On October 28 and 29, NARSAD hosted three very exciting and important events in the mental health community. First, Thursday night was the 2010 Scientists’ Dinner honoring the 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award Winners, worldwide leaders in mental health research. The dinner took place at a beautiful hotel in Manhattan on the top floor in a room with an entire wall of windows (and a terrace) overlooking Central Park and much of New York City!

The 2010 NARSAD Outstanding Achievement Award Winners are:

• Ming T. Tsuang, M.D., Ph.D., D.Sc. from University of California, San Diego and Harvard Institute of Psychiatric Epemiology and Genetics
  Lieber Prize in Schizophrenia Research
• Lars Vedel Kessing, M.D., D.M.Sc. from University of Copenhagen
  Mood Disorders Research Prize
• Avshalom Caspi, Ph.D. and Terrie E. Moffitt, Ph.D. from Duke University and Institute of Psychiatry and Neuroscience/King’s College London
  Ruane Prize in Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Research
• · Robert C. Malenka, M.D., Ph.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine
  Goldman-Rakic Prize in Cognitive Neuroscience
• Stephen J. Glatt, Ph.D. from State University of New York, Upstate Medical University
  Sidney R. Baer Jr. Prize for Innovative Schizophrenia Research

Besides the spectacular view from the hotel ballroom, the night was defined by the speeches given by each of these incredible scientists. They spoke about the research they are currently conducting related to understanding the causes of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and other brain and behavior disorders with the goal of finding better treatments and preventive measures for mental illness. Having worked at NARSAD for over seven months now, the importance of this research and the research being done by every scientist in the field has never been clearer to me.

Friday morning consisted of the National Mental Health Research Symposium. This free event was well attended by the general public and offered a first-hand look at the impressive and broad range of scientific work being done to discover the causes of mental illness, in addition to developing new treatment options and identifying the pathways toward prevention and recovery. Each of the above award winners gave presentations about their work in the morning, followed by an afternoon session of current NARSAD Young Investigators explaining their innovative research projects.

Friday night’s National Awards Dinner, themed From Discovery to Recovery, wrapped up the events with a bang! Held at the Pierre Hotel in New York City, the large ballroom was packed with about 250 people. This esteemed guest list consisted of loyal NARSAD donors, family members, friends, some of the world’s leading researchers (including the 2010 Outstanding Achievement Award Winners leading Discovery), three highly accomplished individuals living with mental illness (demonstrating Recovery), and the NARSAD Board of Directors and staff team. During the dinner, the Outstanding Achievement Award Winners accepted their prizes, and Kay Redfield Jamison, Ph.D. Elyn R. Saks, Esq., Ph.D. and Andrew Solomon were presented with the 2010 NARSAD Productive Lives Awards. Throughout the night, NARSAD presented videos and photos on two large screens in the front of the grand ballroom, a first for NARSAD events…and certainly….not a last!

Overall, the three events were successful – the scientists were happy to receive their prizes and the honor that goes along with the awards, the public was grateful to receive such great information directly from the researchers themselves, and NARSAD was happy that the hard work of each and every employee paid off without a hitch (including the audio/visual presentations that I was responsible for!). If you missed these events, please stay tuned to the NARSAD Events page on the website for the latest details and sign up to receive eNews from NARSAD in order to hear about upcoming events before anyone else!

Photos coming soon…