BALTIMORE, MD—May 3, 2017— The Lieber Institute for Brain Development (LIBD), an affiliate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, today announced the inaugural recipient of the Constance Lieber Prize for Innovation in Developmental Neuroscience, a new prize in memory of Constance Lieber.
The 2017 Constance Lieber Prize for Innovation in Developmental Neuroscience will be awarded to Joseph Gleeson, M.D., Director of Neurodevelopmental Genetics and Endowed Chair at Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine; Professor of Neuroscience, University of California San Diego; Adjunct Professor, The Rockefeller University and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institution. The historic award will be presented to Dr. Gleeson at a Developmental Neuroscience Symposium on June 13, 2017, at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. The award includes a $100,000 cash prize.
Dr. Gleeson trained as a Pediatrician and Neurologist, having completed his residency at Boston Children’s Hospital Harvard Medical School and his postdoctoral training both at Harvard and Rockefeller University. Joe has been part of the discovery of over 50 genes for a variety of mostly rare developmental behavior disorders, but his recent work has begun to shed light on the underlying biology of autism and schizophrenia.
“Dr. Gleeson is a highly regarded and accomplished developmental neuroscientist,” said LIBD Director and CEO Daniel R. Weinberger, M.D. “His latest work to uncover the molecular origins of developmental behavior disorders made him a unanimous choice for the inaugural recipient of this prize. We are proud to honor and continue Connie’s legacy through the Constance Lieber Prize for Innovation in Developmental Neuroscience.”
The Lieber Institute established the new prize in development neuroscience to honor Connie Lieber, one of the Institute’s founders, for her leadership in the area of mental health research and her prescient insights about the central role of brain development in psychiatric illness. Connie served for over twenty years as president of the Brain Behavior Research Foundation (formerly NARSAD) which has provided over $300M in grants to support research in mental illness. Her unmatched contributions to the field provided a platform without which countless discoveries in developmental neuroscience would not have been possible.
“I am absolutely thrilled and humbled to receive the Constance Lieber Prize for Innovation in Developmental Neuroscience,” said Dr. Joseph Gleeson. “My hope is that someday children and families with brain disorders can benefit from work in what I call ‘assembly neuroscience’, that is, how the human brain is assembled, and to which I feel honored to have contributed.”
The prize symposium will take place in the Chevy Chase Auditorium on the campus of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine on June 13, 2017. The event is free but a reservation is required. For more information or to register for the symposium, visit the official prize homepage: clprize.libd.org.
The Constance Lieber Prize Committee
Dr. Daniel Weinberger, Lieber Institute for Brain Development
Dr. Fred Gage, Salk Institute for Biological Sciences
Dr. Huda Zoghbi, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. John Rubenstein, University of California San Francisco
Dr. Rick Huganir, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Dr. Amy Arnsten, Yale University
Dr. Matthew State, University of California San Francisco
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About the Lieber Institute for Brain Development
The mission of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development and the Maltz Research Laboratories is to translate the understanding of basic genetic and molecular mechanisms of schizophrenia and related developmental brain disorders into clinical advances that change the lives of affected individuals. LIBD is an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization and a Maryland tax- exempt medical research institute affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. For more information, visit: www.libd.org.
About Rady Children’s Institute for Genomic Medicine
The Institute is leading the way in advancing precision pediatric medicine by combining ultra- rapid whole genome sequencing with expert analysis and interpretation to speed diagnosis of genetic disease. Research conducted at RCIGM is being used to improve care of critically ill newborns at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego. Learn more at www.RadyGenomics.org.