Three of Australia’s leading mental health researchers recognised with international Outstanding Ach

Three of Australia’s leading mental health researchers recognised with international Outstanding Achievement awards

24 September 2015

Three of Australia’s leading mental health researchers recognised with international Outstanding Ach

Leading researchers at Orygen, The National Centre of Excellence in Youth Mental Health are to be formally recognised for their outstanding work in the field of mental health research, by a prestigious USA-based funding organisation. 

Professor Patrick McGorry AO, Professor Michael Berk and Associate Professor C. Barnaby Nelson will travel to the USA in October to receive their prizes, awarded by one of the world’s largest private funders of mental health research, the Brain & Behaviour Research Foundation.

This is the first time that the Foundation has granted these prestigious awards to researchers working in Australia, with all three going to world-leading researchers working at Orygen. The three will join a distinguished list of previous award winners, which includes Nobel Laureates, and some of the world’s leading mental health researchers.

Photo of Professor Michael Berk

Professor Patrick McGorry AO will receive the 2015 Lieber Prize for Schizophrenia Research given in recognition of his distinguished contribution to the understanding of schizophrenia. Past Lieber Prize winners include world-leading schizophrenia researchers, including Nobel Laureates such as Dr. Arvid Carlsson and Dr. Paul Greengard.

‘I am personally humbled and proud to accept the Lieber Prize and equally proud to congratulate my colleagues Professor Michael Berk and Associate Professor Barnaby Nelson on the recognition given to their outstanding contribution to their fields of research in youth mental health. It is an honour to be the first Australian researcher to accept the Lieber Prize and I am very proud that three of the five Outstanding Achievement Prizes given annually by the Brain and Behaviour Research Foundation have this year been granted to researchers working at Orygen in Melbourne,’ says Professor McGorry.

Photo of Associate Professor Barnaby Nelson

Professor Michael Berk will be presented with the Colvin Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Mood Disorders Research. A prize awarded to an outstanding scientist carrying out work on the causes, pathophysiology, treatment, or prevention of affective disorders.

Associate Professor C. Barnaby Nelson will receive the Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research. A prize intended to boost the career of a young investigator and further the field of schizophrenia research.

Mr Peter Smedley, Chairman of Orygen says, ‘these awards are fantastic recognition of the vast contribution that Australian medical researchers, based at Orygen, have made to the scientific understanding of youth mental health. To have three of our senior academics receiving awards from such a prestigious entity indicates the global significance of the work we are doing at Orygen and the real impact it has had on improving treatments for young people with mental ill-health across the world.’

Professor Patrick McGorry, Professor Michael Berk and Associate Professor Barnaby Nelson will be awarded their prizes at an official awards dinner to be held in New York City, Friday October 23rd, 2015.