The New York Academy of Sciences will host a conference in New York City March 9-11 on advancing treatments for schizophrenia featuring many members of the NARSAD Scientific Council:

• Schahram Akbarian, M.D., Ph.D., University of Massachusetts
• Robert Buchanan, M.D., University of Maryland School of Medicine
• Marc Caron, Ph.D., Duke University Medical Center
• John Krystal, M.D., Yale University School of Medicine
• Mark Geyer, Ph.D., University of California, San Diego 
• Jay Gingrich, M.D., Ph.D., Columbia University Medical Center
• Jeffrey Lieberman, M.D., Columbia University Medical Center
• Bita Moghaddam, Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh
• Eric J. Nestler, M.D., Ph.D., Mount Sinai Medical Center
• Daniel Weinberger, M.D., National Institute of Mental Health

The NARSAD Scientific Council is a volunteer group of preeminent mental health researchers that leads the rigorous and competitive process of identifying the most promising ideas for NARSAD to fund in grant awards each year. 

From the event website: During the past decade there has been a marked decline in the number of novel drugs developed and approved for treatment of schizophrenia despite a significant investment in research and development by the pharmaceutical industry. The goal of this conference is to facilitate the translation of discoveries in basic neuroscience into the development of innovative pharmacological agents for the treatment of schizophrenia by convening and encouraging dialogue among clinical, translational and basic neuroscientists. Plenary sessions will include discussion of genetic and epigenetic approaches to studying schizophrenia; new molecular targets and approaches to small molecule therapeutics; and the relationship between genes, function, and clinical symptoms.

Go to www.nyas.org/events for event details. Hear from NARSAD scientists: some of the world’s leading experts on schizophrenia.

by Barbara Wheeler, NARSAD manager of communications and media relations