP who are not specified in the new name, for example, clinical psychologists. Basically, “Psychiatry” is too constraining.
• Pharmacology remains an important tool in studying and treating mental illness – its “eradication” sends the wrong message.
• Use of the term “Neuroscience” robs the ACNP of its unique focus on the intersection between neuroscience and psychiatric disorders and puts us at risk of becoming a mini-SFN (that wouldn’t compete effectively with Big SFN). We become just another neuroscience society without a clear focus. In a related vein, there are already many psychiatry and neuroscience meetings – we run the risk of losing attendees to these meetings rather than attracting people to our meeting if we alter our brand.
• Some viewed the name change through the lens of a perceived decline in attention to clinical research by the ACNP leadership and the Program committee, and viewed inclusion of the term “Neuroscience” as endorsing this decline. One respondent favored inclusion of “Psychiatry” in the College name if a translational mission will truly be emphasized going forward, but worried that this was just “bait and switch”.

Alternate names
Most who supported a name change favored selecting a name that matches the ACNP acronym, although this was not universal (see ‘Thinking outside the box’, below). However, they preferred other names to the version proposed by Council. In my opinion, these alternatives have merit, but they do not fully address the problems noted above with regard to the originally proposed name.

• American College of Neuropsychiatry or NeuroPsychiatry (the most frequent suggestion)
• American College of Neuroscience and Psychopharmacology
• Neuroscience, Psychiatry and Psychopathology
• American College of Neuroscience in Psychiatry
• Neuroscience, Psychopharmacology and Psychiatry
• American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and Neuroscience
• American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and Psychiatry
• American College of the Neuroscience of Psychiatry

Thinking outside the box
Several people expressed concern about selecting a new name based on a match to the ACNP acronym. The sentiment was that, if we are going to take the enormous step of re-naming the College, we should pick the best name regardless of letters. For example, given the precedent set by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (which continues to use their original acronym, NARSAD) and the magical power of colons, perhaps we could call ourselves ACNP: The American College of Translational Neuroscience, as one respondent suggested. I would welcome further input from the membership on this specific suggestion or related ideas.  Please send your thoughts to acnp@acnp.org.

JOURNAL NAME CHANGE
There was far less enthusiasm for changing the name of Neuropsychopharmacology. Some of the concerns most frequently raised were:

• NPP already has brand recognition – and it is well known that its scope is broader than “Neuropsychopharmacology”. The subtext on the cover (intersection of brain, behavior and therapeutics) is already right on target. Therefore, there is little to be gained and quite a bit that might be lost. We are giving up our niche and the power of a one-word name.
• Loss of impact factor calculation for 2 years following the name change will deter people from publishing in the journal. In the present era of scientific publishing, the journal might not recover from the resulting decline.
• We cited JAMA Psychiatry as precedent in the original email to the membership, but some questioned the validity of this example in light of changes in the scientific publishing landscape between the JAMA transition and the present time.
• Specifying “Neuroscience and Psychiatry” in the journal name is associated with the same concerns raised above regarding re-naming the college, namely apparent exclusion of neurology, psychology, pharmacology; and, depending on one’s viewpoint, it may make the journal sound too clinical (and discourage basic neuroscience submissions) or it may be perceived as inviting very basic neuroscience submissions that are unrelated to any brain disorder or its underlying pathology.
• If we re-name the journal exactly based on the College’s name, this will make it the “American journal of XXX” which does not fit NPP’s international scope.
• There is a predatory journal with a very similar name. In addition, there is already a journal with the AJNP acronym matching our suggested new name (American Journal of Nurse Practitioners).

Wrap-up
Based on responses to the survey and follow-up discussions within the ACNP Council, it makes sense to focus in the near term on whether or not to re-name the College and return to the issue of the Journal at a later time (particularly given the present uncertainty related to Plan S). The pros and cons of a College name change will be considered as part of the broader Strategic Planning effort now underway.  It is possible that we will ultimately decide to change the name of the College but not the Journal. If this is the case, we could address concerns about whether the Journal’s name is too limiting by moving further towards branding the Journal as NPP (rather than Neuropsychopharmacology). Finally, the possibility of retaining current names for our College and Journal should remain on the table.

I want to close by reassuring everyone that any change in the name of the College will ultimately be put to a vote of the membership.  As noted above, only 31% of the membership responded to the survey. It is possible that those who want to change the name(s) represent a minority but were more inclined to respond, or conversely that those strongly opposed to the change were more likely to respond. When this comes to a vote, it will be critical to hear from the maximal number of members so that not only the wishes of the most vocal individuals are heard.

Marina Wolf, ACNP President