Ezra Susser Wins Lieber Prize for Advances in Schizophrenia Research
Ezra Susser, MD, DrPH, professor of Epidemiology and Psychiatry at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and at New York State Psychiatric Institute, will be awarded the Lieber Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Schizophrenia Research at the 2021 International Mental Health Research Symposium. Susser is being honored for his body of research and accomplishments in the field of schizophrenia. He will deliver a speech titled “Living with Schizophrenia During the Covid-19 Pandemic.”
The Lieber Prize is named in honor of Constance E. Lieber and her husband, Stephen A. Lieber, for their initiatives to promote schizophrenia research, including the NARSAD Awards, which began in 1987. The $50,000 Prize brings public recognition to the outstanding discoveries being made in schizophrenia research.
At Columbia, Susser’s roles have included chair of Epidemiology, director of the Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program, director of the Imprints Center for Genetic and Environmental Lifecourse Studies, and co-founder of the Columbia University Global Mental Health Program. Much of his work has focused on schizophrenia, including groundbreaking work on prenatal exposure to starvation and maternal blood biomarkers. He has also led extensive research on neurodevelopmental disorders in childhood, such as autism spectrum disorders. His work encompasses the determinants of the onset and the course of schizophrenia and childhood neurodevelopmental disorders at many levels; he has examined the social context of the community, as well as the broader, sociocultural context; at a molecular level, he has worked on genomic and epigenomic causes. His research also extends beyond the factors behind disease onset to strategies for prevention and improving quality of life. Both his past and current work have had a major focus on global mental health, in regions including Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, India, and China. His work has also encompassed the HIV/AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics, including their relation to mental disorders.
Susser’s talk and the entire Symposium will be available on-demand starting Friday, October 29, 2021, on the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation website.