Nancy Andreasen, MD, PhD, the Andrew H. Woods Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine, has been selected as the first recipient of the Vanderbilt Prize in Biomedical Science.

The new annual award was established by the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine to honor women who have significantly advanced the biological and biomedical sciences and contributed positively to the mentorship of women in science.

As the Vanderbilt Prize recipient, Andreasen will receive $25,000 and will have a scholarship established in her name to support a promising medical student or doctoral candidate beginning her studies at Vanderbilt. Andreasen also will serve on the thesis committee of the scholarship recipient.

A total of 48 nominations were received from across the country. Selection was based on scientific achievement demonstrated by published, peer-reviewed research, leadership in biomedical science and mentorship of other women in science.

"Our goal was to create an award that would both recognize an outstanding woman scientist as well as provide a career development opportunity for one of our students," said Steven Gabbe, MD, dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. "This is truly an investment in the future of women in science through the outstanding mentors, such as Dr. Andreasen, that the Vanderbilt Prize will provide for our students."

Andreasen, who also is director of the Iowa Mental Health Clinical Research Center, is one of the world's foremost authorities on schizophrenia. She was a pioneer in applying neuroimaging techniques to study the neural basis of major mental illness. Her work was among the first to suggest that schizophrenia is linked to abnormal brain development and that a decrease in the size of the brain's frontal lobe is associated with the "negative symptoms" of the disorder, including impaired cognitive function.

"I am deeply honored to be the first recipient of the Vanderbilt Prize for Biomedical Science," Andreasen said. "I am especially honored because this prize recognizes not only doing good science, but also the mentoring of other scientists. Helping to nurture the next generation of scientists is one of the most important things a senior scientist can do."

Andreasen's research has also provided insight into the brain mechanisms underlying language, emotion and the creative process. She led the first extensive empirical study of creativity and was the first to recognize the association between creativity and manic-depressive illness.

In addition to publishing numerous scientific articles, Andreasen has published 15 books, including a "brain trilogy" that educates the general public about neuroscience, mental illness and creativity. Her most recent book, "The Creating Brain: The Neuroscience of Genius," examines questions of creativity, including the influence of genes and environment and differences between extraordinary creativity and ordinary creativity.

Andreasen has received numerous awards, including the President's National Medal of Science, and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. She has also served as editor of the American Journal of Psychiatry, the leading journal in the field, for 13 years.

"Dr. Andreasen is a dedicated researcher and educator at all levels of medical training. She is a champion for women in science and has been an exceptional mentor to women pursuing scientific careers," said Jean Robillard, MD, dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine. "Dr. Andreasen also has made major contributions to the general public's understanding of mental illness and how the brain works. We are delighted that she is the first recipient of this distinctive honor from Vanderbilt."

Nancy Andreasen, MD, PhD

For more information:

Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine

Iowa Mental Health Clinical Research Center

Jean Robillard, MD

Campbell Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

University of Iowa researcher and renowned muscular dystrophy expert Kevin Campbell, PhD, the Roy J. Carver Chair of Physiology and Biophysics and head of the department, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, has been elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS).

The AAAS, a prestigious international society composed of leading scientists, scholars, artists, business people and public leaders, announced the election of 175 new Fellows and 20 new Foreign Honorary Members. These 195 men and women representing excellence in a diverse range of fields, join a current membership of approximately 4,000 American Fellows and 600 Foreign Honorary Members, including more than 170 Nobel laureates and 50 Pulitzer Prize winners.

Campbell, who has been on faculty at the Roy J. And Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine since 1981, is internationally recognized for his fundamental contributions to muscular dystrophy research. His discoveries of genetic and molecular causes of many forms of the disease have improved diagnosis of muscular dystrophies and provided a basis for developing new treatments of muscle disease.

"This is a tremendous honor for Kevin and wonderful recognition of his important contributions to muscular dystrophy research," said Jean Robillard, M.D., dean of the UI Carver College of Medicine. "It also highlights the fact that our faculty is made up of extraordinarily talented individuals, world-class scientists who choose to work here at the University of Iowa. We are very proud of Kevin's achievement and very fortunate to have him as a colleague and a teacher."

This year's new Fellows, who will be welcomed into the Academy at an induction ceremony Oct. 7 at the Academy headquarters in Cambridge, MA, will include former Presidents George H.W. Bush and William Jefferson Clinton, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Nobel Prize-winning biochemist and Rockefeller University President Sir Paul Nurse. Campbell received a doctoral degree in biophysics from the University of Rochester and a bachelor's degree in physics from Manhattan College. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the Banting and Best Department of Medical Research at the University of Toronto before joining the UI.

Campbell is director of the Senator Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center and has been an HHMI investigator since 1989. He is the UI Foundation Distinguished Professor of Physiology and Biophysics, and professor of internal medicine and neurology in the Carver College of Medicine.

Campbell, who has authored over 300 scientific research articles, has received numerous awards and honors for his research, including a Scientific Achievement Award from the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the ASBMB-Amgen Award, the Duchenne-Erb-Preis Award and an American Academy of Neurology Lecturer Award. He also is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

Campbell joins nine other UI faculty previously elected AAAS Fellows:

• Gerhard Loewenberg, Political Science
• Francois Abboud, Internal Medicine
• Nancy C. Andreasen, Psychiatry
• Willard Boyd, Law
• Donald Gurnett, Physics and Astronomy
• Linda Kerber, History
• James McPherson, Creative Writing
• James Van Allen, Physics and Astronomy
• Michael J. Welsh, Internal Medicine, Physiology and Biophysics

Founded in 1780 by John Adams, James Bowdoin, John Hancock and other scholar-patriots, the Academy has elected as Fellows and Foreign Honorary.

Members the finest minds and most influential leaders from each generation, including George Washington and Ben Franklin in the eighteenth century, Daniel Webster and Ralph Waldo Emerson in the nineteenth, and Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill in the twentieth.

Kevin Campbell, PhD

For more information:

American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS)

Paul D. Wellstone Muscular Dystrophy Cooperative Research Center