In Memoriam

Recent

Robert M. Bilder, Ph.D. 1956-2025 (PDF)

On August 13, 2025, we lost one of our brightest stars, Robert (“Bob”) M. Bilder, Ph.D., far too soon. Bob possessed a unique blend of creativity, innovative expression, scientific rigor, humor and kindness. He was the Michael E. Tennenbaum Distinguished Family Chair in Creativity Research, Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, and Chief of the Psychology Division at UCLA. Bob was co-founder of the UCLA Semel Healthy Campus Initiative Center and the Tennenbaum Center for the Biology of Creativity. Bob was a Fellow of ACNP and was accepted into membership in 2008. Bob earned his BA in Biology and Psychology from Columbia University in 1978, followed by a Ph.D. in Psychology with a specialization in human neuropsychology from City College, City University of New York in 1984. Before joining UCLA in 2002, he held prominent faculty appointments at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, serving as Chief of Neuropsychology at Zucker Hillside Hospital and Associate Director for Human Research at the Center for Advanced Brain Imaging at the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research.

Karl Rickels, MD 1924-2025 (PDF)

Karl Rickels, MD, died peacefully and surrounded by family on July 16, 2025 at his home in Gladwyne, PA. He was 100 years old. Dr. Rickels became a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in 1961 and later served as a Fellow Emeritus, reflecting his long-standing contributions to the field. Dr. Rickels was a pioneering psychiatrist whose six-decade career shaped the modern treatment of anxiety and depressive disorders. He was among the first physicians to study and develop outpatient pharmacotherapy for psychiatric illness, transforming care from hospital to community settings. Dr. Rickels’ rigorous clinical methods, longitudinal trial designs, and emphasis on patient safety helped establish psychopharmacology as a data-driven discipline. His research demonstrated that well-structured, controlled studies could yield reliable, clinically meaningful evidence, setting the methodological template for modern psychiatric drug development. For more than half a century, he remained a mentor and collaborator to generations of investigators worldwide. Dr. Karl Rickels’ scientific legacy endures through the countless clinicians and researchers influenced by his work, and through the millions of patients whose lives were improved by the treatments his studies helped bring to practice.

Nolan R. Williams, MD 1982-2025 (PDF)

Nolan R. Williams, MD, died tragically from suicide on October 8, 2025, at the age of 42. Nolan was elected to ACNP membership in 2024. He was a brilliant neuropsychiatrist, board certified in both neurology and psychiatry, who pioneered novel interventions for depression, suicide prevention, and post-traumatic stress disorder. A native Charlestonian, he received his undergraduate degree from the College of Charleston and his MD degree (2008) from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), where he also completed the joint neurology and psychiatry residencies in 2014. Nolan then joined the faculty at Stanford University School of Medicine, where he rose to the rank of Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and was Director of the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab. Nolan was bold and visionary in his science. He conducted paradigm-shifting experiments that impacted multiple fields. His key contributions were in the areas of opioid mediation of the antidepressant effects of ketamine, the therapeutic properties of ibogaine, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) modulation of hypnotic susceptibility, and the acceleration of TMS in treatment-resistant depression.

Donald A. Overton, Ph.D, 1935 - 2025 (PDF)

The world of drug discrimination lost one of its founding fathers with the passing of Donald A. Overton, Ph.D., on April 29, 2025. Dr. Overton became a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in 1970 and left an enduring mark on behavioral pharmacology. Drawing from the principles of state-dependent learning and the understanding that drugs can serve as internal stimuli, Overton developed the drug discrimination procedure during his graduate studies at McGill University, initially using a T-maze paradigm [1]. Later, as a long-standing faculty member at Temple University, he refined the method for operant conditioning chambers and undertook a series of studies to establish the behavioral “rules” that govern drug discrimination (e.g., [2, 3]). Over the course of a prolific career - spanning nearly 90 publications and book chapters - he helped establish drug discrimination as a gold-standard behavioral assay for evaluating the subjective effects of psychoactive substances (e.g. [4])

Peter C. Whybrow, 1939-2025 (PDF)

Peter C. Whybrow, M.D., D.P.M., M.B., F.R.C.P., ACNP Fellow Emeritus, died peacefully on 25th August 2025 at his daughter’s home in Vermont, and close to his cherished family farm in Plainfield, New Hampshire, purchased while a faculty member at Dartmouth College. He was accepted into membership of ACNP in 1994 and contributed to the ACNP oral history of neuropsychopharmacology [1]. Peter oversaw the move of the ACNP Archives (including personal papers, oral histories, and photographs) to UCLA in 2008. They are now managed by the Center for the Study of the History of Neuropsychopharmacology at UCLA. Peter was recruited to UCLA in 1997, where he became the Judson Braun Professor, Chair of Psychiatry, Director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute (now the Semel Institute) and Chief of the Neuropsychiatric Hospital (now the Resnick Hospital). Peter built an infrastructure that made UCLA Psychiatry thrive in its mission for research, teaching excellence and psychiatric service, consistently ranking amongst the top few psychiatric departments in the world. Under his leadership (as a sailor his term was “steering of the ship”), the grant portfolio for UCLA Psychiatry dramatically increased. Peter’s passion and insights surrounding mental health resonated with donors such as Jane and Terry Semel, Stewart and Lynda Resnick, George and Susan Soloman, Stefan and Shirley Hatos, and Michael Tennenbaum, who substantively contributed to the growth and success of UCLA Psychiatry.

Floyd E. Bloom, 1936-2025 (PDF)

On January 8, 2025, the ACNP lost one of its guiding lights, Floyd E. Bloom, M.D. Floyd helped establish neuroscience as a multi-disciplinary field and was instrumental in guiding our College to bridge basic neuroscience with clinical need and application. Floyd was accepted into the College in 1968, on numerous ACNP Committees over the years, a member of the Council (1976–1978), President (1989), and eventually a Fellow Emeritus. He was also President of the Society for Neuroscience (1976–1977), Editor in Chief of Science (1995–2000), President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2002–2003), and an ambassador for neuroscience to the broader science community. Credit: Stephanie Aston-Jones Floyd graduated from the Washington University School of Medicine in 1960. After an internship and residency, during which he picked up his signature habit of wearing a bow tie to avoid the obstruction of a longer tie during blood draws, he became a Research Associate at the NIMH facility at St. Elizabeths Hospital. In those two years, he launched his research career using the electrophysiological technique of microiontophoresis. He then moved to Yale as a postdoctoral fellow and then Assistant and Associate Professor. Working with another ACNP luminary, George Aghajanian, Floyd developed expertise in electron microscopy and characterized neurotransmitter-specific presynaptic processes. During this time he also co-authored, with Jack Cooper and Bob Roth, the “bible” of neuropharmacology, The Biochemical Basis of Neuropharmacology.