Membership/In Memoriam/In Memoriam
In Memoriam
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Martin Adler, 1929-2022
Dr. Martin “Marty” Adler, Fellow Emeritus of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, passed away on July 5, 2022, at the age of 92. He grew up in Washington Heights, New York, and graduated from Bronx High School of Science and New York University. A veteran of the Korean war (1953-1955), his distinguished career in pharmacology began as a graduate student at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York where he earned his Ph.D. in pharmacology in 1960. He moved to Philadelphia in 1960 to join the faculty in the Department of Pharmacology at Temple University School of Medicine where he spent his entire career of over 60 years. He was elected a Member of ACNP in 1976. Marty was a tremendously talented and accomplished scientist. If we were to summarize his contributions, we would argue that he was “The Physiologist’s Opioid Pharmacologist” and a giant in his domain. His earliest work focused on the anti-convulsant effects of opioids, in which he made the seminal observation that lower seizure thresholds were part of the opioid withdrawal syndrome, a key finding that still has important relevance today. Marty also performed critical work in characterizing the effects of opioids on thermoregulation and analgesia, with a focus on identifying key roles for different opioid receptors and brain sites where opioids produce their neuropharmacological effects.
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George K. Aghajanian, 1932-2023
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.
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Bernard W. Agranoff, 1926-2022
Bernard W. Agranoff, Fellow Emeritus of ACNP died on October 21, 2022, at the age of 96. ‘Bernie’ was accepted into ACNP in 1968 and served on the Education and Training-, Program and Scientific Communications-, Credentials- and Constitution and Rules Committees between 1989 and 2001. Bernie was a giant in the field of neuroscience and made numerous seminal discoveries. In the mid-1960s, he was the first to demonstrate that protein synthesis was a prerequisite for the formation of long-term memory in goldfish. His ground-breaking studies, which were featured in an article in Scientific American and reprinted 100,000 times, was the stimulus for several prominent neuroscientists to enter the field. Bernie considered that neuroplasticity was essential for learning and memory and subsequently pioneered an optic nerve regeneration model to identify the biochemical mechanisms underlying the brain’s capacity to remodel itself. In addition, Bernie had a longstanding interest in the role played by inositol lipids in cell signaling events within the nervous system.
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Burton M. Angrist, 1936-2024
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).
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James B. Appel, 1934-2024
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.
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Thomas A. Ban, 1929-2022
Born in Budapest in November 1929, Tom studied medicine at Semmelweis University from 1948 to 1954 and trained in psychiatry at the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology from 1954 to 1956. He retired in 1995 as Professor of Psychiatry. In 1959 Tom published Psychopharmacology (Williams and Wilkins), the first textbook in the field. In addition, he was active in the American College of Neuropharmacology (ACNP), where he was accepted into membership in 1966 and ultimately became a Fellow Emeritus, and the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP).
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Charles L. Bowden, 1939-2022
Charles L. Bowden, MD made major contributions to our knowledge about pharmacological treatments for bipolar disorder. His entire career was spent as a faculty member of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, at which he ultimately became the chair. He retired in 2017. He published nearly 500 peer-reviewed articles on a variety of topics. His primary professional focus was on mood disorders, bipolar disorder, in particular. Prior to his research the only FDAapproved treatment for bipolar disorder was lithium, and there had been no placebo-controlled studies of lithium published for 20 years. Although there had been some research on several anticonvulsants for mania, his study was the first multicenter placebo-controlled trial of any treatment for mania.
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José Miguel Cañive, 1941-2021
José was born in La Habana, Cuba, on July 26, 1941. He left his native land shortly after Fidel Castro came to power and immigrated to Spain to study medicine. He received his medical
degree from Complutense University in Madrid, Spain, in 1966. José was truly a global citizen who spoke several languages and enjoyed world travel. He attained significant national and
international reputation and received many awards and honors. He was accepted for ACNP membership in 2010 and subsequently became a Fellow in 2016. -
Marc Caron, 1946–2022
Marc Caron, Member Emeritus of ACNP died on April 25, 2022 at the age of 75. Marc joined ACNP in 2004 and contributed through his career to the mission of the College, where he and his trainees frequently presented their work. Marc received his BSc in Chemistry from Laval University and his PhD from the University of Miami. His life’s work was to investigate the mechanisms of neurotransmitter transporters and GPCR receptors which could be exploited as potential pharmacotherapies for neurologic and psychiatric diseases including Parkinson’s disease, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, mood disorders and addiction. He began contributing to the field in his postdoctoral work which developed the first radioligand binding assay for the betaadrenergic receptor.
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Paula J Clayton, 1934-2021
Paula J. Clayton, MD died on September 4 in Pasadena, California after a short illness at the age of 86. She broke new ground in psychiatry in many ways —as a leading member of the Washington University group that revolutionized psychiatric diagnosis in America: as the first woman chair of major academic departments of psychiatry, and by her new findings on the diagnosis, clinical course, and treatment of depression. She was a beloved figure in psychiatry and a role model for the few women in psychiatry at the time in leadership roles or who aspired to them. She lit up any room that she entered with her warm smile, her sense of humor, and her sharp thinking.
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John Gary Csernansky, 1954–2022
John G. Csernansky, Fellow Emeritus of ACNP, died on May 23, 2022 at the age of 68. John was accepted into membership in 1987 and was a member of the council from 2010 to 2012. He was viewed as a transformative, thoughtful, and supportive leader by his faculty. He truly embodied a servant leader approach to his role as Chair. John dedicated his professional life to educating and training the next generation of clinicians and scientists. He mentored numerous students, residents, and faculty. He was consistently involved in teaching seminars to Northwestern’s psychiatry residents. When the current residents were asked to reflect on their experiences with John, they remarked they were grateful to have learned from such an inspiring and approachable physician scientist who regarded his role as an educator as a privilege. They looked to him as a role model who continued to be a lifelong learner regardless of his numerous accolades.
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Edward F. Domino, 1924-2021
Edward F. Domino, Ph.D., the pioneering neuropharmacologist and a coiner of the term “dissociative anesthesia” died on November 3, 2021 at the age of 96. At the time of his death, Ed was Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology at the University of Michigan, where he spent nearly all of his career. Ed’s early training in both electrical engineering and pharmacology set the stage for his later career studying the electrophysiologic effects of drugs. Ed and his collaborators pioneered the study of phencyclidine and ketamine. For many, Ed’s pivotal characterization of the behavioral and neural effects of the phencyclidine derivative, ketamine, stands as the key accomplishment of his career. Ketamine was shorteracting and less potent than phencyclidine. Ketamine’s ease of use, safety, tolerability, and antinociceptive effects have made it among the most successful human and veterinary anesthetic agents, globally. Ed’s seemingly limitless passion for scientific innovation led him to make contributions to many areas of science throughout his long career.
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Ronald S. Duman, 1954-2020
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 was the 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.
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S. J. Enna, 1944-2023
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).
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Dwight L. Evans, 1947-2022
Dwight Evans, MD, MS died unexpectedly at his home in Newtown Square, a suburb of Philadelphia, on November 19, 2022, at the age of 75. He graduated from Elisabethtown College, received an MS degree from Bucknell University, and his MD degree from Temple University. He received his psychiatry residency training at the University of North Carolina which was completed in 1979. He was quickly appointed to the faculty at UNC and I had the distinct pleasure of working with him, first at UNC and for the many years that followed. Dwight was remarkably understated as regards his own accomplishments, almost to a fault, as he spent much of his professional energy promoting the careers of his colleagues and mentees. He served as the chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Florida from 1992–1997 and was then recruited to lead the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, a position he held from 1997–2016. Having been one of the longest-serving psychiatry chairs in the history of Penn Medicine, he remained on the faculty as the Roehrhoff Professor of Psychiatry. His research accomplishments in the area of stress, depression, and more specifically in the psychiatric manifestations of HIV are manifold and he was continuously funded by NIMH with a recent successful competitive renewal of his center grant. He was a fellow of the ACNP and was accepted into membership in 1992.
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Jan Fawcett, 1934-2022
Jan Fawcett died on May 9, 2022 at the age of 88 following a long period of declining health. He was an extraordinary leader and innovator in psychiatry, primarily in the area of mood disorders. At the time of his death he was a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Many of his research contributions came from his work as principal investigator of the Chicago site of the Clinical Studies of the NIMH Psychobiology of Depression Research Program. Jan was an outstanding advocate for the mentally ill.
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Irwin Feinberg, 1928-2022
It is with great sadness that we share the news of the passing of Irwin (Bob) Feinberg, an outstanding scientist, mentor, and physician, on August 25, 2022, aged 94. His research career spanned more than six decades from his first publication in 1956 to his most recent in 2022. As one of the first to recognize the value of studying sleep, he was a founding member of the Sleep Research Society and a recipient of their Distinguished Scientist award in 1996. He was a Member Emeritus of ACNP, and was accepted into ACNP membership in 1981. His approximately 200 peer reviewed publications covered a wide range of topics from the mechanisms of hallucinations and models of sleep regulation to his theory on schizophrenia, which was 40 years ahead of its time.
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Donald M. Gallant, 1929-2020
Donald (Don) Gallant, M.D. passed away in Memphis, Tennessee on March 11, 2020 at the age of 90 years. Don was a Life Fellow Emeritus of the ACNP and a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans, LA, where he continued to carry out research and to teach medical students and residents until Hurricane Katrina destroyed his home in New Orleans. Don was the proverbial “triple threat”, a superb researcher, a compassionate, and effective clinician and an inspiring teacher and mentor. In an era of psychiatry dominated by extreme somatic therapies on the one hand and psychoanalysis on the other, Don nonetheless became one of the early “biological” psychiatrists convinced that schizophrenia and other major mental disorders had a molecular and metabolic basis and for his entire career embodying a very eclectic “medical model” of treatment intervention. Something routine today, but rare in his day.
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Frederick K. Goodwin, 1936-2020
Fred Goodwin was a fellow member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology since the late 1960s, and early 1970s. His informed talks at the annual meeting were not to be missed. His passion for his work, and the rigor of his critical thinking, were clearly influenced by his Jesuit education. His laboratory at NIMH was stellar in the quality of its science; and, in the excellence of the young scientists that benefited from Fred’s mentorship and guidance.
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Alan Ivan Green, 1943–2020
Alan Ivan Green, MD, a Fellow in the ACNP, was born in Norwalk, Connecticut to Dr. Howard and Irene Wouk Green. He was the middle of three boys, all of whom became physicians like their father. Alan attended public schools in Norwalk before matriculating at Columbia University (’65), majoring in History. He then attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (‘69). After first year, he took a summer elective at UCSF’s Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute where he studied patients profoundly impaired by substance abuse. The experience kindled his life-long interest in substance abuse and chronic mental illness.
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Roland R. Griffiths, 1946-2023
Roland Griffiths was born in Glen Cove, New York, and grew up in the Bay Area in California. After earning a degree in psychology at Occidental College, Griffiths moved to the University of Minnesota, where he received a PhD in 1972. He then moved on to Johns Hopkins as faculty, where he remained throughout his scientific career. At Hopkins, he would go on to make groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of the reinforcing properties of psychoactive drugs and to the clinical field of psychedelic research. At Hopkins, Griffiths and his team conducted rigorous studies that deepened our understanding of addiction by characterizing and comparing subjective, behavioral, and physiological effects of licit and illicit abused drugs. Ultimately, Griffiths was a scientist whose work made a difference far beyond the laboratory. By bringing a scientific ethos to the cultural problem of psychedelic research, Griffiths and his colleagues nurtured a renaissance.
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James C. Harris, 1940–2021
James C. Harris, MD, passed away in April after 50 years at Johns Hopkins as a distinguished clinician, educator, scholar, investigator, and advocate. Jim was Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and of Pediatrics, former Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, founding director of the Developmental Neuropsychiatry Program at Hopkins and Kennedy Krieger Institute, and a beloved mentor to many of today’s leaders in pediatric psychiatry. He was also a proud member and then fellow of ACNP, and on the organization’s ethics and history committees. While psychiatry director at Kennedy Krieger, Jim championed specialty clinics in developmental neuropsychiatry, and conducted research on self-injury among patients with Lesch-Nyhan syndrome and other disorders. His many contributions to the field include serving as lead author of the DSM-5 criteria for intellectual disability. He was a passionate and inspiring advocate for people with developmental disabilities, and his many roles included serving on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities during the Clinton administration.
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Robert M. A. Hirschfeld, 1943-2023
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.
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Oleh Hornykiewicz, 1926–2020
Dr. Oleh Hornykiewicz (1926–2020) was one of a rare handful of scientists familiar with the deep anatomical pockets of the human brain and capable of dissecting them out individually. This special ability made it possible for him to uncover the neurochemical abnormalities of various regions of the brain in Parkinson’s disease. Oleh entered the University of Vienna to study medicine and, on graduation, joined the Pharmacology Institute, combining clinical work with research into Wilson’s disease. From 1956 to 1958, he took a break from Vienna at Oxford University in England where his attention became focused on dopamine, a substance just becoming recognized as potentially important to brain function.
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Leslie L. Iversen, 1937–2020
Leslie Iversen, Ph.D. led an outstanding generation of UK neuropharmacologists. He excelled in every domain; leading intra-mural research of the Medical Research Council; heading a UK drug discovery unit for Merck; providing academic scholarship (at Oxford University) and consulting for Biotech and government, chairing the UK Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs Committee with characteristic calm and intellectual distinction.
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C. James Klett, 1926-2020
C. James “Jim” Klett, Ph.D., was a Fellow Emeritus for ACNP and a giant among the first generation of psychopharmacologists. Many of us know him best by the company he kept: Leo Hollister, Jonathan Cole, John Overall, Gerry Klerman, just to name a few. Jim’s passion was in statistics and clinical trials methodology. During his 25 years as Chief of the VA’s Central Neuropsychopharmacology Research Lab, he conducted multicenter clinical trials that made a difference in patient care. His study with Sam Kaim on alcohol withdrawal comparing four drugs, one still in use, was picked as one of NIAAA’s seminal articles on alcohol research.
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Stephen Hugh Koslow, 1940-2021
Stephen H. Koslow, ACNP Fellow Emeritus and member since 1977, unexpectedly lost his life on April 23, 2021. He had a most illustrious career and leaves an unusually large number of close colleagues and friends with whom he maintained close connections. Steve or “Koz” as he was known to many of us received his undergraduate education at Columbia University (BS) and his Ph.D in Pharmacology from the University of Chicago. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, he joined the intramural research program in the Laboratory of Preclinical Pharmacology and subsequently became the chief of the Unit of Neurobiological Applications of Mass Spectrometry in that group. This program based at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital was a hotbed of neuroscience and biological psychiatry research. It was there that Steve began his work as the principal investigator of the Clinical Research Branch Collaborative Program on the Psychobiology of Depression, a 6 center study, a 10-year program.Steve had the biggest heart. Behind a thin veneer of a dry sense of humor and occasional sarcasm, he was the MOST loyal of friends, through good times and bad.
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Mary Jeanne Kreek, 1937-2021
Mary Jeanne, a Fellow Emeritus in the ACNP, knew from an early age that she wanted to become a physician and scientist, but her first part time job was as a professional dancer. From the mid 1960’s to her death this year, Mary Jeanne never ceased to improve and develop methadone treatment. She was the key defender of this treatment that was proven to save lives and allow rehabilitation of heroin addicts. Throughout her career Mary Jeanne led the movement toward studying the genetic basis of opioid addiction. Her work was recognized by numerous awards including the top award from the College on Problems of Dependence, the Eddy Award in 1999. She also received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse in 2014.
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Brian E. Leonard, 1936-2023
With sadness, we mourn the passing of Prof. Brian E. Leonard, Emeritus Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Galway, Galway Ireland on December 27th, 2023 at the age of 87. Prof. Leonard was a Fellow Emeritus and was accepted into ACNP membership in 1983. Over a long and distinguished career, he has left an indelible mark on psychopharmacology research and teaching, most notably in the areas of depression and brain-immune interactions and in training generations across the globe. Among the many leadership positions he held included being President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) from 1986–1988. He was President of the Society for the Investigation of Stress from 1998–2000 and Deputy Chairman of the Lundbeck Institute for Neuropsychiatric Research from 2004–2011. He was President of the Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP) from 2004–2006 and was Chair of the Local Organising Committee for a very successful CINP meeting in Glasgow in 1998. He received the BAP’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008, the Arvid Carlsson medal for education from CINP in 2012; and the Kraepelin-Alzheimer medal for research and education from Munich University, 2012. He served on the Editorial Board of 6 international psychopharmacology journals and was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal Human Psychopharmacology from 1995–2000. PDF
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Robert T. Malison, 1959–2020
Robert T. Malison, M.D., professor of Psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine and a long-standing member of the ACNP died unexpectedly at the age of 60 on Saturday, July 25, 2020. Bob, an avid outdoorsman, cellist and tennis player, passed away peacefully in his bed after an acute cardiac event. At the time of his death, Bob was director of the Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit of the Abraham Ribicoff Research Facilities of the Connecticut Mental Health Center. He was leader of the Neuroscience Research Training Program (T32 grant), the neuroscience research track of the Yale Psychiatry Residency. He also led the Integrated Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Training (IMPORT) in Psychiatry (NIMH R25), and an addiction training grant based in Thailand. At the same time, he was principal investigator on two independent project grants (RO1s). Bob was a polymath translational neuroscientist and pioneer in addiction research. Bob was the recipient of a number of national and international honors. However, it is likely that his most treasured honor was being voted “Teacher of the Year” by the Yale Psychiatry Residents Association in 2010.
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Joe L. Martinez, Jr., 1944–2020
Joe L. Martinez, Jr., Ph.D. was an academic scientist in the areas of neuropharmacology and psychobiology, and a champion of diversity in science. Joe was retired from a long and notable career with his longest tenure at the University of Texas, San Antonio (UTSA), where he was the Ewing Halsell Distinguished Chair in psychology and the founder and Director of the Cajal Neuroscience Research Center, currently known as the UTSA Neurosciences Institute. Joe was an ACNP emeritus member. His research focused on the neurochemical and neurophysiological basis of learning and memory.
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Bruce McEwen, 1938-2020
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.
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William T. McKinney, Jr., MD 1937–2022
William T. McKinney, Jr., MD, became a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 1979. He was a Fellow Emeritus of ACNP. Bill McKinney’s career, efforts in research, teaching, writing, and advocating for a comprehensive biological model were extraordinary, as was the man. Shortly after Bill McKinney joined the faculty of the Psychiatry Department at University of Wisconsin in 1969, he was appointed to the scientific staff of the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center by then director, Dr. Harry F. Harlow. A comparative psychologist, Harlow had already received international acclaim for his pioneering studies of social-emotional development in rhesus monkeys. Dr. McKinney’s interests were similarly informed by comparisons across species. Harlow’s research had long been influenced by John Bowlby’s emerging ideas about attachment, in large part the product of an extended professional friendship between Harlow and Bowlby. Given McKinney’s impeccable academic credentials, Baylor (BA), Vanderbilt (MD), psychiatry residency at the University of North Carolina (2 years), and Stanford (1 year, so he could work with David Hamburg, MD, and Jane Goodall, PhD), and his keen interest in developing animal models of depression [1], Bill McKinney soon became an integral part of the research team, focusing on early social relationships among rhesus monkeys growing up in Harlow’s lab.
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Kenneth E. Moore, 1933-2024
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. PDF
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Norton Herbert Neff, 1935-2022
Norton Herbert Neff, ACNP Fellow Emeritus, died on September 5th, 2022, at the age of 87. He was elected to ACNP Membership in 1977 and became a Lifetime Fellow in 2003. Over his 42-year career, Norton made groundbreaking contributions to the field of neuropsychopharmacology. His pioneering work expanded our knowledge of brain biogenic amine systems and helped to establish the neurochemical bases of neuropsychiatric disorders and drug treatments as we know them today. By developing the techniques to measure monoamine metabolism, he contributed critically to our modern understanding of dopamine synthesis and turnover, demonstrating light- stimulated activity of tyrosine hydroxylase in the retina, and providing the first evidence for the regulation of aromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase, an enzyme involved in the treatment of Parkinson’s Disease. His characterization of monoamine oxidases demonstrated their role in biogenic amine metabolism and provided the foundational evidence for the use of MAO inhibitors as antidepressants. In other early work, he described the presence of angiotensin-converting enzyme in the brain, its role in regulating neuropeptide signaling and investigated GABAB, muscarinic, and adenosine receptor signaling.
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Ghanshyam Narayan Pandey, 1937–2022
Dr. Pandey was a Fellow Emeritus and was accepted into ACNP membership in 1981. Dr. Pandey completed his early education and his PhD in India followed by a post doc at the University of Pennsylvania. Over the last several years, Dr. Pandey focused his research on the neurobiological correlates of suicide. This primarily involved postmortem studies of brain tissue from patients who died of suicide obtained from brain banks around the world. His laboratory was best known for his work on the pharmacological and molecular aspects of monoamine neurotransmitter systems like serotonin and norepinephrine. The Pandey lab was among finest in the country with respect to preclinical studies into serotonergic and related signaling mechanisms and its role in the neurobiological underpinnings of depression and suicide. His research was consistently funded by the NIH, and he served as a member and chairman of several NIH Review Committees over the years. ‘Shyam’, as he was popularly known to his colleagues, received numerous awards from national and international organizations and scientific societies.
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Eugene S. Paykel, 1934-2023
Eugene Stern Paykel was born on 9 September 1934 in Auckland, New Zealand. His research work focused on affective disorders in which he made significant and far-reaching contributions to the study of both causes and treatments of depression, spanning the fields of epidemiology, community psychiatry, psychological therapy, and psychopharmacology. As a reflection of his research interest in psychopharmacology, he served as President of The British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) and The Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum (CINP), as well as being accepted into ACNP membership in 1981, eventually becoming Fellow Emeritus. He served on the Medical Research Council Neuroscience and Mental Health Board in the 1990s, was Vice-President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1987-1998, and received their highest honor by being elected as an Honorary Fellow in 2001. He also edited the prestigious journal Psychological Medicine from 1994 to 2006.
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Arthur J. Prange, Jr., 1926-2024
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. He was recognized for his pioneering research, largely focused on the bidirectional relationship of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid (HPT) axis and depression. PDF
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Donald S. Robinson, 1928-2022
Donald S Robinson MD, ACNP Fellow Emeritus, who passed away peacefully surrounded by family on September 26, 2022 at the age of 94 will be remembered not only for his very special personal characteristics and multiple contributions to the field of psychopharmacology as well as the ACNP, but also for his truly seminal role as one of the founding fathers of the emerging field of psychopharmacology. During his fellowship at the NIH Heart, Lung and Blood Institute in the late 60’s he became interested in clinical pharmacology and embarked on a long and productive research career in academia and industry. Don as one of the true fathers of the field of psychopharmacology that is central to the mission of the ACNP: bridging basic mechanistic studies of drug action to fully optimize the use of existing drugs as well as to forge a path to even better ones. In pursuit of these goals, he became a role model for many of us moving from academic careers to leadership positions in industry in order to discover and develop new medicines to treat a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders.
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Gian Carlo Salmoiraghi, 1924–2020
Gian Carlo “Nino” Salmoiraghi, D.Sc., MD, Ph.D., a Fellow Emeritus in the ACNP, had a long and distinguished career in medicine and science. He earned his medical degree from the University of Rome in 1948 and a Doctorate of Philosophy from McGill University in Physiology in 1959. His was a cutting-edge vision of bringing together a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines to focus on mental disorders at a time when the idea of a biological basis for a range of abnormal human behaviors was gaining traction and even the discipline of “neuroscience” was in its infancy. He was an outstanding mentor and role model. Many
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who served under him absorbed his talent for administration and became successful program leaders, institute directors, and department chairs in their own right. He will always be remembered for helping to pioneer the fields of neuroscience and neuropsychopharmacology and for his warmth, wit, and wise counsel. -
Philip Seeman, 1934-2021
Professor Philip Seeman MD, PhD, DSc FRSC, Order of Canada, an ACNP Member Emeritus, was a towering icon of neuropsychiatric research. Inspired by his beloved wife and psychiatrist Dr. Mary V. Seeman, Philip became intrigued with schizophrenia pathophysiology. With the advent of effective antipsychotic drugs (e.g., haloperidol), he surmised that their targets could guide the path towards illuminating the pathology of schizophrenia. Philip Seeman’s intangible traits – generosity, kindness, mentorship, friendship, equanimity, and humor – live on in the memories of those fortunate enough to have known him as a friend, a trainee, a colleague, an advisor, a collaborator.
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Larry J. Siever, 1947-2021
Larry J. Siever, MD, a pioneer in the study of personality disorders and a longtime leader in the Mount Sinai Department of Psychiatry and James J Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC), has passed away after a long illness. Larry’s work provided the scaffolding for a new way of thinking about personality disorders and has been internationally recognized for decades. His work led to the reconceptualization of personality disorders and, arguably, the elimination of a distinction between Axis I and Axis II in DSM-5. He published more than 350 peer-reviewed papers in work acknowledged by numerous awards, including being named “Presidential Scholar” and an award “In recognition of distinguished and pioneering contributions to the study of personality disorders” at the International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders in 2011. Though research, education and mentorship were ever at the core of Larry’s life’s work, there is much else to acknowledge.
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Barbara H. Stanley, 1949-2023
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.
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Torgny Svensson, 1945–2020
Torgny Svensson, M.D., Ph.D. was professor of Pharmacology at the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm. He was an internationally recognized psychopharmacologist and neurophysiologist who focused on monoamine systems. Torgny’s work shed light on the mechanism of action of antipsychotic and antidepressant medications and it suggested novel mechanisms to enhance treatment efficacy. Torgny was an active and devoted ACNP member. Over four decades, he enjoyed connecting with his wide international network of friends and colleagues at our meeting.
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John A. Sweeney, 1952-2023
Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, John Sweeney completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Cincinnati and Tel Aviv University and received his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Syracuse University. He completed postgraduate training at the Payne Whitney Clinic at New York Hospital and Cornell University Medical College in New York. He was elected as a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology in 2008 and went on to earn the distinction of becoming a Fellow and, eventually, a Fellow Emeritus in 2015. His advisory roles on several National Institutes of Mental Health scientific boards, editorial board memberships, and consultancy engagements with industry highlights his multifaceted expertise and influence within the field. John’s scholarly legacy is nearly impossible to describe, with more than 1000 articles, reviews, and book chapters, including over 500 peer-reviewed articles. His research intentionally crossed the boundaries of psychiatric disorders, including autism, Fragile X, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and anxiety, while also focusing on understanding neurodevelopment across the entire spectrum of life.
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Stephen I. Szára, 1923-2021
Stephen Szára, a Hungarian psychiatrist and chemist, often considered the “father of DMT” (N-N-Dimethyltryptamine), died on August 1, 2021. In the nineteen-fifties he became interested in the concept of model psychoses and the role of psychedelics in psychotherapy, and was the first to study the psychotropic effects of DMT, an alternative molecule he synthesized after Sandoz had declined to send LSD behind the iron curtain (arguing that such a powerful psychotropic drug might be dangerous if used unscrupulously). Branch in the Division of Preclinical Research. Dr. Szára was an Emeritus Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and Collegium Internationale NeuroPsychopharmacologicum. He was also recipient of the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration Administrator’s Meritorious Achievement Award and the Kovats Medal of Freedom from the American Hungarian Federation.
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Dona Lee Wong, 1946-2022
Dona Lee Wong, PhD, an ACNP member since 2002 and Fellow Emerita, died of complications from a stroke on Sept. 20, 2022. She was born and raised in the San Francisco area and was the first of her family to graduate from college. She received a B.S in Chemistry from Stanford University, where she was an accomplished amateur tennis player, retroactively inducted into the Block S Athletic Society, an honorific organization for Stanford Varsity athletes. She then received a M.S in Biochemistry from the University of California Berkeley. She returned to Stanford to carry out her thesis research for a PhD in Neuroscience in the laboratory of the late Roland Ciaranello, MD, a member of ACNP. She continued at Stanford in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences as a research associate and progressed to Senior Research Scientist and Director of the Pritzker Laboratory. Her research focused on investigating the role of stress on psychiatric illness as a consequence of altered gene expression of hormones and enzymes regulating adrenergic function. In 1999, Dona was recruited to McLean Hospital, to become the director of the Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Neurobiology and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She held this position until her retirement in 2016.
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Larry J. Young, 1967-2024
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.