The 76th Annual Salmon Lecture and Medal Award was held last night at The New York Academy of Medicine (NYAM) where lecturer, Michael S. Gazzaniga, PhD, and Medalist, Myrna Weissman, PhD, were honored for their outstanding work in psychiatry and mental hygiene. The Thomas W. Salmon award and lecture was established in honor of Thomas W. Salmon (1876-1927), a gifted and beloved physician whose contribution to the cause of the mentally ill and distressed was one of the most notable of his generation. This year marked a special occasion, as Dr. Salmon’s two grandsons were in attendance, and with special tribute, brought Dr. Salmon’s burial flag to display in honor of their grandfather.

Thomas W. Salmon’s two grandsons presented his burial flag in his honor.

Dr. Gazzaniga, the Director of the Sage Center for the study of Mind at the University of California, Santa Barbara spoke about the law and neuroscience, and how the two have come to be intertwined. His lecture “Brain Science and the Law: Did My Brain Make Me Do This?” discussed the idea of free will, what it means, if we actually have it, and the concept of determinism; the belief that what happens in life is pre-determined; and how neuroscience has influenced these ideas in studies and in court rooms.

The 2009 Thomas Salmon Award was presented to Myrna Weissman, PhD, a Professor of Epidemiology in Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons and the School of Public Health at Columbia University and Chief of the Department in Clinical-Genetic Epidemiology at New York State Psychiatric Institute. Dr. Weissman’s current 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 prevention intervention.

Each year NYAM’s Salmon Committee on Psychiatry and Mental Hygiene recognizes a prominent specialist in psychiatry, neurology or mental hygiene by presenting the Thomas William Salmon Award for outstanding contributions to these fields. On the same occasion, the Thomas William Salmon Lecturer, chosen from among the nation’s most talented investigators, is invited to share his or her research with the New York-area psychiatric community. The Salmon Lecture was first given in 1932, and the Salmon Medal, first awarded in 1942.

NYAM has been advancing the health of people in cities since 1847. An independent organization, NYAM addresses the health challenges facing the world's urban populations through interdisciplinary approaches to innovative research, education, community engagement and policy leadership. Drawing on the expertise of diverse partners worldwide and more than 2,000 elected Fellows from across the professions, our current priorities are to create environments in cities that support healthy aging; to strengthen systems that prevent disease and promote the public's health; and to implement interventions that eliminate health disparities.

Posted on 12/04/2009

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