Each year The New York Academy of Medicine’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 and Lecture for outstanding contributions to these fields. The Salmon Lecture, first given in 1932, is presented in memory 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, through ongoing support from the International Foundation.
“The Academy has a longstanding commitment to improving mental health in cities—a topic that is currently also a priority of the de Blasio administration, which recently released their major Thrive NYC report,” said Academy President Jo Ivey Boufford, MD. “In addition to our research, statewide technical assistance, and NYC public school initiatives in this area, we are pleased to present the Salmon Award and Lecture each year to a prominent individual making significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of mental health issues.”
This year’s recipient, E. Fuller Torrey, MD, is a research psychiatrist whose career has focused severe mental illness, specifically schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, inspired his personal experience with a mentally ill sister, what he learned through his research, and his clinical experience in public mental health services, Dr. Torrey departed from the conventional path of psychiatric researcher and clinicians to become this country’s leading advocate and spokesperson for the mentally ill.
“Just as Dr. Salmon was a public health crusader who was ahead of his time, so is this year’s Salmon Award recipient, E. Fuller Torrey, MD,” said Salmon Committee Chair Jeffrey A. Lieberman, MD, the Lawrence C. Kolb Professor and Chairman of Psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Dr. Torrey galvanized and guided our country’s mental illness advocacy movement and became a prolific and compelling contributor to the public’s awareness of mental illness through the media, as well as an influential political force at the state and federal levels of government.”
Dr. Torrey is the Associate Director of the Stanley Medical Research Institute, the founder of the Treatment Advocacy Center, and a Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He was trained at Princeton, McGill, and Stanford Universities, is the author of over 200 scientific publications and 20 books, including Surviving Schizophrenia, The Insanity Offense and American Psychosis: How the Federal Government Destroyed the Mental Illness Treatment System. Dr. Torrey received two Commendation Medals from the U.S. Public Health Service, a 1984 Special Families Award from the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), a 1991 National Caring Award, a research award from the International Congress of Schizophrenia, a humanitarian award from NARSAD, and a 2005 tribute included in NAMI’s 25th Anniversary Celebratory Donor Wall.
About The New York Academy of MedicineThe New York Academy of Medicine advances solutions that promote the health and well-being of people in cities worldwide. Established in 1847, The New York Academy of Medicine continues to address the health challenges facing New York City and the world’s rapidly growing urban populations. We accomplish this through our Institute for Urban Health, home of interdisciplinary research, evaluation, policy and program initiatives; our world class historical medical library and its public programming in history, the humanities and the arts; and our Fellows program, a network of more than 2,000 experts elected by their peers from across the professions affecting health. Our current priorities are healthy aging, disease prevention, and eliminating health disparities.
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