Dr. Myrna M. Weissman to Receive the Alma Dea Morani Award
The Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation honors mental health expert
Myrna M. Weissman, PhD, renowned for her groundbreaking contributions to the mental health field, is the 2024 recipient of the Alma Dea Morani, MD Renaissance Woman Award, the highest honor bestowed by the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation.
Dr. Weissman is a Professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry in the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. She also serves as Co-Director of the Division of Translational Epidemiology and Mental Health Equity at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
Having earned her PhD in epidemiology from Yale University School of Medicine in 1974, she subsequently was a Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at her alma mater until 1987 and directed the Depression Research Unit.
Her research on understanding the rates and risks of mood and anxiety disorders using methods of epidemiology, genetics, and neuroimaging—and the application of these findings to create and test empirically based treatments and preventive intervention—has transformed her field and our understanding of mental health disorders.
Over the course of her innovative career, Dr. Weissman developed the first epidemiologic study of rates of clinically based psychiatric disorders in the United States—work that became a model and is now widely used outside of the U.S.
She collaborated with her late husband, Gerald Klerman, MD, to develop Interpersonal Psychotherapy, the first evidence-based treatment for depression.
Her current interest is in bringing psychiatric epidemiology closer to translational studies in the neurosciences and genetics, and on using electronic health records for research. She directs a three-generation study of families at high and low risk for depression. These families have been studied clinically for nearly 40 years and have participated in genetic and imaging studies.
Dr. Weissman has authored or coauthored more than 800 scientific articles and chapters, and 11 books. Her extraordinary body of work enjoys a global reach, too. According to Google Scholar Citations, Dr. Weissman is ranked as the 25th most-cited female in all fields of science in the U.S. and 34th in the world. Her newest book, Interpersonal Psychotherapy: A Global Reach, has just been published by Oxford University Press. It describes the use of Interpersonal Psychotherapy in 31 countries and the treatment success among diverse populations.
Dr. Weissman has been a consultant to many private and public agencies, including the World Health Organization, the White House Office of Science and Technology, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Science.
She has received numerous grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, Brain and Behavior Research Foundations, and other private foundations. Her ground-breaking work on depression and her impact on public health and public policy continues to be recognized by healthcare professionals with her growing list of accolades. Most recently, she was awarded the 2023 Mood Disorder Award from the American College of Psychiatrists for her “outstanding contributions to the understanding and treatment of mood disorders.”
The Foundation will present the Alma Dea Morani, MD Renaissance Woman Award to Dr. Weissman this fall at a virtual event hosted by the New York Academy of Medicine on October 8, 2024 at 4:00pm ET.
The ceremony will feature a talk by Dr. Weissman entitled “Rates, Risks, and Treatment of Depression: My Scientific Journey.”
The Alma Dea Morani, MD Renaissance Woman Award
Every year, the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation bestows the Alma Dea Morani, MD Renaissance Woman Award on a truly exceptional woman. The Foundation’s premier honor is awarded to a woman physician or scientist who has left a significant mark on history and pivotally advanced the future.
We cordially invite you to join the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation and the New York Academy of Medicine as we virtually fete Dr. Weissman and her extraordinary accomplishments on October 8, 2024 at 4:00pm ET. Register online here.