Promising New Investigators Winner Quotes Patient safety, as it relates to psychotropic medication regimens, is an area in which confusion and contradictory recommendations are common and evidence-based and practice-oriented information is limited, such that the educational need is great. Promising New Investigators serves to meet educational needs by raising the awareness of antipsychotic drug reactions and side effects, expanding the research findings with the hospital the author is affiliated with, and, using feedback from the judges who are experts in the fields edit the papers and submit them to peer-reviewed journals to be published. Here are quotes from past winners since 2005: 2007 First place: Dr. Martin T. Strassnig authored, "Weight gain in newly diagnosed first-episode psychosis patients and healthy comparisons: one year follow-up". “The scholarship has helped me to raise awareness about the increasingly important health problem of antipsychotic-associated obesity, and has given me the exposure necessary to convey this message to a larger audience.” Dr. Strassnig graduated from Karl Franzens University Graz in Austria, did post-graduate work in Germany and is now a psychiatry resident in General Adult Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Health Systems in Pittsburgh, PA.
Second place: Dr. Lauren H. Shin authored, "Management of atypical antipsychotic-induced obesity in children with psychiatric disorders". “Writing an article on childhood obesity was a struggle because there were not many child experiences with antipsychotics, so receiving the Promising New Investigators Travel Scholarship validated the time-consuming task for the work that I did.” Dr. Shin graduated from FUHS/Chicago Medical School, went on to intern at the University of Chicago Hospitals and is now doing a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Cambridge Hospital at Harvard Medical School. She got interested in research on side effects such as obesity from antipsychotic drugs at Harvard and was able to obtain a grant for study purposes from the APA Board of Research. First place: Ikwunga Wonodi, M.B.B.S., authored, “Tardive dyskinesia in children treated with atypical antipsychotic medications”. Second place: Paul Croarkin, D.O., authored, “Neuroleptic malignant syndrome in children and adolescents treated with atypical antipsychotics”. “Thank you again for the NMSIS Promising New Investigator Travel Scholarship. As a fellow, this competition stimulated much independent study, gave me the opportunity to raise awareness regarding Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome in pediatric patients, provided new professional contacts, and allowed me to attend two national meetings (the 2006 American Psychiatric Association (APA) from the NMSIS award funding and the 2006 American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (AACAP) annual meeting to present the paper as a poster with departmental funding). This presentation (NMS in children and adolescents treated with atypical antipsychotics) was well received at the annual AACAP meeting in San Diego. Senior researchers and clinicians were pleased to have someone raising awareness regarding NMS in children and presenting this information.” “Subsequently, I have been promoted to assistant professor on a clinical scholars track at University of Texas South Western Dallas Medical Center. I am pursuing publication opportunities, teaching, and writing grants for private foundation funding (NARSAD and Stanley Medical Research Institute). My interests are: polypharmacy in children, treatment resistant psychiatric disorders, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. Ultimately, I hope to launch two small projects this year, collect pilot data, and pursue a federal career development (K) award. The NMSIS scholarship has been a great asset as I transition to a research-oriented career in psychiatry.” Dr. Croarkin is at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He is currently revising and adding new information to his original manuscript for publication in a major psychiatric journal. 2005 First place: Dr. David Merrill was awarded first prize for “Adverse Cardiac Effects Associated With Clozapine”. “The scholarship gave me material resources to continue my research, raised awareness about an area of academic and clinical interest to me, and provided recognition for the hard work my colleagues and I had put into our research. I was, and am, very grateful…Ultimately, this may help to expand what we know about mental disorders and their treatment.”
Second Place: Dr. Christoph Correll for “Tardive Tourette Syndrome: Variant of Tardive “When you enter this competition, it forces you to get your thoughts, experiences and data down on paper and eventually get it published. It stimulates young investigators. The scholarship brought invaluable attention to the side effects, an area that was undeveloped in research. Having an award that focuses on drug safety has been very meaningful.” Dr. Correll is a research psychiatrist/scientist at The Zucker Hillside Hospital/Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Department of Psychiatry, Glen Oaks, New York
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