In Memoriam

Recent

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.

Thomas Lehner, 1960-2024 (PDF)

Dr. Thomas Lehner passed away on November 6, 2024, at the age of 64, leaving an extraordinary legacy in science and medicine. He had been serving as the New York Genome Center’s Scientific Director of Neuropsychiatric Disease Genomics and was a Professor in the Molecular Imaging and Neuropathology Division of the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University. He was a pioneering figure in neuropsychiatric genetics and genomics where his contributions have been monumental. Dr. Lehner was a Member Fellow and was accepted into ACNP membership in 2010. His groundbreaking work on the genetic basis of neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, and Alzheimer’s disease, advanced the field enormously. Throughout his distinguished career, Dr. Lehner became a driving force in unraveling the complex genetic interactions that contribute to brain function and neuropsychiatric conditions by innovations in large-scale genomic studies and his skill in building interdisciplinary consortia. Without such large consortia this progress would have been impossible. During his tenure at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Dr. Lehner masterminded the institute’s expansion of grant support for genomics consortia-based research, a visionary effort that elevated the study of neuropsychiatric genetics to new heights. At NIMH, Thomas developed thirty NIMH Research Initiatives and took the lead for NIMH on 6 Trans-NIH Research Initiatives.

Herbert Pardes, 1934–2024 (PDF)

Herbert Pardes, M.D., ACNP Fellow Emeritus, died on April 30, 2024, at his home in New York City at the age of 89. He was accepted into ACNP membership in 1982. Between 1978 and 1984, during the presidential administrations of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, Dr. Pardes was Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the United States Assistant Surgeon General. He had the opportunity to head the nation’s mental health agency at a time when it was vital to define for the first time the true prevalence of mental illnesses in society; to understand the extent and impact of mental and physical comorbidities; and to respond to the looming crisis of those with severe and often untreated serious mental illness. He was also an enthusiastic supporter of research in a dawning era of biological psychiatry deeply informed by neuroscience.

Timothy J Crow, 1938–2024 (PDF)

Psychiatry lost one of its most creative thinkers, Tim Crow, on November 10, 2024. He was a Fellow Emeritus of the ACNP and was accepted into membership in 1990. For 20 years he headed the Division of Psychiatry of the MRC Clinical Research Centre at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow, UK. Since 1994 he was the founding director of the Prince of Wales International Centre for SANE Research at Oxford University. Tim’s research had a major impact on our understanding of the nature of psychoses. He began with the electrical stimulation of brain cells and confirmed the projections of the locus coeruleus system to the cerebral cortex [1]. With Eve Johnstone and his colleagues at Northwick Park, in 1976 he published the first study reporting significant ventricular enlargement in patients with chronic schizophrenia compared to controls, a landmark study [2]. Later, Tim proposed a division of schizophrenia into Type I, with positive symptoms based on dopamine dysfunction and Type II, with negative symptoms based on brain structure [3], which led to much subsequent research examining the phenomenology of the schizophrenia syndrome.

George R. Breese, 1936-2024 (PDF)

George R. Breese, PhD, was a longtime faculty at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies. He joined the Bowles Center for Alcohol Studies in 1995 and was named a John Andrews Distinguished Professor in 2008. He retired from UNC in 2020. For much of his career, he studied the mechanisms of drug-induced changes in behavior, particularly antidepressants, stimulants, and alcohol. He trained countless scientists in his lab, many of whom continue to have productive careers. His passion for science was remarkable. He was always ready to talk about science and how to push ideas forward for better AUD treatments. He will be missed, but his work will continue to inspire us all. He was an ACNP Member Emeritus, having been accepted in 1973.

Klaus A. Miczek, 1944-2024 (PDF)

Klaus A Miczek, PhD, Moses Hunt Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Tufts University, passed away at the age of 79. Klaus obtained his BA from the Padagogische Hochschule in Berlin, and completed his PhD at the University of Chicago. After several years as a professor at Carnegie-Mellon University, he joined Tufts University, where he remained until his passing. Dr. Miczek joined ACNP in 1995 and was an engaged and active Fellow Emeritus member of the College. Klaus was known internationally for his seminal research on aggression.

Burton M. Angrist, 1936-2024 (PDF)

Burton (Burt) Angrist, a Member Emeritus who was accepted into ACNP membership in 1975, best known in the field for his early contributions to the dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia, died May 17, 2024. Burt’s descriptions of stimulant psychoses in humans led to translational work on schizophrenia in the context of the then emerging dopamine hypothesis using behavioral- and biochemical-pharmacology approaches in animals, and related approaches in humans (psychiatric symptomatology [positive and negative symptoms], neurological effects [akathisia, tardive dyskinesia, extrapyramidal symptoms], and neuroendocrine measures). Burt loved ACNP with a passion surely known by a handful of founding and early members but remarkable nonetheless. He attended all but a very few meetings from his acceptance to his death, and prepared assiduously beforehand for his own presentations, planned all the talks he would attend, whom to run with, swim or snorkel with, eat with, and drink with. For each of his many official and unofficial mentees he laid out personalized plans for the entire meeting with introductions to be made, symposia to attend, meetings to sit in on. Burt loved being amongst ACNP attendees, approaching them with his characteristic humility and respect. And he took great pride in organizing informal meetings at the bar to explore and resolve differences in the theory or practice of our science.

James B. Appel, 1934-2024 (PDF)

James B. Appel, PhD died March 8, 2024, just a few weeks past his 90th birthday. He was accepted into ACNP membership in 1970 and was a Fellow Emeritus at the time of his passing. Jim enjoyed a long and successful academic career. His formative years as an undergraduate at Columbia College inspired him to study Psychology at Indiana University where he obtained his PhD (1959/60). From Indiana, Jim moved on to the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University where he investigated the relationships between behaviorally active drugs and their neurochemical properties. Within this context, Jim’s research at Yale and subsequently at the University of Chicago focused on the behavioral characteristics of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) as well as a range of other drugs with similar characteristics (psilocybin). Jim’s seminal experiments with LSD revealed several important behavioral properties, such as their tendency to produce tolerance and to share stimulus characteristics. From the University of Chicago, he moved on to the University of South Carolina where he spent 30+ years and guided 16 students through to the completion of their doctoral degrees, received a MERIT award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and was named Distinguished Professor, much of these honors based on his elegant research revealing the power of well-developed behavioral assays to investigate pharmacological principles.

Larry J. Young, 1967-2024 (PDF)

The world of neuroscience and social behavior lost a titan with the passing of Larry Young, PhD, on March 21, 2024, a luminary whose contributions illuminated the intricacies of mammalian social connection. Dr. Young was accepted into ACNP membership in 2009. Larry completed his graduate training in zoology and received his doctorate with Dr. David Crews from the University of Texas. His tenure at Emory University, Atlanta, initially as a postdoc with Dr. Tom Insel, and then as a faculty member in 1996. One of Dr. Young’s most profound discoveries was the elucidation of neural mechanisms underlying social attachment. Beyond his scientific acumen, Dr. Young was revered for his generosity of spirit and dedication to mentorship. In addition to his groundbreaking research, Dr. Young was a prolific author whose writings bridged the gap between academia and the public sphere. In honoring Dr. Young’s memory, let us recommit ourselves to the pursuit of knowledge and the advancement of science for the betterment of humanity.

Arthur J. Prange, Jr., 1926-2024 (PDF)

Arthur J. Prange, Jr. died in Hillsborough, North Carolina on April 6 this year, at the age of 97. He was accepted into ACNP membership in 1965 and was a Fellow Emeritus at the time of his passing. His experiences there led him to enroll in a career in psychiatry and he was in the very first class of psychiatry residents at the University of North Carolina (UNC) beginning in July, 1954. Art remained in the UNC department for 40 years and he served as the Boshamer Professor of Psychiatry until retirement in 1994. He was recognized for his pioneering research, largely focused on the bidirectional relationship of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis and depression. He was the first to demonstrate the lack of physiological effects of antidepressants in hypothyroid rats, the efficacy of thyroid hormone (T3) to accelerate the antidepressant effects of tricyclic antidepressants and to recognize the extra-pituitary effects of thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) in the central nervous system.

Kenneth E. Moore, 1933-2024 (PDF)

Kenneth E. Moore, aged 90 years, died on January 9, 2024. He was an ACNP Fellow Emeritus and was accepted into membership in 1973. Ken obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in pharmacy from the University of Alberta and his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Michigan. He began his academic career at Dartmouth College. Subsequently, Ken was one of the first professors in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at Michigan State University (MSU), after joining in 1966. He chaired this department for 14 years. As professor emeritus, Ken continued to teach at MSU until 2001. Following his retirement, the department established the Kenneth Moore Distinguished Alumni Award in recognition of his devotion to training graduate students. His outstanding service to MSU was recognized in 1998 when Ken was awarded the Distinguished Faculty Award, one of the highest honors awarded to MSU faculty.