In Memoriam

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Bruce McEwen, 1938-2020 (PDF)

Bruce S. McEwen, Ph.D. was the Alfred E. Mirsky Professor and Head of the Harold and Margaret Milliken Hatch Laboratory of Neuroendocrinology. He was elected to the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) in 1998 and became the inaugural winner of the Neuropsychopharmacology Editors’ Award for a Review (NEAR) in 2017. Dr. McEwen was internationally renowned for his extraordinary research documenting the profound role of stress and stress hormones, specifically the cortisol-like corticosterone steroid in rodents, on both brain structure and function. For over five decades, Dr. McEwen continued to conduct outstanding laboratory-based research, primarily in rodent models, to increasingly elucidate the details of how stress, stress hormones, and sex hormones impact specific aspects of brain function, with focus on the hippocampus.

George Gardos, 1938-2019 (PDF)

George Gardos, MD was one of the founders and an early President of the ACNP and a pioneer in clinical psychopharmacology. George held the ranks of Associate Clinical Professor and Associate Professor of Psychiatry (part-time) at Harvard Medical School before retiring. He also served as Chief of Psychiatry at Cushing’s Hospital and was a consultant at Boston State Hospital. George was a skilled and caring physician who had a tremendous knowledge of the benefits and hazards of first-generation antipsychotics. In addition to his clinical acumen, George Gardos was an exemplary professional colleague—amiable, intelligent, kind, sensitive, and collaborative. He was an excellent teacher—incisive and comprehensive in his presentations.

Ronald S. Duman, 1954-2020 (PDF)

Ronald S. Duman, Ph.D. was the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine and Director of the Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities of the Connecticut Mental Health Center. He also played a central role in the National PTSD Brain Bank and the National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. He was a member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and recipient of two of the most prestigious prizes for mood disorders research, the Colvin Prize of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and the Anna-Monika Foundation Prize. The Duman laboratory focused on identifying fundamental neurobiological mechanisms underlying the effects of stress on the brain. He was a pioneer in identifying how antidepressant treatments reverse structural changes produced by stress in both animal models and studies of human post-mortem brain tissue.

John Holaday, 1945-2019 (PDF)

John W. Holaday, Ph.D. was Chairman, Founder, and CEO of DisposeRx Inc. John was an American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Fellow, and was co-founder of QRxPharma Limited, Medicis Pharmaceutical, EntreMed, and MaxCyte and held various positions as CEO and Chairman. John served on the Board of Directors of Exosis, Pixspan, and CytImmune Sciences. John received numerous honors and awards for his development of biotechnology, including being selected for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 Hall of Fame. He held over 90 patents and published over 200 scientific articles and five books.

Donald Klein, 1928-2019 (PDF)

Donald Klein, MD, who played a transformative role in psychiatry’s evolution as a scientific discipline and longstanding member of the ACNP died August 8, 2019. Don served in many leadership positions including as president and council member of the ACNP. At the time of his death, he was Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Research Professor at New York University Langone Medical Center.

Larry Stein, 1931-2019 (PDF)

Dr. Larry Stein was a Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology, University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine, and American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Fellow Emeritus. Dr. Stein was accepted for ACNP membership in 1963. His research career spanned over five decades. His pioneering research places him among the most prominent and seminal researchers at the origins of our field of neuropsychopharmacology. He was a brilliant pharmacologist, dynamic leader and mentor, and wonderful, well-loved human being.

Alec Coppen, 1923-2019 (PDF)

Dr. Alec Coppen was an outstanding clinical psychopharmacologist who enriched the research in the field of biological psychiatry and psychopharmacology internationally. This was achieved through his leadership of both national and international institutions and organizations. He was an emeritus member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP).

Paul Greengard, 1925-2019 (PDF)

From a scientific perspective, it is difficult to overstate the impact that Paul had on our understanding of cell signaling in general, and in the nervous system in particular. Paul’s impact on our field, however, goes far beyond the papers he published. He trained hundreds of students and postdocs many of whom are now leaders in academic medicine, including deans, department chairs, institute and center directors, and innumerable leading research groups in neuroscience and other fields. Paul was unusually generative, not only in promoting the careers of members of his own laboratory, but also countless other faculty colleagues to whom he gave regular scientific and career advice. Paul spent most of his early career at the pharmaceutical company Geigy and, after brief sabbaticals at Vanderbilt University and at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1968, he joined the Yale pharmacology department in 1969 to establish his first academic laboratory at the age of 43.

Richard Resnick, 1931-2018 (PDF)

Dr. Resnick was pioneering researcher in addiction medicine. He was a psychiatrist, substance abuse researcher and long-standing ACNP member. Dick, as he was known, born in New York City, graduated from City College of New York and received his M.D. from New York Medical College in 1958. He completed post-graduate training in psychiatry at Albert Einstein Medical College and Hillside Hospital where he worked with Max Fink utilizing pharmaco-EEG for drug development.

Naomi Breslau, 1932-2018 (PDF)

Dr. Breslau made important contributions to understanding the epidemiology of an unusually large number of health outcomes, including chronic disease in children, migraine, mental illness - especially post-traumatic stress disorder, and outcomes in low birthweight children. She also studied problems of sleep, the effects of smoking and addiction, and the determinants of IQ.

Lewis Judd, 1930-2018 (PDF)

Judd was an expert in biological psychiatry and clinical psychopharmacology—and a forceful advocate for pushing psychiatry to its present as a data-driven, hard-charging neuroscience-based scientifically robust field. He was an early and vocal leader of the idea that mental disorders, such as depression, were the result of neurological and biological dysfunction, and argued that they could be effectively treated with appropriate psychopharmaceuticals. He was an avid advocate for rigorous clinical training.

Conan Kornetsky, 1926-2018 (PDF)

Dr. Conan Kornetsky, a founding member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, died of complications of Alzheimer’s Disease at age 92, on 21 December 2018. His long and distinguished career in psychopharmacology began in 1949 almost by chance. As a psychology graduate student at the University of Kentucky, he accepted a job at the United States Public Health Service Hospital (USPHS) in Lexington, Kentucky administering IQ tests in exchange for room and board. The job brought him into contact with some of the pioneering researchers at the Addiction Research Center.

Ting-Kai Li, 1934-2018 (PDF)

Dr. Li was a pioneer and forceful advocate for the role of genetics in alcoholism. Dr. Li was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Indiana University and had been an Associate Dean for Research at the IU School of Medicine and Distinguished Professor since 1985. Dr. Li used artificial selection to create an animal model of voluntary alcohol consumption, the alcohol preferring rat. This model became the basis for studies on alcoholism worldwide, directly led to the discovery of physiological processes and genes influencing risk, and contributed to the development of new medications.

Herbert D. Kleber, 1934-2018 (PDF)

Dr. Herbert D. Kleber, a pioneer of addiction research and treatment, died on October 6, 2018 of an apparent heart attack, while vacationing in the Greek Islands with his wife and members of his family. It was a sad but, in many ways, fitting end to a very rich life—he passed quickly without suffering, among his family while vacationing in the Mediterranean. At the time of his death, Dr. Kleber was Professor of Psychiatry and Emeritus Director of the Division on Substance Use Disorders, which he founded, at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. This represented the culmination of his 50-year career, during which he and his colleagues probed the pathology of addiction, and developed treatments to mitigate withdrawal and promote recovery.

Bernard Carroll, 1941-2018 (PDF)

Dr. Bernard J “Barney” Carroll passed away from lung cancer on Monday, 10 September 2018, at the age of 77. Barney was a former Chair of Psychiatry at Duke University, Fellow Emeritus of ACNP, to which he belonged for over 40 years, and recipient of many awards and honors for his scientific research. He was a pioneer and leader in clinical neuroendocrinology, best known for his development of the low-dose dexamethasone suppression test (DST), a biomarker of severe, melancholic depression that he meticulously studied for its applicability to differential diagnosis and the progress of treatment.

David M. Jacobowitz, 1931-2018 (PDF)

Dr. David M. Jacobowitz (“Dr. J”) passed away on 7 September 2018 at the age of 87. Dr. Jacobowitz was a Fellow Emeritus in the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. He became a member in 1977. Dr. Jacobowitz is best known as a tremendously talented neuroanatomist and technical innovator.

Arvid Carlsson, 1923-2018 (PDF)

On 29 June 2018, neuropsychopharmacology and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) lost one of its giants and true pioneers, Dr. Arvid Carlsson, MD, PhD, Swedish pharmacologist and Professor Emeritus at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg. Arvid was born on 25 January 1923 in Uppsala, the third of four children. At the age of three, his family moved to Lund in southern Sweden, where his father was appointed Professor of History. Arvid grew up in an academic family with a strong tradition in the humanities, a tradition he broke when he began to study medicine at the University of Lund in 1941.

Ronald R Fieve, 1930-2018 (PDF)

Dr. Ronald R Fieve was born in Stevens Point, Wisconsin on March 5, 1930 and died of congestive heart failure in Palm Beach, Florida on January 2, 2018. He became a member of American College of Neuropsycopharmacology (ACNP) in 1969. Ron completed medical school at Harvard University, interned in cardiology at Bellevue Hospital, and did his psychiatric training at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons and the New York State Psychiatric Institute (PI).

John E. Overall, 1929-2016 (PDF)

Professor Emeritus of Psychology, John E Overall passed away on 27 March 2016 at the age of 86. Throughout his eminent career, Dr Overall served as a consultant or advisory board member at the ACNP, the CINP, the ECDEU, the VA, the FDA, the NIMH, and the WHO. He is best known for his leading role in the development of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) with Donald R. Gorham, which has made a lasting impact on clinical research.

Eddie Way, 1916-2017 (PDF)

Eddie (E. Leong) Way, PhD, celebrated his 100th birthday at a large party in July 2016, and passed away in 2017. He was born in California and received all of his education at UCSF. His scientific contributions were mainly in the opioid field with important contributions on the mechanisms of tolerance and dependence. Eddie’s work in the field of drug abuse, especially his contributions to our knowledge of how opiates relieve pain was enormous.

Larry Seidman, 1950 - 2017 (PDF)

Larry was born and raised in New York city. He completed his undergraduate studies in psychology at City College of New York (CCNY) in 1971, an institution in which he had great pride. He received his doctorate at Boston University in 1980. He met Ilene Seidman, his wife of 46 years, when they were freshman at CCNY. They raised two children, Sarah, an historian and museum curator, and Josh, a lawyer. Before his death, Larry was blessed to meet his first grandson and first granddaughter.

Yue Chen, 1959 - 2017 (PDF)

Yue Chen, PhD, Director of the Visual Psychophysiology Laboratory at McLean Hospital and an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, died on 24 September 2017—his 58th birthday—from pancreatic cancer.

Irwin Kopin, 1929 - 2017 (PDF)

Kopin was a giant in catecholamine research. His groundbreaking findings on the characteristics and metabolism of catecholamines provided the backbone for major advances in neurological and psychiatric disorders. Born in 1929, Kopin graduated from The Bronx High School of Science in New York in 1946. He attended the City College of New York for 2 years and then transferred to McGill University in Canada, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry in 1951 and his medical degree in 1955. He began his NIH career as research assistant in the Laboratory of Clinical Science (LCS) at NIMH in 1957, under the direction of Seymour Kety.

Carmen Keith Conners, 1933 - 2017 (PDF)

Carmen Keith Conners died of heart failure in Durham, North Carolina on 5 July, 2017. He was 84 years old. He was a Fellow Emeritus of ACNP, having been elected to membership in 1970. Keith is widely recognized as a pioneer in the methodology of pediatric psychopharmacology, beginning with his work in the early 1960s on use of amphetamines and methylphenidate in children with disruptive behavior disorders. When Keith presented the seminal study with methylphenidate to the American Psychiatric Association meeting in St. Louis in May 1963, the discussant commented ‘This study has what can be called the new look in methods of assessing the effects of drugs on human behavior… specifically the behavior of children.’ Over time, the condition carried several diagnostic labels— from hyperkinesis or minimal brain dysfunction to ADHD today.

Robert McCarley, 1937 - 2017 (PDF)

Bob was born on 17 August 1937 in Mayfield, KY, and came to Harvard College in 1955 on a full scholarship at the age of 18. Except for one year, he never left. He graduated Summa cum laude and was elected to the Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. He then spent one year as a Fulbright Scholar in Psychology at Johannes Gutenberg Universitaet, Mainz, Germany. He was also a National Scholar at both Harvard College and Harvard Medical School.

Jaak Panksepp, 1942 - 2017 (PDF)

Jaak graduated with a BS in Psychology in 1965 from the University of Pittsburgh and received his Master of Science (1967) and Doctor of Philosophy (1969) degrees in Psychobiology/Neuroscience from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. The title of his dissertation was The Neural Basis of Aggression. Upon receiving his PhD, he received post-doctoral research fellowships from NSF and NIGMS to continue his studies at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England, followed by a NIMH post-doctoral fellowship at the Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology, Shrewsbury, MA. Upon completion of his postdoctoral training, in 1972, he joined the faculty at Bowling Green State University as an Assistant Professor and within five years had been promoted to a full professor, followed by promotion to a Distinguished Research Professor of Psychobiology in 1988, which he continued as an emeritus faculty member since 1998.

Steven Ferris, 1943 - 2017 (PDF)

Our friend and colleague Steven H Ferris, PhD, was the consummate ‘gentleman scholar’, who was an active member of ACNP since 1982. He was internationally recognized for his contributions to the cognitive assessment, pathophysiology, and treatment of patients with age-associated dementia, particularly Alzheimer’s disease (AD).

Jeffrey Nye, 1959 - 2017 (PDF)

On 6 March 2017, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) as well as the broader neuroscience community lost one of its true luminaries, Jeffrey Scott Nye. A molecular pharmacologist, pediatric neurologist, and pharmaceutical innovator, Jeff made countless contributions in service to so many over the course of his distinguished career. Whether at the bench, the bedside, or the boardroom, Jeff exhibited a stunning intellect, personable manner, and business acumen that were as much innate as learned. Whatever the setting, he brought a virtually indefatigable energy and commitment to a host of noble causes, from scientific discovery and the care of patients, to the development of transformational new therapies and the collaborations required to realize them. Above all, Jeff will be remembered for the countless lives he touched, as a mentor, colleague, and friend.

Martin Katz, 1927 - 2017 (PDF)

Dr. Katz was born on 6 August 1927, in Brooklyn, received his AB in Chemistry from Brooklyn College, in 1949, and his PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of Texas, in 1954. Three years later, he held the position of Executive Secretary of the First Psychopharmacology Advisory Committee of the National Institutes of Health, which was instrumental in establishing a Psychopharmacology Service Center (PSC). It was at the PSC that he developed the Katz Adjustment Scales.