FACULTY Biographical Sketches

Course Directors:

Ellen Frank, PhD
Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Dr. Ellen Frank is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Director of the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.  She graduated from Vassar College in 1966 and received a masters’ degree in English from Carnegie Mellon University in 1967.  Her doctoral work in psychology was done at the University of Pittsburgh and completed in 1979.

Under a MERIT Award grant from the National Institute of Mental Health, Dr. Frank found Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy, a psychotherapy she and her colleagues developed for the treatment of bipolar disorder, was efficacious in the prevention of manic and depressive recurrence. She is currently conducting a joint study with researchers at the University of Pisa, Italy, aimed at deriving algorithms that will enable clinicians to determine whether a given depressed patient should be treated with medication or psychotherapy.

 An expert in mood disorders and their treatment, Dr. Frank was a member of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on DSM-IV and was Chair of the Food and Drug Administration Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Panel.  Dr. Frank is also a former member of the National Advisory Mental Health Council and the National Institutes of Health Panel on Scientific Boundaries for Review.  She is an Honorary Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.  In 1999, Dr. Frank  was elected to the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine.

Samuel Gershon, MD
Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

 Dr. Samuel Gershon joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh in April 1988, as Associate Vice Chancellor for Research in the Health Sciences, and Associate Research Director for the Neurosciences in the Department of Psychiatry.  He stepped down from this position in 1995 and assumed the position of Chairman of the Institutional Review Board, University of Pittsburgh.  Prior to his tenure with the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Gershon was Director of the Neuropsychopharmacology Research Unit at New York University for 16 years. He then assumed the position of Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Wayne State University and was also the Director of the Lafayette Clinic. He was a longtime recipient of NIH Research Support during his years as an investigator.

 Dr. Gershon’s career as a psychiatrist and investigator spans more than 50 years.  During this time he has published more than 600 writings and has won several prestigious awards including, among others, the Pfizer Scholarship for Medical Research Overseas, the American Psychiatric Association’s Rush Gold Medal Award and the 6^th ICBD Mogens Schou Award for Distinguished Service.  His area of specific interest and work encompasses psychopharmacological interest in various psychiatric areas.  He is currently the Co-Editor of Bipolar Disorders – An International Journal of Psychiatry and Neurosciences and has been since its inception in 1998.  He is also a founding Councilor of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and served as President from 2001-2005.  He is currently Vice Chairman for Academic Affairs at the Department of Psychiatry, University of Miami.

David J. Kupfer, MD
Thomas Detre Professor and Chairman
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

David J. Kupfer, M.D., Thomas Detre Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, received his bachelor’s (magna cum laude) and M.D. degrees from Yale University.  Following completion of an internship, Dr. Kupfer continued his postgraduate clinical and research training at the Yale New Haven Hospital and at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).  In 1969, he was appointed an assistant professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.  Dr. Kupfer joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh in 1973 as an associate professor of psychiatry and director of research and research training at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. He was promoted to professor of psychiatry in 1975 and became chairman of the department in 1983. Under Dr. Kupfer’s direction, WPIC has become one of the nation’s preeminent university-based psychiatric centers as evidenced by the quality and number of publications as well as the amount of peer-reviewed federal funding for mental health research.  For more than thirty years, Dr. Kupfer’s research has focused primarily on the conceptualization, diagnosis, and treatment of mood disorders.  He has written more than 930 articles, books, and book chapters that examine treatment in recurrent depression, the causes of depression, and the relationship between biomarkers and depression.

In recognition of his contributions to the field, Dr. Kupfer has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the A.E. Bennett Research Award in Clinical Science (1975), the Anna-Monika Foundation Prize (1977), the Daniel H. Efron Award (1979), the Twenty-Sixth Annual Award of the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital in Memory of Edward A. Strecker, M.D. (1989), the William R. McAlpin, Jr, Research Achievement Award (1990), the 1993 American Psychiatric Association Award for Research in Psychiatry, the First Isaac Ray Decade of Excellence Award (1994),  the Twelfth Annual Edward J. Sachar Award (1996), the 1996 Gerald Klerman Lifetime Research Award (jointly with Dr. Ellen Frank), the Institute of Medicine’s 1998 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health, and the American Psychopathological Association’s 1999 Joseph Zubin Award (jointly with Dr. Ellen Frank).  He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1990.  Dr. Kupfer is the Founding President of the International Society of Bipolar Disorders.  Dr. Kupfer chairs the Task Force for DSM-V.

Michael E. Thase, MD
Professor of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Professor of Psychiatry
University of Pittsburgh Medical Center
Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic

Michael E. Thase, MD is member of the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic for more than 23 years, he, has recently joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, where he is Professor of Psychiatry.  An active clinical investigator, Dr. Thase’s research focuses on the assessment and treatment of mood disorders, including the correlates of differential response to various treatments for depression and bipolar affective disorder.  A 1979 graduate of the Ohio State University College of Medicine, Dr. Thase is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy, and has been elected to the membership of the American College of Psychiatrists and the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology.  Dr. Thase has authored or co-authored nearly 500 scientific articles and book chapters, as well as 15 books.

FACULTY:

Peter C. Ashenden is a consumer/survivor and the Executive Director of the Mental Health Empowerment Project (MHEP).  He provides training to consumers/survivors and mental health professionals around New York State and has been active in starting many self-help groups.

He has been an active member of numerous boards.  He is a former Commissioner of the Certification Commission of USPRA (formerly LAPSRS).  He is an Executive Committee Member of the Board of USPRA. Additionally, he is an Executive Committee Member and the USPRA representative for the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NAPRS).  Peter is a past member of the CARF (the Accreditation Association) Board and a current member of the CARF International Advisory committee.  He is a former member of the Board of PEOPLe, Inc., the Mental Health Association of New York State (MHANYS), and is a past Treasurer for the Peer Accreditation Project of New York State.

Peter is certified by Mary Ellen Copeland to train recipients of mental health services in the Wellness Recovery Action Plan; a member of the Copeland Speaker’s Bureau; and is a member of the Advisory Committee to Mary Ellen Copeland’s Wellness Recovery Center.

William Ashdown received his education in Winnipeg, with a Bachelor’s Degree in History from the University of Winnipeg. Diagnosed with a mood disorder in the early 1970’s, he has been involved in the mood disorders patient and family movement since 1983, when Canada’s first mood disorder association was formed in Winnipeg.

 After a number of years in business management, he became the first Executive Director of the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba. Over twelve years, he built the fledgling organization into a network of eleven regional offices and 18 staff members. The Association became one of the largest and most influential organizations in the mood disorders self-help community in the world. During that time, he built and led a coalition of similar self-help organizations to achieve recognition, and an expanded permanent role within Manitoba’s healthcare system.

 
In 1995, he founded the Mood Disorders Association of Canada, and served as its first president. Originally set up to represent the various provincial mood disorders organizations across Canada, the organization was expanded in 2000, and its mandate broadened, to include all interested Canadians. At that time it was reincorporated and a new name, the Mood Disorders Society of Canada, was adopted. Currently he is the Vice-President of the Society.

Mr. Ashdown has recently completed his appointment as the Chairman of the Board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance. This organization is the largest organization of its kind in the world, with over 1,200 support groups and chapters, stretching over ten nations. Annually, the Alliance has contact with more than 5,000,000 individuals. Mr. Ashdown was the first non-American board member in the history of the Alliance.

Additionally, he serves on a number of boards for organizations in both Canada and the United States. He is a founding member of the Canadian Alliance for Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH), one of the strongest voices for mental healthcare in Canada. The alliance is made up of 18 national organizations concerned with mental illness and mental health.

Additional appointments have included: the External Affairs Committee of the International Society for Affective Disorders, the Physician Patient Outreach Committee for the International Society for Bipolar Disorders, the Provincial Advisory Committee for Mental Health, advising Manitoba’s Minister of Health, the Advisory Committee for the Canadian Psychiatric Association’s Mental Illness Awareness Week, and the Boards of the Manitoba Schizophrenia Society, the Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba and the College of Registered Psychiatric Nurses of Manitoba . As well, he sits on a variety of specialist committees and working groups involved in various aspects of mental health care.

An active commentator on mental health and illness issues, he has appeared extensively in the media and at conferences across North America and Europe. He has contributed to publications, including Maclean’s and Reader's Digest, and scores of newspapers, newsletters and journals. He has appeared before several Parliamentary Committees, and as an expert witness before the Courts.

He has developed a number of major programs and presentations on various aspects of mood disorders, and has participated in several educational videos on mood disorders in both Canada and the United States, including one with the legendary Walter Cronkite. As a peer counsellor, he has met and worked with many thousands of individuals and families over the years, in order to offer information, support and assistance. Based in Winnipeg, he divides his time between North America and Europe, working in the development of organizations for people with mood disorders and related illnesses.
 

David A.  Axelson, MD is an Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University Of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the director of the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Services (CABS) clinic.  Dr. Axelson received a B.A. in 1987 from Brown University and his M.D. in 1992 from the Duke University School of Medicine.  He completed a combined General – Child Psychiatry residency at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in 1997 and a post-doctoral research fellowship in child and adolescent mood disorders at the University of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine.  Dr. Axelson’s research interests include pediatric bipolar disorder, metabolism of psychiatric medications in the pediatric population, the neurobiological basis of mood disorders and treatment of mood disorders in children and adolescents.  He received a career development award from the National Institute of Mental Health and is currently a Principal Investigator on two multisite NIMH-funded treatment studies of bipolar youth.  He is also involved in studies examining the phenomenology of pediatric bipolar disorder and the longitudinal course of offspring of bipolar parents.  Dr. Axelson is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and serves as a reviewer for the American Journal of Psychiatry, Biological Psychiatry, and the Bipolar Disorder journal. 

Mark S. Bauer received his B.A. from the University of Chicago and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.  He is currently Professor of Psychiatry at Brown University and on staff at the Providence (RI) Veterans Affairs Medical Center, where he has also served as Chief of the Mental Health & Behavioral Sciences Services (1994-2000) and Acting Chief of Staff (1999-2000).

Dr. Bauer has received awards for research, teaching, administration, and clinical care.  He has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance for over a decade, has twice been named Exemplary Psychiatrist by the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, is a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society, and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.

 Dr. Bauer’s scientific focus for the last decade has been on developing and testing collaborative chronic care models to improve evidence-based treatment delivery for manic-depressive disorder and other serious mental illnesses.  A particular clinical trials interest is in structuring and implementing effectiveness trials.  Additional scientific contributions have included use of high dose thyroid hormone treatment for rapid cycling manic-depressive disorder, as well as improving assessment of phenomenology, and course in manic-depressive disorder. 

 Dr. Bauer’s main teaching focus, in addition to evidence-based assessment and treatment of manic-depressive disorder, has been in implementing biopsychosocial assessment and collaborative treatment planning in real-world clinical settings.  He has won the Outstanding Teaching Awards in Psychiatry both from the psychiatry residents and the medical students at Brown University, as well as the Irma Bland Award for Excellence in Teaching from the American Psychiatric Association.

Dr. Bauer is the author of two recent books on the assessment and treatment of major mental illnesses: The Field Guide to Psychiatric Assessment and Treatment (Philadelphia, Lippincott, 2003) and Structured Group Psychotherapy for Bipolar Disorder: The Life Goals Program, now in its 2^nd edition (New York, Springer, 2003) and translated into French and Spanish.  He has published over 100 scientific articles, including over 70 peer-reviewed publications, and has made well over 100 scientific presentations.

Brenda Bergeson, MD,  earned a masters degree in biological anthropology from Washington University in St. Louis and doctorate in medicine from the University of Illinois, Chicago. She completed her residency in family medicine. She was in private practice for several years before coming to the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).

 As Director of Scientific Affairs at DBSA, Dr. Bergeson works to ensure that consumers are provided with medically accurate and relevant information. She is involved in NIMH-sponsored studies focused on depression and bipolar disorder. She also helps develop and deliver DBSA training programs for consumers and providers. Dr. Bergeson’s interests include primary care behavioral medicine and provider communication.

Sue Bergeson is President of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA), the nation’s largest consumer-led mental health organization.  Over five million people seek hope, help and support from DBSA each year.  Since joining DBSA in 2000, Ms. Bergeson has dedicated her life to the organization’s mission: improving the lives of people living with mood disorders.    In addition to overseeing all staff, programs, publications, fundraising, operations and representing DBSA to the media and legislators, she works tirelessly on behalf of the consumer community as a member of various task forces and advisory boards including:

­              Psychiatric Leadership Project Advisory Committee, NCCBHP

­              Non RX Treatment of Depression Technical  Expert Group,  AHRQ

­              Task Force On Consumer Access To Emerging New Technologies, Open Minds

­              Annapolis Coalition on the Behavioral Health Workforce, Board of Directors

­              Advancing Signal Strength In Proof Of Concept Studies In Major Depression Consensus Conference

­              The Institute of Medicine Closing the Quality Chasm Mental Health Workforce Training Workgroup

­              The Campaign for Mental Health Reform

­              The SAMHSA Recovery Definition Task Force

­              The National Institute of Mental Health Advocacy Coalition

­              Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services Behavioral and Mental Health Subcommittee (YHP-HC)

­              The Rehabilitation Research & Training Center Advisory Board (RRTC), University of Pennsylvania

­              The Treatment Resistant Depression Registry Advisory Board

­              The ACETAP-COUNCIL, University of Illinois at Chicago, National Research and Training Center

­              The Coalition for Mental Heath Research Steering Committee, Center for Disease Control, Coordinating Center for Health Promotion, Partner’s Organization

­              The Grant Review work groups for the SAMHSA/CMS Recovery Infrastructure Grants

­              Patient-Centered Interventions for Mood Disorders, Group Health Cooperative’s Center for Health Studies, Center for Intervention and Services Research

Sue also oversaw the development of a model Peer Specialist Certification curriculum and training by the Peer-to-Peer Resource Center, a National Consumer Self-Help Technical Assistance Center funded under a cooperative agreement with CMHS.  A frequent speaker and author, she has presented on such topic as Patients as Partners: from Compliance to Alliance; Consumer Perspective: DSM, ICD, WHO, and Beyond; The Seven Dirty Words; Consumer use of Electronic Records; and has authored many articles and contributed to many books including The Physicians Definitive Guide to Mood Disorders, and Bipolar for Dummies. She has been featured by notable media including Newsweek, ABC’s The View, NBC’s Today Show, WGN radio, the LA Times among many others.   She publishes a weekly blog through Health Central, one of the most highly trafficked health portals on the web. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, as both a consumer and family member herself, Sue brings a strong and deeply personal commitment to the national mental health arena.

Wade Berrettini, MD, PhD is the Karl E. Rickels Professor of Psychiatry, at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He earned his MD (1977) degree and PhD (Pharmacology, 1979) from Thomas Jefferson University. After completing residency training in Psychiatry, he studied genetics of behavioral disorders at the National Institute of Mental Health. For the past decade, Dr. Berrettini has been the Director of the Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, a group of interdisciplinary scientists studying genetic and biologic influences on brain disorders and behavior. The author of more than 200 peer-reviewed scholarly publications, his research interests include genetics and pharmacogenetics of mood disorders, addictions, epilepsy and eating disorders. In addition to serving on the Editorial Boards of Neuropsychopharmacology, Molecular Psychiatry and the American Journal of Psychiatry, he has acted as a consultant to pharmaceutical companies, including GSK, J&J, Wyeth, Lilly, and Astra-Zeneca.

Boris Birmaher, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University Of Pittsburgh School Of Medicine, with board certifications in both general psychiatry and child psychiatry. He received his medical degree from Valle University in Cali, Colombia and completed his training in general psychiatry at the Hebrew University, Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel. He received his training in biological psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and training in child psychiatry at Columbia University, New York Psychiatric Institute in New York.

Dr. Birmaher is the Director of the Child and Adolescent Anxiety Program and Co-Director of the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Services at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. He is a well-known researcher in pharmacological and biological studies of children and adolescents with mood and anxiety disorders. Since 1989, Dr. Birmaher has received funding for numerous NIMH grants. Currently, Dr. Birmaher serves as the Principal Investigator for the following NIMH studies: 1) 2 RO1 MH059929: “Course and Outcome for Adolescents with Bipolar Illness”, that is aimed at describing the phenomenology, course, and associated factors in children and adolescents with bipolar spectrum disorder; 2) 2 RO1 MH060952: “Children of Bipolar Parents: A High Risk Follow-up Study”, that is aimed at studying the longitudinal psychopathology of children of parents with bipolar disorder compared with children of community controls; 3) 1 RO1 MH073953: “Longitudinal Assessment of Manic Symptoms” , that is aimed at evaluating the predictive value of early-onset manic symptoms in a large sample of children ages 6-12 years old and 4) U01 MH64003 “Child/Adolescent Anxiety Multimodal Treatment Study” in which acute efficacy is being compared among pill placebo control, pharmacological, cognitive-behavioral, and combination treatments.

Approximately eight years ago and with the support of Dr. David Kupfer, Chairman, Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Dr. Birmaher founded the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Services (CABS) program. The CABS program is a unique clinic in the United States that is solely dedicated to the assessment, treatment and research of youth with bipolar disorders and other severe mood problems.

Dr. Birmaher has published over 185 papers in peer-reviewed journals and also recently published a book for parents and clinicians entitled “New Hope for Children and Teens with Bipolar Disorder”. He has presented his research at numerous national and international conferences. Dr. Birmaher served as Chairman of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry’s (AACAP) Program Committee Institute Subcommittee and has twice hosted the AACAP Annual Review of Child Psychiatry course in Pittsburgh. The American Psychiatric Association recently named Dr. Birmaher a “Distinguished Fellow” in recognition of his academic, research and service work. In addition, Dr. Birmaher is the recipient of an endowment from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine to study early-onset bipolar disease.

Joseph Calabrese, MD is currently Director of the Mood Disorders Program at the University Hospitals of Cleveland, and Professor of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Calabrese is Co-Director of an NIMH-funded ‘Bipolar Disorders Research Centre, which is dedicated to the improvement of clinical outcomes in under-served populations of bipolar disorder, including those with rapid cycling, children and adolescents, adults currently abusing alcohol and/or drugs, forensic complications of bipolar disorder, those receiving care within community mental health centres, and older adults, and members of the Ohio Guard and Reserve. He is also Co-Director of a Health Resource and Service Administration-funded Dual Diagnosis Bipolar Centre of Excellence.

Dr. Calabrese has received eight research grants from the NIMH and Federal agencies and published over 250 peer-reviewed papers focusing on the phenomenology and treatment of bipolar disorder, with special emphasis on the development of the atypical antipsychotic agents and anticonvulsants in the short-term and long-term management of bipolar disorder. In 2004, Dr. Calabrese received the NARSAD Lifetime Achievement Award for his research in bipolar disorder, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2006.

Kiki D. Chang, MD, is Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, Division of Child Psychiatry. He is Director of the Pediatric Bipolar Disorders Clinic and Research Program, where he specializes in pediatric psychopharmacology and treatment of depression and bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. His research includes brain imaging, genetics, and medication and psychotherapy trials.

Dr. Chang graduated cum laude from Princeton University and received his M.D. from the Tufts University School of Medicine. He completed his general psychiatry residency at the University of Cincinnati and his child psychiatry fellowship at Stanford University. After a postdoctoral research fellowship, Dr. Chang joined the Stanford faculty in 1999.

Dr. Chang is the recipient of the 2003 American Psychiatric Association/ AstraZeneca Young Minds in Psychiatry Award. He has been the recipient of two NARSAD Young Investigator Awards, a 5-year Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health, and an RO1 award to study the genetics and brain functioning of children at high risk for bipolar disorder development.

Dr. Chang is the author of numerous papers and book chapters regarding bipolar disorder and has presented widely at national and international scientific conferences and meetings.

Mark Chavez received his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in Seattle. He completed his postdoctoral training at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center and was a research associate at the Monell Chemical Senses Center.  Since 2000 he has been a Health Science Administrator at the  at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), where he has worked in a number of Divisions within NIMH including the Division of Neuroscience & Basic Behavioral Science, the Division of Mental Disorders, Behavioral Research & AIDS. Currently he works in the Division of Adult Translational Research & Treatment Development where he manages the Divisions Institutional and Individual NRSA Research Training Programs, the NIMH Research Education awards, and the Mentored Research Career Development Programs. In addition, Dr. Chavez directs the Divisions Mood, Eating, and Sleep Disorders Programs, as well the Experimental Therapeutics & Side Effects Program.

Francesc Colom, PsyD, MSc, PhD received his Doctorate Cum Laude in Psychology and Master’s Degree in Social Psychiatry from the University of Barcelona (Spain), did Post-Graduate work in Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology at the University of Barcelona, and earned a Master’s Degree in Affective Neuroscience from the University of Maastricht (Netherlands).

 Dr. Colom is the Head of the Psychoeducation and Psychological Treatments Area at the Barcelona Bipolar Disorders Program (IDIBAPS- Hospital Clinic University of Barcelona), which has conducted the largest psychoeducation controlled single-blind trial with bipolar patients. The Barcelona Psychoeducation Program, designed by Dr. Colom and his colleagues, is now the strongest evidence-based psychoeducational program for bipolar patients.

 Dr. Colom has lectured all over the world and published almost 100 articles and book chapters on the subject of treatment compliance and psychoeducational issues in bipolar disorders. Dr. Colom has also authored 12 books on subjects related to affective disorders and their treatment with a  view toward increasing general knowledge about bipolar disorders. In Spain, he is a frequent contributor to radio programs focusing on mental health issues. Dr. Colom’s research work centers on assessment, pharmacological issues, and clinical issues such as comorbidity, personality and the cognitive and neuropsychological factors related to bipolar disorders and particularly hypomania.

 He was awarded the Spanish Association of Psychiatry prize for his work on comorbidity in bipolar disorders.  As part of the Barcelona Bipolar Disorders Program, he received a grant from the Stanley Research Foundation (Bethesda, USA). He also serves as a scientific consultant to the National Bipolar Disorders Association in Spain and is a member of the Board of Councilors of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders.  He is a referee and member of the editorial board of several peer-reviewed journals and co-chairs the Spanish edition of the journal “Bipolar Disorders”.  In addition to his other teaching responsibilities, Dr. Colom is privileged to hold an Honorary Senior Lecturer position at the Institute of Psychiatry of London. His book, Psychoeducation Manual for Bipolar Disorder (Cambridge University Press, 2006) has been published in four different languages.

J. Raymond DePaulo, Jr., MD is the Henry Phipps Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in 2002. He has been on the faculty in psychiatry at Johns Hopkins for 30 years where he has built clinical and research programs. His ongoing research includes genetic studies of bipolar disorder and unipolar disorder. His research group has identified several subtypes of familial bipolar disorder and is now involved in fine mapping, association, and candidate gene studies. He is also involved in a number of public educational efforts in mood disorders.

Besides his research, Dr DePaulo remains very active as a teacher and clinician. He founded the Affective Disorders programs at Johns Hopkins in 1977. He is also the author of two books for the general public, How to Cope with Depression (1989) and Understanding Depression (2002). A member of many professional societies and editorial boards, Dr. DePaulo has served on advisory committees of NARSAD, DBSA, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Wayne Drevets, MD received his B.S. in Biology from Wheaton College and his M.D. degree from the University of Kansas. He joined the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University Medical School where he rose to the rank of tenured Associate Professor. During these years he conducted positron emission tomography (PET) imaging studies of mood and anxiety disorders under the mentorship of Dr. Marcus Raichle. He moved to the University of Pittsburgh, where he continued to study brain imaging and acquired additional training in the application of PET to receptor imaging. In 2001, Dr. Drevets joined the NIMH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program as a Senior Investigator. He is currently involved in research employing PET and MRI technologies to better understand mood and anxiety disorders.

Rodney Elgie qualified as a lawyer in 1969 specialising in commercial law and remained in private practice until 199, rising to the position of senior partner of the practice in 1984.

Mr. Elgie suffered from clinical depression and joined Depression Alliance in the UK in 1992 and the Defeat Depression Campaign of the Royal College of Psychiatrists. He became the first Executive Director of Depression Alliance in April, 1994, and oversaw the growth of the registered charity from two staff and twelve volunteers with an annual income of £30,000 to one in 1999 of twenty staff, over two hundred volunteers and an annual income in excess of £750,000.

In 1999, he left Depression Alliance to head the Global Alliance of Mental Illness Advocacy Networks-Europe (GAMIAN-Europe) with specific responsibilities for raising the profile of mental health at a pan-European level through the European Parliament and the Commission and the implementation of training programmes for new mental illness advocacy groups operating in Southern and Eastern Europe. Currently, Mr. Elgie is the Executive Director of GAMIAN-Europe. Vice President of the European Men’s Health Forum, the Immediate Past President of The European Patients’ Forum and is on the Boards of the European Brain Council, EPPOSI and the International Society of Bipolar Disorders and a member of the EU Health Policy Forum, the EFPIA Think Tank, the Lundbeck Faculty Institute, The General Medical Council Patients’ and Public Liaison Committee, the Faculty of General and Community Psychiatry at The Royal college of Psychiatrists, The Healthcare Coalition Initiative and The British Association for Psychopharmacology.

Rodney Elgie has been engaged in numerous pan-European mental health surveys and had many papers published in medical journals.

Andrea Fagiolini, MD is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh. Dr Fagiolini received his medical degree, with highest honors, at the University of Pisa School of Medicine, Pisa, Italy. His residency was completed, also with high honors, at the University of Modena Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Modena, Italy. Since 1998, he has been in the Faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh where he presently serves as Medical Director of the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program and of the Bipolar Disorder Center for Pennsylvanians. Dr Fagiolini’s research primarily focuses on Bipolar Disorder and he is the author or coauthor of more than 40 peer-reviewed articles.

Sophia Frangou, MD, PhD was born in Athens, Greece in 1965 and graduate from the Medical School of the University of Athens, Greece in 1989. She then moved to the UK where she trained in General Adult Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital, London. In parallel with her psychiatric training she obtained a Masters Degree in Neuroscience from the University of London. She then trained at the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences at the Johns Hopkins University, USA, as a research fellow. She returned to the Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, UK in 1994 where she completed her doctoral degree on brain structural and electrophysiological markers of familial vulnerability to Schizophrenia. She has remained at the Institute of Psychiatry ever since and she now heads the Section of Neurobiology of Psychosis. She is also Sub-Dean of the Institute of Psychiatry and works as an Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist for the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust.

Her research work focuses on the investigation of the pathophysiological processes underlying psychosis using clinical, cognitive and neuroimaging techniques. Research into the aetiology and pathophysiology of psychosis is vital for providing a theoretical framework for developing long-term treatment strategies. She has therefore initiated and participated in a number of treatment studies of atypical antipsychotics and potential mood stabilizing medication and is also developing computerised and web-based applications for disease self-management. Her work has received international recognition and she has been the recipient of numerous awards since early in her academic career.

Dr. Frnagou is the Editor of “European Psychiatry”, the official Journal of the Association of European Psychiatrists (AEP) and is on the editorial boards of other international journals. Since 1996 she has been awarded over 20 grants from national and international peer-reviewed, competitive funding agencies (e.g. European Commission; Stanley Medical Research Institute, USA; National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression). She has published over 60 peer-reviewed papers, 5 book chapters and 2 books. Her book entitled “Schizophrenia” (Taylor and Francis), co-authored with Prof. RM Murray also from the Institute of Psychiatry, has been translated into Italian, German and Swedish.

 She is an external reviewer for the Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council and

Expert Evaluator for the Institut National de la Santé et de la Reserche Médical (Inserm), France and for the L'Agence Nationale de la Recherche, France. She is a member of the Council of the British Association for Psychopharmacology (BAP) and co-authored the BAP guidelines for the treatment of Bipolar Disorder. She is Secretary and founding member of the AEP Section of NeuroImaging and the European Chapter of the International Society for Bipolar Disorders.

Debra Frankel, LCSW is a trainer, supervisor and clinician at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Depression and Manic Depression Prevention Program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. She was originally trained in Interpersonal Psychotherapy in 1985 and has treated numerous mood disorder patients using this modality. Ms. Frankel helped to modify interpersonal therapy for bipolar disorder patients and has been training and supervising patients in IPSRT since 1991. She has participated in clinical trials involving both Interpersonal Therapy and Interpersonal and Social Rhythm Therapy. She serves as a training supervisor for research clinicians utilizing these techniques. She is a clinical supervisor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School in Psychology. She has a private practice specializing in mood and anxiety disorders. She received her undergraduate degree from Kenyon College in 1978 and master's degree at Columbia University School of Social Work in 1980.

Edward S. Friedman, MD: Upon his graduation from the Psychiatry Residency program at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 1989, Dr. Friedman joined the faculty of the Psychiatry Department as a clinician-educator, researcher, and clinical administrator.  He is the Associate Director of the Depression Research & Treatment Program, a research group that has the distinction of participating in many prestigious National Institute of Mental Health programs on mood disorders research.  Dr. Friedman also plays an important role in the education of all Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic Residents, teaching core courses in psychotherapy and pharmacotherapy.  Dr. Friedman is a nationally recognized expert in these areas and he has published widely on these subjects.  He serves as a reviewer on a number of psychiatric journals.  He is the principal investigator on a number of ongoing research studies in the areas of depression and bipolar disorder.  Dr. Friedman is a Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

Mark A. Frye, MD is a native of Rochester, Minnesota. He received his medical degree from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Frye completed his psychiatric residency at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and a research fellowship at the National Institute of Mental Health. From 1998-2006, Dr. Frye was the Director of the UCLA Bipolar Disorder Research Program.

Dr. Frye has recently joined the Mayo Clinic as a Professor and Consultant in the Department of Psychiatry. He is the Director of the Mayo Mood Disorders Research Program and a clinical scholar in the Samuel Johnson Genomics of Addiction Program.

His clinical interests are in bipolar disorder, depression, and alcoholism with a research focus on genomics, MR spectroscopy, and neuroendocrinology of major mood disorders and alcoholism. Dr. Frye was the recipient of the Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) Gerald Klerman Young Investigator Award in 2002. He has received research funding from NIH, The Stanley Medical Research Institute, The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and several pharmaceutical industries. He is an active educator having received numerous teaching awards while on faculty at UCLA and an active author publishing more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed publications such as the American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of Affective Disorder, Journal of Clinical Psychiatry and Biological Psychiatry.

Valentim Gentil, MD, PhD completed his medical studies and residency in Psychiatry at the Department and Institute of Psychiatry in São Paulo. He then was a post-graduate student at the Institute of Psychiatry and Maudsley Hospital in London, UK, where he obtained his PhD in Clinical Psychopharmacology under the supervision of Prof. Malcolm Lader. Back to Brazil, Dr. Gentil was assistant and then associate professor in the Departments of Pharmacology (until 1987) and Psychiatry (1986-current) of the University of São Paulo (USP). His teaching, clinical and research activities include work in the areas of diagnosis, treatment and psychophysiology of mood and affective disorders. He was Head of the Department of Psychiatry in 1992-96, and since 1994 he is Full Professor of Psychiatry. Between 1994 and August 2006 he was Chairman of the Institute of the Psychiatry, a 200 bed academic psychiatric facility within the 2000 bed medical centre of the USP Medical School. His current projects include a collaborative investigation of the psychological mechanisms of emotional regulation and appetite/weight control under antidepressants, and the development of an efficient programme for bipolar disorder prevention. He has published 70 articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and is a member of the editorial boards of Bipolar Disorders, Journal of Psychopharmacology, and Stress & Health, among others. He currently serves as Secretary/Treasurer at the International Society for Bipolar Disorders.

Elizabeth L. George, PhD received her bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Colorado in Boulder. She completed her residency at the Denver Veterans Administration Medical Center. Dr. George is a research associate at the University of Colorado-Boulder where she provides treatment, supervises, and continues to develop treatment outcome programs.

Dr. George has done extensive research in treatment development for bipolar disorder. She has spent 16 years involved in treatment outcome research for adult and adolescent bipolar disorder. She helped to develop Integrated Family and Individual Treatment (IFIT) for bipolar disorder. She co-wrote the manual for Family Focused Treatment (FFT) for adolescent bipolar disorder. Currently she is involved in an ongoing three site FFT treatment outcome study involving 150 families with an adolescent who has bipolar disorder. Dr. George and Dr. David Miklowitz have just finished a book for parents entitled The Bipolar Teen describing identification and treatment of adolescent bipolar disorder (available fall of 2007). In the coming year, Dr. George will begin development of a prevention treatment for youth at high risk for developing bipolar disorder. Dr. George also provides trainings and lectures on many aspects of the bipolar condition and it’s treatment including comorbidity and managing bipolar in the academic environment.

In addition, Dr. George has an active private practice that primarily focuses on treatment of bipolar II and the bipolar spectrum disorders. She continues to be interested in finding new ways to understand and treat this medically complicated illness.

Ariel Gildengers, MD is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. He is an active clinical investigator, whose research focuses on the assessment and treatment of bipolar disorder in older adults. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the New Jersey Medical School, and completed his post-graduate medical training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. Dr. Gildengers is the recipient of an NIMH K23 Research Career Award to investigate the relationship between bipolar disorder and cognitive functioning and is the Principal Investigator of a five-year longitudinal study examining cognitive functioning in older adults with bipolar disorder.

Jodi Gonzalez obtained her PhD in Counseling Psychology from the University of North Texas in 1999. Her internship and postdoctoral fellowship were completed at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, under the mentorship of Charles Bowden, MD in the area of bipolar disorder. As a psychotherapy clinician in the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder, she developed collaborations with Drs. Ellen Frank and David Miklowitz in psychotherapy research. Dr. Gonzalez was a co-investigator on the NIMH funded Latino Research Program Project. She is currently a co-investigator on two NIMH 5 year grants, and a principal investigator on a pilot project for an NIHM grant. She is a recent recipient of a NARSAD Young Investigator Award to study manualized psychodynamic psychotherapy techniques in complicated bipolar disorder. Areas of research interest are psychosocial treatment and psychosocial issues in bipolar disorder, attitudes toward mental health treatment, adherence to treatments, and the impact of ethnic/racial differences in each of these areas. Dr. Gonzalez works as an assistant professor at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Dr. Gonzalez is a licensed psychologist and provides individual and family psychotherapy with adolescents and adults, with an emphasis on individuals with bipolar disorder. She lectures and supervises medical students, psychiatry and psychology residents.

Lisa Goodale is Peer Services Director for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA).  Based in Chicago, DBSA is the nation’s largest consumer-directed mental health organization, offering help, hope, and support to more than four million people every year. 

Goodale directs the DBSA Peer-to-Peer Resource Center which promotes Peer Specialists and other consumer providers as an essential component of recovery-oriented mental health service delivery systems.  She regularly trains and certifies Peer Specialists using the Center’s nationally-developed training curriculum and speaks to gatherings of consumers and professionals throughout the U.S.  She is also a member of the Consumer Liaisons group to the Veterans Administration’s Committee on Care of Veterans with Serious Mental Illness.

Goodale is a graduate of Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois, and also holds a Master’s degree in social work policy, planning, and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  A licensed social worker, she is a member of the Social Work Examining and Disciplinary Board for the State of Illinois.

Guy Goodwin, MD trained in medicine and completed a DPhil in physiology at Oxford.  After training in psychiatry he was for 10 years Clinical Scientist and Consultant Psychiatrist in the MRC Brain Metabolism Unit in Edinburgh. Since 1996 he has been Professor of Psychiatry and head of the University department in Oxford. 

 Dr. Goodwin’s research interests are in the treatment of severe psychiatric illness and the application of neuroscience in understanding the neurobiology of mood disorder.  Currently, he is involved in projects on the neurobiology and genetics of vulnerability to mood disorder, the treatment of mania and the psychopharmacology of social cognition. He has also helped develop the basis for larger scale pragmatic clinical trials in bipolar affective disorder (BALANCE).

 Dr. Goodwin has served as a member of the Wellcome Trust Neurosciences Panel, the Council of the British Association for Psychopharmacology and the Clinical fellowships panel and Advisory Board of the MRC.  He was president of the British Association for Psychopharmacology 2002-2004.

 He has published over 200 refereed papers and book chapters. He has acted as a reviewer for numerous journals including the American Journal of Psychiatry, The Archives of General Psychiatry, and Biological Psychiatry.

 Dr. Goodwin remains directly involved in patient care, almost exclusively focused on bipolar disorders. 

Thomas R. Insel, MD, is Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the component of the National Institutes of Health charged with generating the knowledge needed to understand, treat, and prevent mental disorders. With a budget of over $1.4 billion, the NIMH leads the nation’s research on disorders that affect an estimated 44 million Americans, including one in five children.

Immediately prior to his appointment as Director, which marks his return to NIMH after an 8-year hiatus, Dr. Insel was Professor of Psychiatry at Emory University. There, he was founding director of the Center for Behavioral Neuroscience, one of the largest science and technology centers funded by the National Science Foundation and, concurrently, director of an NIH-funded Center for Autism Research. From 1994 to 1999, he was Director of the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center in Atlanta. While at Emory, Dr. Insel continued the line of research he had initiated at NIMH studying the neurobiology of complex social behaviors in animals. Early in his NIMH research career, which extended from 1979 to 1994, Dr. Insel conducted clinical research on obsessive-compulsive disorder, conducting some of the first treatment trials for OCD using the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) class of medications. He has published over 200 scientific articles and four books, including the Neurobiology of Parental Care (with Michael Numan) in 2003.

Dr. Insel has served on numerous academic, scientific, and professional committees, including 10 editorial boards. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine, a fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and is a recipient of several awards [A. E. Bennett Award from the Society for Biological Psychiatry, Curt Richter Prize from the International Society of Psychoneuroendocrinology, Outstanding Service Award from the U.S. Public Health Service, and a Distinguished Investigator Award from the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD)]. Dr. Insel graduated from the combined B.A.-M.D. program at Boston University in 1974. He did his internship at Berkshire Medical Center, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and his residency at the Langley Porter Neuropsychiatric Institute at the University of California, San Francisco.

Paul E. Keck, Jr., MD, is Craig and Frances Lindner Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati - College of Medicine and Executive Vice Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry. He was recently named President-CEO of the new Lindner Center of HOPE, a state-of-the-science, UC-affiliated comprehensive mental health center in Mason, Ohio. Dr. Keck’s program conducts research regarding the nosology, biology, course of illness, genetics, and treatment of bipolar disorder.  In addition, the program focuses on the development of new medicines to treat mood, anxiety, psychotic, eating, and impulse control disorders.

A magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Dartmouth College, Dr. Keck received his MD with honors from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY.  He served his internship in Internal Medicine at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York and completed his residency training in Psychiatry at McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA.  Dr. Keck remained on faculty at McLean and Harvard Medical School before joining the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati in 1991. 

Dr. Keck is the author of over 475 scientific papers and abstracts in leading medical journals.  He has also contributed over 150 reviews and chapters to major psychiatric textbooks.  Dr. Keck is the editor of the book Managing Depressive Symptoms in Schizophrenia and co-author of The Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome and Related Conditions (2^nd ed.), and Bipolar Disorder: Treatment & Management.  He serves on the editorial boards of 7 journals.  He also served on the American Psychiatric Association’s Workgroup to Develop Practice Guidelines for Treatment of Patients with Bipolar Disorders (1994 and 2001) and currently serves on the APA Institute for Research and Education.  Dr. Keck was a member of the FDA Psychopharmacologic Drug Advisory Committee.

Dr. Keck is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Gerald Klerman Young Investigator Award from the National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association (NDMDA); the Gerald Klerman Senior Investigator Award from the Depression & Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA); the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill (NAMI); the Philip Isenberg Teaching Award from Harvard Medical School; the Nancy C A Roeske Certificate for medical student education from the American Psychiatric Association; the Wyeth-Ayerst AADPRT Mentorship Award; two Communicator Awards for Continuing Medical Education; the Outstanding Physician Partner Award of the Postgraduate Institute for Medicine; and two Golden Apple Teaching Awards from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. 

He is listed as one of the Best Doctors in Cincinnati by Cincinnati Magazine; The Best Doctors in America, a directory of the top one percent of physicians in the United States as rated by their peers; and as one of the nation’s Best Mental Health Experts by Good Housekeeping Magazine.  Dr. Keck is also the Director of Scientific Development for the Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome Information Service (NMSIS).

Terence  Ketter, MD  received his medical training in Canada at the University of Toronto.  He completed his internship and psychiatric residency at the University of California San Francisco, and fellowship training in psychopharmacology and brain imaging in the Intramural Program of the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda.  Since 1995, he has been on the faculty at the Stanford University School of Medicine, in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, where he is Professor as well as the founder and Chief of the Bipolar Disorder Clinic. 

Dr. Ketter has done extensive research into the etiology, phenomenology, and treatment of bipolar disorder.  His etiologic research has focused on the use of brain imaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and positron emission tomography (PET) to better understand the neurobiology of mood disorders and to explore the possibility of using these techniques to more effectively target treatments for patients with bipolar disorder. His phenomenologic research has focused on the development and course of bipolar disorder in late adolescence and young adulthood, particularly in college students, and links between creativity, temperament, and mood disorders. His research into treatment has involved clinical trials of novel medications and combinations of medications in the treatment of bipolar disorder, with an emphasis on the use of anticonvulsants. 

Dr. Ketter has been the recipient of two Established Investigator Awards from the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD) and Stanley Foundation Research Award Program support, and is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.  He is the Principal Investigator of the Stanford site in the National Institute of Mental Health funded Bipolar Trials Network, and has participated in numerous foundation-funded and industry-funded bipolar disorder clinical research studies.  He has published extensively on the etiology, phenomenology, and treatment of bipolar disorder, including over 225 scientific articles and book chapters, and is the editor of the American Psychiatric Publishing, Incorporated volume “Advances in the Treatment of Bipolar Disorder”, and forthcoming volume “Clinical Manual of Bipolar Disorder”.  He is a member of editorial boards for numerous journals including Bipolar Disorders, the Journal of Affective Disorders, and the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

 Dr. Ketter has served as a reviewer and chair of the Veterans’ Administration Merit Review Committee, and as an ad hoc reviewer for the National Institute of Mental Health, the Medical Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation. Dr. Ketter also continues to take care of patients with bipolar disorder.  For his work as a clinician he has been awarded the Outstanding Faculty Physician Award by the Vaden Health Center at Stanford University.

Husseini K. Manji, MD is Chief, Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology, NIMH, and director of the NIMH Mood and Anxiety Disorders Program, the largest program of its kind in the world. He is also a visiting professor in the Departments of Psychiatry at Columbia University and Duke University. Dr. Manji received his B.S. (Biochemistry) and M.D. from the University of British Columbia. Following psychiatry residency training, he subsequently completed fellowship training in psychopharmacology at the NIMH and obtained extensive additional training in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the NIDDK. The major focus of his ongoing research is the investigation of disease- and treatment-induced changes in gene and protein expression profiles that regulate cellular plasticity and resilience in mood disorders. In broad terms, his laboratories’ scientific goals are to capitalize upon recent insights into our understanding of the signaling pathways mediating the effects of mood stabilizers, in order to understand the pathophysiology of severe mood disorders and to develop improved therapeutics. He has received ongoing research funding for his work on signaling pathways, plasticity and new medication development for severe mood disorders. Dr. Manji is a previous recipient of numerous research awards, including the A. E. Bennett Award for Neuropsychiatric Research, the Ziskind-Somerfeld Award for Neuropsychiatric Research, the NARSAD Mood Disorders Prize (Nola Maddox Falcone Prize), the Mogens Schou Distinguished Research Award, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP)’s Joel Elkes award for distinguished research, the Canadian Association of Professors in Psychiatry Award, the Henry and Page Laughlin Distinguished Teacher Award, the Brown University School of Medicine Distinguished Researcher Award, and the NIMH award for excellence in clinical care and research.

In addition to his research endeavors, Dr. Manji is also actively involved in medical and neuroscience education endeavors, and has served as a member of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NMBE) Behavioral Science Test Committee, numerous national curriculum committees, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Scholars Program Selection and Advisory Committee, NIMH’s promotion and tenure committee, developed and directs the NIH Foundation for the Advanced Education in the Sciences Graduate Course in the Neurobiology of Mental Illness, and has received both the NIMH Mentor of the year and Supervisor of the year awards. He has published extensively on the molecular and cellular neurobiology of severe mood disorders and their treatments, has authored numerous textbook chapters, and has edited a book on the mechanisms of action of antibipolar treatments. He is a Fellow of the ACNP, chairs the ACNP’s Task Force on New Medication Development, and is a member of ACNP’s Credentialing Committee. He is a member of the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Affective Disorders (NARSAD) Scientific Advisory Committee, National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI) Center on Practice & Research Advisory Committee, the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation Professional Advisory Council, and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation. Dr. Manji is editor of Neuropsychopharmacology Reviews: the next generation of progress, Deputy Editor of Biological Psychiatry, associate editor of the journal Bipolar Disorders, and sits on the Editorial Board of numerous journals.

Lauren B. Marangell, MD, is the Brown Foundation Chair of the Psychopharmacology of Mood Disorders in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where she is also Director of Mood Disorders. After completing her internship, residency, and chief residency at Albert Einstein College of Medicine/Montefiore Medical Center in New York, she spent three years at the National Institute of Mental Health as a Fellow and Senior Staff Fellow.   Dr. Marangell has received numerous awards, including the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally ill. She is lead author of Concise Guide to Psychopharmacology, published by The American Psychiatric Press, Inc., which has been published in 3 languages. She is a reviewer for the NIMH and the United Kingdom Medical Research Council and recently completed a term as a member of the FDA Psychopharmacology Advisory Panel. She is a member of the National Scientific Advisory Board for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance and is co-director of the NIMH Bipolar Trials Network.

Matthew G. Mattson, MS,  Director of Training for the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance’s “Making Recovery Real training Services,” designs and delivers educational training programs targeted to DBSA chapters, healthcare professionals, mental health organizations, and other individuals to Make Recovery Real.  In 2004, Matt joined DBSA as its Chapter Relations Manager to develop quality enhancement resources for the organization’s thousands of volunteer leaders.  His experience ranges from organization development to collegiate student affairs to non-profit management.  Matt has presented at mental health consumer conferences around the country, has authored a book on organizational recruitment, is an experienced public speaker, and actively works to advocate on behalf of people living with mental illness.  His owns personal experiences with long periods of depression, self-medication, fear, and the deep despair that comes with mental health challenges have driven him to use his abilities to speak publicly, train and empower others in an effort to improve the lives of people living with mental illness.  He holds a B.A. in Public Relations form Grand Valley State University and an M.S. in Education from Capella University with a specialization in Training and Performance Improvement.

David  Miklowitz, PhD is Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Colorado (Boulder and Health Sciences Center Campuses), and for 2006-2007 was a visiting professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University. He completed his undergraduate work at Brandeis University and his doctoral (1979-1985) and postdoctoral (1985-1988) work at UCLA. His research focuses on family environmental factors and family psychoeducational treatments for adult-onset and childhood-onset bipolar disorder.

 Dr. Miklowitz has received the Joseph Gengerelli Dissertation Award from UCLA (1986), Young Investigator Awards from the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research (1987) and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression (NARSAD; 1987), a Research Faculty Award from the University of Colorado (1998), and a Distinguished Investigator Award from NARSAD (2001). He is the recent recipient of the 2005 Mogens Schou Award for Research from the International Society for Bipolar Disorders.  He has received funding for his research from the National Institute of Mental Health, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Robert Sutherland Foundation.

Dr. Miklowitz has published more than 170 research articles and book chapters on bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and three books, including The Bipolar Disorder Survival Guide, a bestseller. His articles have appeared in the  Archives of General Psychiatry, the American Journal of Psychiatry, the British Journal of Psychiatry, the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, Biological Psychiatry, the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, and the Journal of Abnormal Psychology. His book with Michael Goldstein, Bipolar Disorder: A Family-Focused Treatment Approach (Guilford), won the 1998 Outstanding Research Publication Award from the American Association for Marital and Family Therapy. His latest book, also with Guilford, is titled Bipolar Teens: What You Can Do to Help Your Teen and Family.

Philip Mitchell MB BS, MD, FRANZCP, FRCPsych is Professor and Head of the School of Psychiatry at the University of New South Wales; Convenor of Brain Sciences UNSW; Chair of the NSW Mental Health Priority Taskforce; Consultant Psychiatrist, Black Dog Institute, Sydney; Guest Professor, Shanghai Jaiotong University; and Board Member of the Anika Foundation.

His research and clinical interests are in bipolar disorder and depression, with a particular focus on the molecular genetics of bipolar disorder, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for depression, and the pharmacological and psychological treatment of bipolar disorder and depression.

Professor Mitchell has published (in conjunction with colleagues) over 350 papers or chapters on these topics and is a member of an NHMRC-funded Program Grant on depression and bipolar disorder. He is an assistant editor of the ‘Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry’ and also serves on the editorial boards of ‘Psychiatric Genetics’, ‘CNS Drugs’, ‘Current Therapeutic Research’ and ‘Medicine Today’.

In 2002 Prof. Mitchell was awarded the Senior Research Award of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. In 2004, he received the Founders Medal of the Australasian Society for Psychiatry Research.

Professor Mitchell also serves on the NSW Health Care Advisory Council and the NSW Mental Health Implementation Taskforce.

Benoit H. Mulsant, MD, MS, is a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto and the University of Pittsburgh. For more than 10 years he served as the Associate Director of the Geriatric Psychiatry Fellowship Program and the Medical Director of the Electroconvulsive Therapy Service at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. He is now the Physician in Chief at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto where he is also the Clinical Director of the Geriatric Mental Health. Dr. Mulsant has authored and co-authored more than 250 journal articles and book chapters. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and he has been listed among the best geriatric psychiatrists in Best Doctors in America since 1996.

Dr. Mulsant has been and is currently a principal investigator for several federally-funded and industry-sponsored clinical research trials on psychiatric disorders in geriatric patients. Dr. Mulsant earned his MD from the School of Medicine, Laval University, Quebec; he completed his internship in internal medicine and neurology at Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, and Montreal Neurological Hospital, and his residency in psychiatry at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh. He is a Diplomate in Psychiatry, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, with added qualifications in Geriatric Psychiatry, as well as a member of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, the International Psychogeriatric Association, the American College of Psychiatrists, and a founding member of the International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology. He is a member of the Geriatric Psychiatry Committee of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and he serves on the editorial board of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry; he is also a reviewer for numerous academic journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, Archives of General Psychiatry, American Journal of Psychiatry, Journal of American Geriatrics Society, and the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Andrew A. Nierenberg, MD is Medical Director of the Bipolar Clinic and Research Program, and the Associate Director of the Depression Clinical and Research Program, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He is a graduate of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York. He did his residency in psychiatry at New York University/Bellevue Hospital in New York City. He then went on to become a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale University, studying clinical epidemiology. He continued his trek north to join the faculty at Harvard, first to direct one of the Affective Disorders Inpatient Units and then to direct the Affective Disorders Outpatient Unit at McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA. Dr. Nierenberg then joined the Psychiatry Department at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

He has published over over 200 original articles and 30 chapters and reviews, and has been listed among the best doctors in North America for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders since 1994. In 2000, he was awarded the NDMDA Gerald L. Klerman Young Investigator Award and two sequential NARSAD Independent Investigator Awards. In 2005, he was elected as a member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP). Dr. Nierenberg was involved in both the Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD) and the Sequential Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) NIMH contracts, two unprecedented clinical trials that will include thousands of patients with mood disorders. He is also the Principal Investigator for a three-site NIMH/NCCAM study of St. John’s Wort for Minor Depression.

As of 2005, Dr. Nierenberg became the Director of the NIMH Bipolar Trials Network, a new infrastructure for the next generation of bipolar disorder clinical trials. His primary interests are treatment resistant depression, bipolar depression, juvenile bipolar disorder, and the longitudinal course of affective disorders. Dr. Nierenberg lectures extensively, both nationally and internationally, teaches, maintains an active clinical practice, conducts clinical trials funded by the NIMH and industry, was a member of the NIMH Initial Review Group for Intervention Research, and peer reviews studies for multiple psychiatric journals.

Vishwajit Nimgaonkar, MD, PhD  is a Professor of Psychiatry and Human Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh. An attending psychiatrist at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Dr. Nimgaonkar also heads the Program in Genetics and Psychoses, which researches the genetics of psychotic illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and related illnesses.

With funds from the National Institute of Health, Dr. Nimgaonkar oversees several international research projects involving the recruitment of families with one of more ill persons, including large-scale studies in the United State and India. He is also working to expand collaborations established with investigators in Egypt and South Korea.

Dr. Nimgaonkar received his MD with honors from the University of Madras and his Ph.D. at the University of Oxford (UK). His clinical training includes residencies at the Maudsley Hospital, London, UK, and at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh.  Dr. Nimgaonkar’s post-doctoral work consisted of a fellowship in Molecular Biology at the University of London, UK.  He has also trained in Clinical and Molecular Genetics at the University of Pittsburgh.  Before joining the University of Pittsburgh faculty in 1991 as an assistant professor of psychiatry, Dr. Nimgaonkar was an honorary lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, UK.

 A member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry & Neurology, Dr. Nimgaonkar is the recipient of several honors, including a Rhodes scholarship, the NIMH Scientists Development Award for Clinicians (1992-1997) and the NIMH Independent Scientist Award (1998-2003).

 Dr. Nimgaonkar’s bibliography contains over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, review articles and abstracts.

Willem Nolen, MD, PhD (1948) studied medicine at the University of Leiden (1966-1973) and undertook his psychiatry training at the Bloemendaal Psychiatric Centre (now Parnassia) in The Hague (1974-1978). After his training he worked as psychiatrist in The Hague (1978-1993) and in Utrecht (1993-2004) where he was Professor of Psychiatry and primary investigator of the Utrecht site of the international Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network (1996-2003).

In Groningen he is head of the Department for Affective Disorders, scientific coordinator for the clinical studies in affective disorders and principle investigator for the Groningen site of the Netherlands Study on Depression and Anxiety (NESDA), a Dutch multi-center 8 years follow-up study in patients (n=2,850) with depressive and/or anxiety disorders.

His major research interest is mood disorders, both bipolar disorder and major depression, in which he is doing research on epidemiology, etiology, long-term course and treatment. A main part of his research has focused on the different pharmacological treatment options in bipolar and unipolar mood disorders and their place in guidelines and algorithms.

He has published over 300 papers, many of them in international journals or as chapters in international books.

He has been member of the editorial board of the Dutch Journal of Medicine (NTvG) and of the Dutch Journal of Psychiatry (TvP), is currently member of the editorial board of Bipolar Disorders and serves as editorial consultant for several international journals.

Sagar V. Parikh, MD, FRCPC is Deputy Psychiatrist-in-Chief at the University Health Network and director of Continuing Mental Health Education at the University of  Toronto, where he also is an associate professor of psychiatry.  Dr. Parikh is the author / editor of two books and over seventy peer reviewed articles and book chapters. Current major studies include a multi-site comparison of Psychoeducation versus Cognitive-Behavior Therapy in Bipolar Disorder, and a study looking at Atypical Antipsychotics in the Maintenance phase of BD, both funded by the Canadian Institutes for Health Research.   Research interests include clinical treatments in mood disorders, health services research, genetics, epidemiology, and educational research.  He also is a co-author of CANMAT treatment guidelines for Depression and for Bipolar Disorder,  Secretary of the International Society for Affective Disorders, and Head, Section of Affective Disorders, World Psychiatric Association.   A prolific speaker, he has presented over 400 CME events and been the course director for over 100 programs.  His teaching has won him three local, two national, and one international awards, most recently the Association of Chairs of Psychiatry Award for Excellence in Education  in 2005.

Mary Phillips, MD trained in Medicine at the University of Cambridge, UK and in Psychiatry at the Maudsley Hospital, London and Institute of Psychiatry, UK. She received a research training fellowship from the Medical Research Council (UK) to examine visual scan paths in schizophrenia. She subsequently developed a research interest in the application of functional neuroimaging techniques to the examination of the neural basis of emotion processing in healthy and psychiatric populations. She has, in particular, focused on the identification of neural correlates that underlie the symptoms of specific abnormalities in emotion processing in individuals with mood disorders. She became Professor of Neuroscience and Emotion and Head of Section of Neuroscience and Emotion within the Department of Psychiatry, Division of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College, London, UK in 2003. In October, 2004, she joined the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh as part-time Visiting Professor and Director of the Functional Neuroimaging Program, moving to become a Professor of Psychiatry in April, 2006. She maintains her position at the Institute of Psychiatry part-time. In 2006, Professor Phillips was awarded the Nellie Blumenthal Investigator by the National Alliance for Research in Schizophrenia and Depression and also became Co-Director of the Brain Imaging Research Center within Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. Professor Phillips now heads teams of dedicated researchers in the UK and the US, at both institutions. Professor Phillips has received numerous research funding awards, and has authored or co-authored over 100 publications.

Stephen Propst is the president of Depression Bipolar Support Alliance (DBSA) Metro Atlanta. DBSA Metro Atlanta facilitates support groups for persons with mood disorders as well as for their family/friends. Stephen publishes DBSA Metro Atlanta News and writes a bimonthly article, North Pole South Pole: A Cold Hard Look at the Hot Topics in Mental Health. He is also a contributing editor to bp Magazine in which his Mind Over Mood column appears regularly.

On a national level, he is Chair of the board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, Chicago, IL and a speaker on its Speakers Bureau. He also previously served on the board of NAMI Georgia.

Stephen has an MBA from Michigan State University and formerly worked as a consultant in the hotel/restaurant industry. Stephen has also volunteered for several organizations, namely Hands On Atlanta, a 25,000-member agency serving the community with over 200 projects each month. In 2000 and 2001, Stephen served as Chair of Hands On Atlanta Day, the largest volunteer service day in the nation.

Stephen uses his own personal experience with bipolar disorder and his ultimate recovery to impact audiences and change lives. Stephen has presented at conferences, trained pharmaceutical representatives and addressed medical school classes. He has spoken to corporate managers, civic groups and family/consumer organizations. Whether speaking to a large conference or a small support group, he impacts audiences with his open, honest style—and he does so with a sense of humor!

Stephen is also a personal consultant to persons confronted by mental illness. He helps families better understand these illnesses and patients move toward recovery.

Stephen’s attitude and approach to dealing with mental illness has made a profound change in his own life. Now, as a speaker and consultant, Stephen shares his experience with others. Stephen’s premise is simple and an integral part of his own recovery: The best way to help solve your own problem is to help others solve theirs.

Darrel A. Regier, MD, PhD has served for the past seven years as Executive Director of the American Psychiatric Institute for Research and Education (APIRE), as well as Director, Division of Research at the American Psychiatric Association (APA). APIRE is an independent 501(c)(3) Research Institute component of the APA, with its own Board of Directors and research mission in mental health services, health policy, epidemiology, and nosology/psychopathology research and research training. It also supports psychiatric education and other career development programs. A principle responsibility has been to coordinate the maintenance and revision plans for the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. This has involved coordinating a series of Research Agenda white papers and serving as Principal Investigator for an NIH Conference grant to review the research basis for mental disorder diagnoses. In 2006, he was named Vice-Chair of the DSM-V Task Force to work jointly with the Task Force Chair, Dr. David Kupfer.

Prior to taking this position, Dr. Regier completed 25 years at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), during which time he directed three research divisions in the areas of epidemiology, prevention, clinical research, and health services research. He initiated the development of several areas of research including national surveys of prevalence of mental disorders, mental health service use in primary care and specialty settings, the organization and financing of such services, and international programs on the classification of mental disorders with the World Health Organization. He served as the Scientific Coordinator/Director for four National Advisory Mental Health Council reports to Congress on mental health insurance parity, and was a section editor of the Surgeon’s General’s Report on Mental Health. In the international arena, Dr. Regier served as the mental health coordinator for the Health Committee of the U.S./Russian Commission on Science and Technology and remains as a consultant to the World Health Organization’s mental health initiatives.

Dr. Regier has been active as a reviewer and editorial/scientific advisory board member of numerous professional journals. He is currently the American Editor for the journal, Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology. He has also published over 150 articles, book chapters, and monographs.

Dr. Regier received his medical degree from the Indiana University School of Medicine and completed his medical internship at Montefiore Hospital in the Bronx. After a psychiatry residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)/Harvard Medical School, he completed his research training at the Harvard School of Public Health and a fellowship at MGH. At the completion of his NIMH service, Dr. Regier retired as a Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service.

Noreen Reilly-Harrington, PhD is a Staff Psychologist at the Massachusetts General Hospital Bipolar Clinic and Research Program and is an Instructor in Psychology at Harvard Medical School.  She is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania and Temple University and completed both her pre-doctoral internship and post-doctoral fellowship in cognitive-behavioral therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.  She specializes in the cognitive-behavioral treatment of mood disorders and has lectured both nationally and internationally on this topic.  She is a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy and co-authored “Bipolar Disorder: A Cognitive Therapy Approach” published by the American Psychological Association.  Dr. Reilly-Harrington served as the Clinical and Scientific Coordinator of the Psychosocial Pathway in the NIMH Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD) and was the co-leader of the Cognitive-Behavioral intervention delivered in STEP-BD (the largest study of bipolar disorder ever conducted).  Currently, she serves on the Executive Committee as the Director of Training and Assessments for the National Institute of Mental Health Bipolar Trials Network.  She has received research awards from the Society for Research in Psychopathology, Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, and Massachusetts General Hospital for her work examining the role of life stress and cognition on the course of bipolar mood disorders.  Dr. Reilly-Harrington is also involved in studies examining the application of cognitive-behavioral treatment for rapid cycling bipolar disorder and the use of innovative technology to improve the reliability of rating scales used in clinical trials.

Gary S. Sachs, MD is Associate Professor in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Clinical Assistant in Psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Sachs is the Director of the MGH Bipolar Clinic and Research Program, and Partners Bipolar Treatment Center.

Dr. Sachs earned his medical degree at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He interned in family practice and psychiatry at the University of Maryland Hospital in Baltimore and was a resident in psychiatry and Chief Resident in Acute Psychiatry Service at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Sachs served as the Principal Investigator of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIHM) Systematic Treatment Enhancement Program for Bipolar Disorder (STEP-BD), the largest treatment study ever conducted for bipolar disorder. He is principal investigator for the Cohen Family Foundation study, Inflammatory Markers in Bipolar Disorder, and the Erdman Fund study, Interventions for Ineffective Complex Chronic Care. Along with these, he is the Co-Investigator of two other NIMH studies: the Genetics of Bipolar Disorder Family Association Study, and the Validation of Interactive Computer Interview of Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). His research interests include psychopharmacology, chronobiology, clinical trial methodology and recurrent mood disorders.

Dr. Sachs serves on the scientific advisory board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, is Co-editor-in-chief of the Clinical Approaches to Bipolar Disorder and the editorial boards of Medscape and the Psychotic Disorders Review, among numerous others. He has authored over 150 articles, abstracts, books, reviews, and book chapters.

Dr. Sachs has received many awards, among them a Thouron Scholarship, a Dunlop Award for psychiatric research and writing, and a Dupont-Warren Fellowship at the Harvard Medical School. He is a member of numerous professional societies, including the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association and American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Ihsan Salloum, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences; Director, Addiction Psychiatry and Psychiatric Comorbidity Program; and Co-Director of the Mood Disorders Program at the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine.  He graduated from the University of Bologna School of Medicine, in Bologna, Italy. He completed his postgraduate training in Psychiatry at the Chicago Medical School, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. Subsequently, he joined the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism postgraduate fellowship training in alcohol research at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Department of Psychiatry of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr Salloum spent several years on the faculty of the University of Pittsburgh, where he held the position of Director of Research and Training for Addiction Medicine. Dr Salloum’s research interest has focused on addressing the diagnostic complexity of comorbidity as well as on developing treatments for comorbid conditions involving mood and addictive disorders. He is the recipient of grant awards from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Dr. Salloum is currently the Chair, Section on Classification, Diagnostic Assessment and Nomenclature of the World Psychiatric Association.

S. Charles Schulz, MD performed his undergraduate training at the University of Southern California where he received a Bachelor of Arts in history. Upon graduation, he attended UCLA Medical School where he received his MD, as well as, his psychiatric residency training. Dr. Schulz then became a clinical associate at the National Institute of Mental Health where he worked in the Neuropsychopharmacology Section at the Clinical Center.

From NIMH, Dr. Schulz moved to the Medical College of Virginia where he founded the Schizophrenia Program. His research interests focused on neuropsychiatric studies of teenagers suffering from schizophrenia, including CT research. He worked on the research team that demonstrated the efficacy of the “low-dose neuroleptic” strategy for borderline personality disorder. In 1983, he became Medical Director of the Schizophrenia Module at University of Pittsburgh where his research focused on treatment refractory schizophrenia. In 1986, he moved to the NIMH extramural program where he contributed to the National Plan on Schizophrenia Research and became Chief of the Schizophrenia Research Branch. Along with Dr. Carol Tamminga, he started the biennial International Congress on Schizophrenia Research. Also he received a Public Health Service Medal of Commendation for initiating the Public Academic Liaison (PAL) program.

Dr Schulz was Professor and Chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals of Cleveland from 1989-1999. His research interests were MRI imaging in adolescents with schizophrenia and bipolar illness. He also has been active in clinical trails with antipsychotic medications for schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder.

Since 1999, Dr. Schulz has been Professor and Head of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota. His research work has continued in psychopharmacology and brain imaging of borderline personality disorder. He is principal investigator of the MIND Institutes applied research program. He is active in community work with People, Inc., SAVE, MMHA, and NAMI.

Jan Scott, MD, FRCPsych, is Professor of Psychological Medicine at the University of Newcastle and an Honorary Professor at the Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, UK.  Professor Scott is a Distinguished Founding Fellow of the Academy of Cognitive Therapy.

Professor Scott trained in psychiatry in Newcastle upon Tyne and was a professor in Glasgow and London before returning to Newcastle.  Professor Scott also held visiting academic posts with Aaron Beck at the University of Penn in Philadelphia, and Eugene Paykel at Cambridge University. In 1988 she was also awarded the RCPsych traveling scholarship to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.

Her research focuses on combined treatment strategies for individuals with difficult to treat bipolar disorders, chronic and severe depressions, and treatment-resistant schizophrenia, and the investigation of psychosocial factors in the onset and prognosis of severe mood disorders.

Professor Scott has over 250 publications on these topics, and her grant income exceeds £5 million.  She also plays an active role in training mental health professionals in psychological therapies, is a member of a number of national and international committees and psychiatric journal editorial boards, is Vice-Chair of the MRC Mental Health and Neurosciences Board, is a trustee of the International Society of Affective Disorders and an advisor to the Manic Depression Fellowship

Gregory Simon MD, MPH is an investigator at Group Health Cooperative’s Center for Health Studies and a psychiatrist in Group Health’s Behavioral Health Service. He is also a Research Professor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington.

Dr. Simon’s research focuses on improving care for mood disorders, both unipolar depression and bipolar disorder. Specific areas of research include improving adherence to medication, increasing the availability of effective psychotherapy, evaluating peer support by and for people with mood disorders, suicide prevention, cost-effectiveness of treatment, comorbidity of mood disorders with chronic medical conditions, and the relationship between depression and obesity.

During the last 15 years, Dr. Simon has published approximately 250 scientific articles and book chapters. He chairs the the national scientific advisory board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance and serves on the editorial boards of several psychiatric journals.

Trisha Suppes, MD, PhD is Professor of Psychiatry at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, and Director of the Bipolar Disorder Research Program at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. Her areas of expertise and research include long-term treatment strategies for bipolar disorder, treatment for bipolar II disorder, use of treatment algorithms, and treatment of bipolar depression.

Dr. Suppes earned her BA in human biology at Stanford University in Stanford, California, her PhD in anatomy/physiology at the University of California at Los Angeles, and her MD at Dartmouth Medical School in Hanover, New Hampshire. After graduating, she completed her residency in adult psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. Her postdoctoral fellowship in neurology was conducted at Stanford University School of Medicine, and her clinical fellowship in psychiatry was conducted at Mclean Hospital in the Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts. She also completed a fellowship in neuroscience at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Suppes is the principal investigator on two NIMH sponsored R01s and an R21 focusing on treatment of Bipolar I or II disorders. She also serves as a consultant or investigator on three NIMH funded projects. She has received several grants from the Stanley Medical Research Institute to study novel treatments for bipolar disorder. Dr. Suppes also works with pharmaceutical companies in multi-site and investigator-initiated trials and receives medication for NIMH-funded projects.

Dr. Suppes is active in teaching and research. She has received two teaching awards from the UTSW Medical Center Psychiatry residents. Dr. Suppes currently serves as an associate editor on the American Journal of Psychiatry Editorial Board. She is on the Board of Councilors for the International Society for Bipolar Disorders. She is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance, the International Society for Affective Disorders, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and the Society of Biological Psychiatry’s Program Planning Committee. In 2004 she was elected to Distinguished Fellow in the American Psychiatric Association. She has authored or co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed articles.

Holly A. Swartz, MD received a bachelor's degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and her medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York. She completed her psychiatric residency at Payne Whitney Clinic-New York Hospital in New York City, and she joined the faculty of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical School in 1997. She is currently Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and an attending psychiatrist at the Depression and Manic-Depression Prevention Program of Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

Dr. Swartz's research, supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health and NARSAD, focuses on the development and evaluation of psychosocial interventions for the treatment of mood disorder.   Dr. Swartz's current projects include a study evaluating the role of psychotherapy in the management of bipolar ll disorder and a study evaluating the impact of maternal depression treatment on offspring with internalizing and externalizing disorders receiving psychiatric treatment.  Dr. Swartz received a 2001 Golden Apple Award nomination for her excellence in teaching psychiatry residents, a 2003 New Clinical Drug Evaluation Unit (NCDEU) New Investigator Award, and the  2006 Gerald L. Klerman Young Investigator Award  from the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance in recognition of her contribution to the understanding of the causes, diagnosis, and treatment of mood disorders.

Carol A. Tamminga, MD is a Professor of Psychiatry, Vice Chair of Clinical Research and Chief of Translational Neuroscience Research in Schizophrenia at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and holds the Communities Foundation of Texas Chair in Brain Science. There she directs clinical and preclinical research in schizophrenia focused both on understanding disease mechanisms and on developing improved treatments.

Dr. Tamminga graduated from Vanderbilt Medical School in 1971 and completed a Psychiatry Residency at the University of Chicago in 1975. After a Research Fellowship in Psychopharmacology in Chicago, she joined a schizophrenia research team at the NIMH for one year. In 1978, Dr. Tamminga began her faculty appointment at the University of Maryland, MPRC, where she developed the inpatient research programs. In February of 2003, Dr. Tamminga was appointed full professorship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School, where she conducts a clinical research laboratory, a human postmortem Brain Collection, and an in vivo Human Imaging Laboratory for normal and schizophrenia research. Dr. Tamminga has been the recipient of numerous federal foundation, and pharmaceutical-funded grants and continues to collaborate with the MPRC.

Dr. Tamminga was a member of an NIMH Extramural Research Review Committee for eleven years. She has been an ad hoc advisor to the NIMH Orphan Drug Program. She is on the Scientific Board of NARSAD and the Scientific Advisory Board for the Stanley Foundation. She has spent several rotations on the FDA Psychopharmacology Advisory Committee, and Chair of that committee from 1991 to 1994 and currently serves as Chair. In 1998 Dr. Tamminga was invited to be a member of the NIDA Board of Scientific Counselors and was elected into the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Tamminga has been the recipient of numerous awards in the field, most recently the University of Maryland “Research Lecturer of the Year.” She also received the Dean Award for Schizophrenia Research. She is the co-founder of the International Congress on Schizophrenia Research and continues to direct its activities. She has published over 300 papers and two books in the area of psychopharmacology, neuroscience, or schizophrenia. She has lectured nationally and internationally on treatments in schizophrenia and disease pathophysiology.

Eduard Vieta MD, PhD is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Barcelona, Spain, and Director of the Bipolar Disorders Program at the University Hospital Clinic. He also serves as Director of Neuroscience Research at the same institution. Professor Vieta’s research focuses on the neurobiology, epidemiology, and treatment of bipolar disorder. His program has been at the forefront of research in the area of novel treatments, both pharmacological and psychological, including atypical antipsychotics, antiepileptic drugs, novel compounds, and psychoeducation. His group, including his coworker Francesc Colom and many other senior scientists, has developed a specific intervention for bipolar disorder with a strong psychoeducational background that is being implemented in many centers worldwide, and their manual has been translated into 5 languages. Since 2001, Dr Vieta’s research program has been funded by the Stanley Medical Research Institute, Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and he currently leads the Bipolar Research Program at the Spanish Research Network on Mental Disorders. He has made significant contributions to many of the published bipolar disorder treatment guidelines, and has authored more than 150 original articles, 36 book chapters and 19 books on bipolar disorder. He sits on the editorial board of 15 international scientific journals and reviews articles for more than 20 others. In 2005, he received the Aristotle award from the International Society of Brain and Behavior, and in 2006 he was awarded as one in 4 best doctors in Spain for all medical specialties, in recognition not only to his research and teaching, but particularly his dedication to his patients.

Roger D. Weiss, MD received his medical degree at Tufts University School of Medicine and completed his psychiatry residency at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Massachusetts. He is currently Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Clinical Director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Program at McLean Hospital. Since 1980, he has focused his career on treatment and clinical research with substance-dependent patients. He has conducted studies of patients dependent on cocaine, opioids, and alcohol, and has been particularly interested in the treatment of patients with drug dependence and co-occurring psychiatric illness. For the past decade, Dr. Weiss has devoted much of his research to developing and testing a new group therapy, Integrated Group Therapy, for patients with bipolar disorder and substance dependence. He was also Principal Investigator for the Harvard site of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study and for the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism COMBINE Study.

Dr. Weiss is currently Principal Investigator of the Northern New England Node of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trials Network, and is leading a multi-site study of treatment of opioid analgesic dependence.

Dr. Weiss has been recipient of an Independent Scientist Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, served as the Vice Chair of the American Psychiatric Association Task Force on Practice Guidelines for Patients with Substance Use Disorders, and has served on the Committee for Added Qualifications in Addictions for the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. He previously was the Chair of the Research Section of the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry and he currently serves as a member of the Treatment Research Subcommittee Initial Review Group for the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Dr. Weiss has contributed to over 240 scientific publications related to drug abuse research, much of it related to the treatment of individuals with co-occurring psychiatric illness.

Katherine L. Wisner, MD, MS, is Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, Epidemiology, and Women’s Studies. She is also Director of Women’s Behavioral HealthCARE, at the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Wisner’s main focus is research related to the psychiatric treatment of women of childbearing age. She is recognized as an expert in the treatment of depression during pregnancy and the postpartum period, is widely published, and lectures nationally and internationally. She is a member of the Surgeon General’s Advisory Group for Mental Health and Women Project. Dr. Wisner completed the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine program and served as the President of women faculty at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. She is a Distinguished Member of the American Psychiatric Association and a Member of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology. Dr. Wisner served on the Committee on Research on Psychiatric Treatments of the APA, the Committee to Define Research to Inform DSM-V, and the FDA Committee on the Revision of the Classification System for Drug Use During Pregnancy and Lactation. She has been appointed to numerous NIMH study sections for the review of grants, and was a founding member of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board for multi-site studies. She received the Robert L. Thompson Award for Community Service from Healthy Start, Inc, in 2006. 

Dr. Wisner feels that her greatest qualification for her work is being the mother of two industrious daughters!  She is an avid gardener, and has 2 cats, a dog, and a rabbit.   She owns two Morgan horses and trains in dressage.

Lakshmi N. Yatham, MBBS, FRCPC, MRCPsych (UK), is Professor of Psychiatry and Associate Head of Research and International Affairs in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. His major areas of research interest include neurobiology and treatment of bipolar disorder and major depression. Dr. Yatham was a recipient of the Michael Smith Foundation Senior Scholar Award, and his work has been funded by a number of peer-reviewed funding agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canadian Psychiatric Research Foundation, Stanley Foundation, and National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression, USA. . Dr. Yatham leads a Canadian consortium on bipolar disorder, which is currently pursuing testing of new treatments for bipolar disorder using pragmatic and controlled trials with substantial funding from CIHR.

Dr. Yatham co-led the development of Canadian guidelines for treatment of bipolar disorder in 1997 and his group recently revised the guidelines for 2005 and these were published with International Commentaries in Bipolar Disorders Journal in June. He is Chair of the bipolar group of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT), and is actively involved at a national and international level in continuing medical education and public education on diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder for psychiatrists, family physicians, and the general public. Dr. Yatham is currently the President for the International Society for Bipolar Disorders and he is on the editorial boards of a number of journals including Bipolar Disorders, Brain Pharmacology, Human Psychopharmacology, Quarterly Journal of Mental Health etc. He has published over 140 papers in peer-reviewed international journals and presented his research work at numerous international conferences.

Allan Young, MD, PhD trained in Medicine and Psychiatry at the Universities of Edinburgh and Oxford.  He has held academic appointments at the Universities of Edinburgh, Oxford and Newcastle upon Tyne, latterly holding the Chair of General Psychiatry at Newcastle.  He currently holds the LEEF Endowed Chair in Research in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, where he is also the co-Director of the Institute of Mental Health.  His research interests focus on the cause and treatments for severe psychiatric illnesses, particularly Mood Disorders.  Professor Young has received research grant funding from the UK Medical research Council, the Wellcome Trust, the Stanley Medical Research Institute and numerous other funding agencies.  He has published over 150 Medline listed publications.