Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in Psychiatry was launched in 1988. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The field of psychiatry is divided into 13 sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Journal's Editors and Section Editors for this issue. EDITORS David J. KupferFigureDavid J. Kupfer, MD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, USA, received his bachelor's (magna cum laude) and MD degrees from Yale University, USA. Following completion of an internship, Dr Kupfer continued his postgraduate clinical and research training at the Yale New Haven Hospital and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), USA. In 1970, he was appointed Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine. Dr Kupfer joined the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, USA, in 1973 as Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Director of Research and Research Training at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. He was promoted to Professor of Psychiatry in 1975. Between 1983 and 2009, Dr Kupfer served as Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, and Director of Research at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. During that time, he facilitated the coordination and expansion of investigations among the department's 200 faculty. Under Dr Kupfer's direction, WPIC became one of the nation's preeminent university-based psychiatric research centers as evidenced by the quality and number of publications as well as the amount of peer-reviewed federal funding for mental health research. A prolific writer, Dr Kupfer has authored or co-authored a combination of more than 1000 articles, books, and book chapters. Dr Kupfer's own research has focused primarily on long-term treatment strategies for recurrent mood disorders, the pathogenesis of depression, and the relationship between biomarkers and depression. In recognition of his contributions to the field, Dr Kupfer has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the A.E. Bennett Research Award in Clinical Science (1975), the Anna-Monika Foundation Prize (1977), the Daniel H. Efron Award (1979), the Twenty-Sixth Annual Award of the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital in Memory of Edward A. Strecker, M.D. (1989), the 1993 American Psychiatric Association Award for Research in Psychiatry, the 1996 Gerald L. Klerman Lifetime Research Award (jointly with Dr Ellen Frank), the Institute of Medicine's 1998 Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health, and the 2009 C. Charles Burlingame Award. He was the 2010 Litchfield lecturer at the Department of Psychiatry at Oxford University, UK, and the recipient of the 2010 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Julius Axelrod Mentorship Award. Dr Kupfer was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences in 1990. He is the Founding President of the International Society of Bipolar Disorders. Dr Kupfer chaired the American Psychiatric Association Task Force for DSM-5. Norman SartoriusFigureNorman Sartorius, MD, PhD FRPsych, served as the Director of the Division of Mental Health of the World Health Organization for more than two decades and during that time led work on diagnosis and classification of mental disorders and conducted several major international studies on schizophrenia, on depression and on health service delivery. Subsequently, Dr Sartorius was elected president of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) and after that served as President of the European Psychiatric Association (EPA). Dr Sartorius holds professorial appointments at the University of London (UK), New York (USA), St Louis (USA), Zagreb (Croatia), Beijing (China), and at several other universities. He is a Senior Associate of the Faculty of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, USA. He is the Chairman of the Standing Committee on Science, Education and Publications of the World Psychiatric Association. Dr Sartorius has published more than 400 articles in scientific journals, wrote, co-authored or edited more than 100 books. Dr Sartorius is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists and of the World Psychiatric Association, a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Corresponding Member of the Croatian Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the Spanish Royal Academy of Medicine and a honorary member of the Medical Academies of Mexico, Peru and Croatia, a Doctor of Medicine Honoris Causa of the Universities of Umea (Sweden), Timisoara (Romania) and of Prague (Czech Republic), a Doctor of Science Honoris Causa of the University of Bath, UK, Doctor of Psychology Honoris Causa of Copenhagen University (Denmark). He has received the Mahidol Prize for Medicine, the Rema Lapouse Award of the American Public Health Association, the Burgholzli Award and the Harvard Award in Psychiatric Epidemiology. He is an honorary fellow or member of numerous professional associations and advisory boards, both national and international. He is also a member of editorial and advisory boards of many scientific journals. He speaks Bosnian, Croatian, English, French, German, Montenegrinian Russian, Serbian and Spanish. SECTION EDITORS Sidney H. KennedyFigureDr Sidney H. Kennedy is Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, Director of the Centre for Depression & Suicide Studies, St. Michael's Hospital, and a Scientist at Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute and Krembil Research Institute, Toronto, Canada. Dr Kennedy is the lead investigator for a large depression biomarker initiative, the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network in Depression (CAN-BIND). He has published extensively on new drug evaluation, neuroimaging and neurostimulation therapies, personality factors in depression, antidepressant effects on sexual function and treatment guidelines for Major Depressive Disorder and Bipolar Disorder. Dr Kennedy is the founding chair of the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and co-lead in Guidelines for MDD and Bipolar Disorder. He has published more than 400 peer reviewed publications and 11 books on depression and related topics. Hans-Ulrich WittchenFigureProfessor Hans-Ulrich Wittchen is Chairman of the Institute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy and the Center of Clinical Epidemiology and Longitudinal Studies (CELOS) at the Technische Universitaet Dresden, Germany. He is also Honorary Professor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Munich, Germany, the Miller School of Medicine, Miami, USA, and Consultant to the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich, Germany. Trained in medicine and psychology at the University of Vienna, Austria, he received his PhD in clinical psychology in 1975 and his habilitation (Dr phil. habil.) in 1983 at the LMU. He worked in several clinical research positions at the Anton Proksch and Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Addiction Research (Vienna, Austria), the Central Institute of Mental Health and the University of Mannheim, (Mannheim, Germany), the World Health Organization (Geneva, Switzerland), the NIMH (Bethesda, USA) and the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (Head Clinical Epidemiology 1980–1990, and Director Clinical Psychology and Epidemiology Department 1990–2000). Dr Wittchen's research combines in a unique way the psychological sciences and neuroscience with epidemiological approaches as a “cornerstone methodology” in the field of disorders of the brain, with emphasis on the developmental pathways of anxiety, depressive substance use disorders as well as neurological and somatic disease. Major contributions to the field are particularly his studies on the size, the burden and the cost of disorders of the brain, “symptom progression and comorbidity models”, and the development of widely used novel diagnostic tools for mental disorders as well as somatic disease and neurological disorders. He also made major contributions to treatment and translational research with emphasis on innovative cognitive-behavioural interventions and the neuropsychological mechanisms of action. He is and has been PI and Co-PI of numerous national and international large-scale clinical consortia on the prevalence, incidence risk factors, course and outcomes of mental and substance use disorders (EDSP; NGS, DEGS, WMH) as well as treatment and intervention studies. Professor Wittchen received several awards and honours such as the Medvantis Research Award 2005. He served for many years as member of the ECNP Executive Committee (vice-president) and is member of several Advisory and Steering Committees (e.g. European Brain Council). He has published more than 750 peer review articles ranking (ISIhighlycited.com) among the top 100 most highly cited researchers in psychology/psychiatry/neurosciences. He is editor or on the editorial board of several peer review journals (e.g. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research, Psychological Medicine, Addiction, Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Behavioural Psychotherapy) and is author of many books and diagnostic instruments on mental and substance use disorders. Aleksandar JancaFigureDr Aleksandar Janca is Winthrop Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Western Australia. He also works as a Consultant Psychiatrist at Osborne Park Hospital and is Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre in Perth. Dr Janca currently holds adjunct professorial appointments at the Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, USA, and University of Novi Sad in Novi Sad, Serbia. Dr Janca finished his medical studies and specialist training in psychiatry and neurology in Yugoslavia. He started his international research career in 1987 as a Fulbright Scholar at the Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, Missouri. From 1991 to 1997 he worked as a Medical Officer at WHO Headquarters in Geneva and was responsible for coordination of a number of international research projects in the areas of psychiatric epidemiology; transcultural psychiatry; diagnosis, classification and assessment of mental disorders; and public health aspects of mental and neurological disorders. Dr Janca is an Individual Member of the World Psychiatric Association and Fellow of the British Royal College of Psychiatrists, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists, American Psychiatric Association and a number of other national and international professional organisations. Dr Janca's publication record comprises over 200 journal papers, books, book chapters, WHO documents and psychiatric assessment instruments. Charles B. PullFigureCharles B. Pull trained in France where he obtained a degree in Psychiatry as well as in Psychology from the University of Paris, France. He is a founding member and a Fellow of the Association of European Psychiatrists. He was the Secretary General of the association from1984 to 2000. He is presently an Associate Professor at the University of Luxembourg, and an invited Professor at the University Liège, Belgium. He also holds teaching appointments with the Universities of Lyon, France, and Vienna, Austria. He is Chief of the Clinique des Troubles Emotionnels at the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg and Head of the Laboratoire des Troubles Emotionnels at the Centre de Recherche Public Santé in Luxembourg. He is an Expert of the World Health Organization and has worked extensively with the Division of Mental Health of WHO under Professor Norman Sartorius. He is one of the authors of the chapter on Mental Disorders of the Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases or ICD-10. He coordinated the field trials of ICD-10 in French-speaking countries, and supervised the translation of ICD-10 into French. He has also been an advisor for DSM-IV, and was one of the chief translators into French of DSM-III, DSM-III-R, DSM-IV and the current DSM-IV-TR. He contributed in the elaboration of the Composite International Diagnostic Interview or CIDI, the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry or SCAN, the International Personality Disorder Examination or IPDE, and the second version of the Disability Assessment Schedule or DAS-II, and headed the translation of those instruments into French. Charles Pull is the author of over 200 scientific articles. Most of his research has involved work in the fields of nosology, classification, and assessment instruments. His current research projects include: the assessment of handicap and quality of life in anxiety disorders and eating disorders; a comparison of the efficacy between cognitive behavioural psychotherapy and virtual reality in specific phobias, including fear of driving and fear of flying; and the psychiatric and psychological assessment of subjects with morbid obesity presenting for obesity surgery.