In Memoriam

Recent

George K. Aghajanian, 1932-2023 (PDF)

George K. Aghajanian, ACNP Fellow Emeritus, died July 4, 2023 at the age of 91. He was elected to membership in 1970. He was one of psychiatry’s founding pioneers in neuroscience who contributed many firsts to the field by combining research carried out in multiple domains, including cell biology, biochemistry, electrophysiology, and pharmacology. George’s research is also responsible for the very first psychiatric drug treatment developed from an understanding of its mechanism of action and translated from that basic neuroscience research to human care, i.e. he demonstrated that the hyperactivity exhibited by noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus of rats, that were withdrawing from chronic morphine administration, was eliminated by clonidine. In 1975, for outstanding research in the field of Neuropsychopharmacology, he was the second recipient of the Daniel Efron Award. In 2006 he received the ACNP Julius Axelrod Award for his mentorship. Among his many other honors, nine in total, were the Lieber Prize for research on Schizophrenia from NARSAD and election to the National Academy of Medicine.

S. J. Enna, 1944-2023 (PDF)

He was a Fellow Emeritus, admitted to ACNP in 1983. He earned a Masters degree and a PhD in Pharmacology at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. His focus on neuropsychopharmacology began with a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Texas, Dallas with PA Shore on biogenic amines. Over the years, he served on the editorial advisory boards of over a dozen journals in pharmacology and neuroscience including the Journal of Neuroscience, Neuropharmacology and Brain Research. He was the Editor in Chief of the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (1998–2002), of Biochemical Pharmacology (2003–present) and series editor of Advances in Pharmacology (2009–present). He was elected to be Secretary General of the International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacologists, which led to world travel for him and his wife, Colleen, and the development of numerous foreign friends. Dr. Enna received several distinguished awards including the John Jacob Abel Award for most promising pharmacologic scientist under 40 (ASPET), the Daniel Efron Award for basic research (ACNP) and the Otto Krayer Award for lifetime achievements in Pharmacology (ASPET).

Robert M. A. Hirschfeld, 1943-2023 (PDF)

He was elected to the ACNP in 1989; serving as co-chair and chair of the Advocacy Committee for 11 years; Chair of the Pharmacoeconomic committee; a member of the Public Concern committee; and the Ethical Legal committee. Bob was known internationally for research on the diagnosis and treatment of depression and bipolar disorder. He developed the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), one of the most widely used screening assessments for bipolar disorder in the world, and translated into 19 languages. Bob completed his psychiatry residency at Stanford; and subsequently spent 18 years at the NIMH, as Chief of the Mood, Anxiety and Personality Disorders Research Branch; and was the Clinical Director of NIMH’s Depression/Awareness, Recognition, and Treatment Program. From 1989 to 2013, Dr Hirschfeld was the Harry Davis Professor, and Titus Harris Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. He moved to NYC in 2015, and became a Professor at Cornell Weill, treating patients; teaching and supervising residents; and consulting with faculty and residents on difficult patients.

Barbara H. Stanley, 1949-2023 (PDF)

Barbara H. Stanley was an ACNP Fellow and accepted into membership in 2014. At the time of her passing, Dr. Stanley, was Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry at Columbia University and Director of Suicide Prevention Training for the New York State Office of Mental Health and a Research Scientist at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Barbara’s packet of rating scales went on to be adapted into a comprehensive psychological autopsy that is still used by our Columbia/NYSPI group to clinically phenotype all cases and controls in our brain collection. Barbara transitioned from a major interest in ethics of research in psychiatric patients to the field of suicide research. She pioneered the use of ecological momentary assessment to study suicidal ideation and its relationships to mechanisms employed by patients to cope with stress and suicidal ideation. Barbara was as great a clinician as she was a researcher. She teamed up with Greg Brown, Director of the Penn Center for the Prevention of Suicide at the University of Pennsylvania, to create the Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention. Dr. Stanley wrote more than 200 papers. She was a Fellow of the American Psychological Association and the ACNP. At the time of her death, she was president of the International Academy for Suicide Research. She had been the Editor in Chief of the Archives of Suicide Research for many years, and served on boards and committees of many professional organizations.