Myrna M. Weissman, PhD

2024 Alma Dea Morani Awardee

Dr. Weissman is a Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and Co-Director of the Division of Translational Epidemiology and Mental Health Equity at New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI).

Until 1987, she was a Professor of Psychiatry and Epidemiology at Yale University School of Medicine and Director of the Depression Research Unit and has also been a Visiting Senior Scholar at the National Academy of Medicine, Washington, D.C. She received a Ph.D. in epidemiology from Yale University School of Medicine in 1974.

Her research is on understanding the rates and risks of mood and anxiety disorders, using methods of epidemiology, genetics, neuroimaging, and the application of these findings to develop and test empirically based treatments and preventive intervention. She developed the first epidemiologic study of rates of clinically based psychiatric disorders in the US which became a model and is now widely used outside of the US.

Dr. Weissman’s 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 3-generation study of families at high and low risk for depression who have been studied clinically for nearly 40 years and who have participated in genetic and imaging studies. She directed a multi-center study to determine the impact of maternal remission from depression on offspring. She was one of the PIs in a multi-centered study to find biomarkers of response to the treatment of depression.

Along with her late husband, she developed Interpersonal Psychotherapy, the first evidenced-based treatment for depression that now has been translated into numerous languages. Her book Interpersonal Psychotherapy: A Global Reach describes its use in 31 countries, including several low-income countries. An international organization including trainers, educators and researchers from all over the world use and adapt the treatment.

Dr. Weissman has been a consultant to many private and public agencies and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. She has been the author or a co-author of over 800 scientific articles and chapters as well as 11 books. She has been the recipient of numerous grants from National Institute of Mental Health, Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and other private foundations. She has received numerous awards for her research. In April 2009, she was selected by the American College of Epidemiology as 1 of 10 epidemiologists in the United States who has had a major impact on public policy and public health. The summary of her work on depression appears in a special issue of the Annals of Epidemiology, Triumphs in Epidemiology, April 2009. In 2016, she was listed among the 100 most cited researchers. In 2020, she received the Brain and Behavior Pardes Humanitarian Prize. In 2021 she received the research prize from the American Psychiatric Association. In 2022 she received the George N. Thompson Women’s Leadership Award from the Society of Biological Psychiatry. In 2023, she received an award for “Outstanding Contribution to the Understanding of Mood Disorders” from the American College of Psychiatrists. According to Google Scholar Citations, her H index in 2023 was 175, and she was rated the 25th most cited female in all fields of science in the US and 34th in the world.

2024 The Alma Dea Morani, MD Renaissance Woman Award Event Details

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.”

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.