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 Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS James C. HarrisJames C. HarrisDr James C. Harris is the founding Director of the Developmental Neuropsychiatry program at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Kennedy Krieger Institute and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Pediatrics, Mental Health, and History of Medicine, USA. Dr Harris’ two volume single authored textbook, Developmental Neuropsychiatry, established the agenda for this emerging clinical specialty garnering the “Medical Book of the Year” award from Doody's Health Science Books. He is series editor for Developmental Perspectives in Psychiatry for Oxford University Press US and writes the section on Developmental Neuropsychiatry for the Oxford Textbook of Psychiatry. In 1983 he founded the Autism Clinic at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received the George Tarjan Award for outstanding leadership and continuous contributions in the field of intellectual disability from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and is the recipient of the Agnes Purcell McGavin Award for Distinguished Career Achievement from the American Psychiatric Association in recognition of his pioneering work in Developmental Neuropsychiatry. In 2011 he received the Leon Eisenberg Award from Harvard Medical School, USA, for outstanding leadership and stewardship in the field of mental health and disabilities. He is the 2015 recipient of the Frank J. Menolascino Award for Psychiatric Services for Persons with Intellectual Developmental Disorders and the 2017 recipient of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Catcher in the Rye Award for Life Time Steadfast Advocacy for Children with Psychiatric Disorders. His goal in working with children with neurodevelopmental disabilities has focused on helping each child to reach his or her individual potential believing, as he does, that all children are capable of personal self-expression and growth. Perminder S. SachdevPerminder S. SachdevDr Perminder S. Sachdev is Scientia Professor of Neuropsychiatry at the University of New South Wales, Australia, Co-Director of the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing (CHeBA), and Clinical Director of the Neuropsychiatric Institute, the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Australia. He graduated from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India, and completed his MD in Psychiatry from that institution before migrating to New Zealand and then to Australia where he completed his psychiatric training and went on to head the Neuropsychiatric Institute. His doctorate was on the ethnopsychological concepts in Maori culture. His early work in Neuropsychiatry was on drug-induced movement disorders, in particular akathisia, tardive dyskinesia and neuroleptic malignant syndrome. His most recent work has been in cognitive ageing, dementia and pre-dementia syndromes. Dr Sachdev is Past-President of the International Neuropsychiatric Association and was inaugural Chair of the Section of Neuropsychiatry of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists. He was the recipient of the Organon Senior Research Award of the RANZCP in 1995, the Novartis Oration of the Australasian Society for Psychiatric Research in 2004, and the inaugural INA-India lecture in 2005. He has published five books and over 350 original papers in peer-reviewed journals. His recent academic book is Secondary Schizophrenia (Cambridge University Press). His foray into popular science writing was celebrated with his recent book The Yipping Tiger and other tales from the neuropsychiatric clinic, which won the 2009 Rotary Health Knowledge Dissemination Award. He was awarded the NSW Biomedical Scientist of the Year 2010. He was made Member of the Order of Australia in 2011. He is the current President of the International College of Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology.