Mount Sinai Neuroscientist Awarded Two Prestigious Honors
Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience, Director of The Friedman Brain Institute, and Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, has been awarded two prestigious honors for his research and leadership in the fields of science and education: the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) Paul Hoch Distinguished Service Award and the Wilbur Cross Medal from the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
The ACNP awarded Dr. Nestler the 2017 Paul Hoch Distinguished Service Award at its 56th Annual Meeting in Hollywood, Florida, on Monday, December 4, 2017. Founded in 1961, the ACNP is a professional organization of more than 1,000 leading scientists, including four Nobel laureates, whose mission is to further research and education in neuropsychopharmacology and related fields. The Hoch Award recognizes unusually significant contributions to the organization. During his tenure as President of ACNP in 2011, Dr. Nestler was a critical advocate for enhancing the ACNP’s diversity and inclusion mission. He also streamlined the organizational structure of ACNP by eliminating some committees and consolidating others. Dr. Nestler’s hard work and tireless efforts helped to revitalize the organization.
The Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences bestowed on Dr. Nestler the Wilbur Cross Medal, the school’s highest honor, awarded to its most distinguished alumni for their outstanding achievements and contribution to society. The medal is named for Wilbur Lucius Cross, an alumnus of Yale College and the Graduate School (PhD, 1889, English), who was a scholar of distinction, a literary critic, the Dean of the Graduate School, a journal editor, and Governor of Connecticut. Alumni are honored with the Wilbur Cross Medal for achievements in one or more of the areas in which he excelled: scholarship and scientific discovery, public service, service to professional organizations, and teaching and mentoring. Dr. Nestler embodies leadership in all of those areas.
“It is not surprising that Dr. Nestler has been awarded these back-to-back high honors, as his contributions to scientific discovery, commitment to academic excellence for our students and faculty, success in administrative leadership, and service to his colleagues in the field are truly outstanding,” says Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs for the Mount Sinai Health System. “We are proud of and grateful for what he has achieved here at Mount Sinai and are so pleased that the ACNP and Yale University have recognized his leadership excellence.”
Dr. Nestler received his BA, PhD, and MD degrees, and psychiatry residency training, from Yale University. Prior to joining the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Dr. Nestler held leadership positions in Psychiatry, Pharmacology, and Neurobiology at Yale University and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, past President of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and immediate Past President of the Society for Neuroscience. The author of more than 500 publications and five books, Dr. Nestler strives in his research to better understand the molecular basis of drug addiction and depression. His research uses animal models of these disorders to identify the ways in which drugs of abuse or stress change the brain to lead to addiction- or depression-like syndromes, and to use this information to develop improved treatments of these disorders. Since Dr. Nestler assumed his current position at Mount Sinai in 2008, he has overseen transformational growth of the neuroscience community under the auspices of The Friedman Brain Institute.
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