Psychiatric News May 6, 2005
Volume 40 Number 9
© 2005 American Psychiatric Association
p. 44
Lecture Series Features Leading Researchers
Geetha Jayaram, M.D.
Geetha Jayaram, M.D., is a consultant to APA's Scientific Program
Committee.
Current-day psychiatry includes a number of evolving concepts, from
structural neuropathology to psychodynamic psychiatry to community and social
psychiatry. The revolutionary advances in psychopharmacology, molecular
biology, functional brain imaging, and genetics have successfully brought
psychiatry closer to mainstream medicine. The psychiatrists chosen to
participate in the Distinguished Psychiatrist Lecture Series at APA's 2005
annual meeting in Atlanta represent excellence in these areas.
Eric Kandel, M.D., a professor of physiology and psychiatry at Columbia
University and the Nobel Prize winner in medicine in 2000, will talk about
animal models of psychiatric disorders, and the latest science in the
understanding of the brain, the nervous system, and human behavior. He will
discuss the impact of molecular biology, the mechanisms underlying the
developmental processes, and the pathogenesis of disease. His expertise is in
the cognitive neuroscience of perception, planning, motivation, and
memory.
Laura Roberts, M.D., a professor of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at
the Medical College of Wisconsin, has received numerous teaching awards. As
editor-in-chief of Academic Psychiatry, she has written extensively
on clinical and research ethics, informed consent, educational scholarship,
end-of-life care, and ethical issues arising in the care of people with a
stigmatizing illness. She has also investigated the role of frontier
clinicians vs. rural clinicians in mental health care delivery.
Stuart Yudofsy, M.D., a professor and chair of the Menninger Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Baylor College of Medicine, treats
psychiatric patients with neurological conditions resulting from, for example,
stroke or Parkinson's disease. A significant percentage of these patients
experience painful and disabling symptoms including aggression, agitation,
psychosis, depression, anxiety, apathy, and impairment of memory and
cognition. His pioneering work has focused on providing appropriate treatment
instead of sedation, which can have devastating consequences.
In his lecture Yudofsky will focus on neuropsychology and the future of
neurology and psychiatry, tracing the development of the two disciplines. He
will discuss how both scientific advances and cultural factors are compelling
the reintegration of the specialties. He will propose a model curriculum to
help psychiatric professionals benefit the patients we serve.
Robert Freedman, M.D., a professor and chair of the Department of
Psychiatry at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, is a
researcher in the application of basic findings in neurobiology and molecular
biology to the treatment of psychosis. Freedman's work is potentially
important in two ways: First, the new therapeutic target he has identified for
psychosis is hoped to result in the development of clinically useful new
treatment. Second, he hopes to pave the way for other investigators who want
to translate their ideas about neurobiology of mental illness to the bedside.
An expert in both neurobiology and clinical psychiatry, he observed that
people with schizophrenia are sensitive to sensory stimuli and conducted
studies that led him to a trial of a new nicotinic agonist in the treatment of
schizophrenia. This may be a way to reduce the very high levels of tobacco use
in these patients. In his lecture Freedman will discuss basic findings in
neurobiology and molecular biology for the treatment of psychosis.
Randolph Nesse, M.D., is a professor of psychiatry and director of the ISR
Evolution and Human Adaptation program at the University of Michigan. As
editor of the book Evolution and the Capacity for Commitment, he
explores the question of whether the capacity for making, assessing, and
keeping commitments has been shaped by natural selection. He explains why
natural selection has left humans vulnerable to so many diseases. He applies
these principles to the question of why humans are so vulnerable to
depression. Using an evolutionary framework, he has described the quest for
happiness, which has expanded from a focus on relieving suffering to promoting
happiness. His unique research focuses on the evolutionary origins of the
capacities for positive and negative emotions. He has focused on applying
psychological theory to the study of religion, the role of stress, and
adaptation in vulnerable patients. 
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