Samuel Gershon Awards for Junior Investigators

Brisa Fernandes, MD, MSc, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil, for her manuscript: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor as a state-marker of mood episodes in bipolar disorders: A systematic review and meta-regression analysis

Mauricio Kunz, MD, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, for his manuscript: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and inflammatory markers as predictors of outcome in bipolar disorder: prospective data from the Systematic Treatment Optimization Program for Early Mania (STOP-EM)

Adriene Rosa, PhD, Bipolar Disorders Program, Clinic Hospital of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, for her manuscript: Functional Impairment and Disability across Mood States in Bipolar Disorder

Vesile Senturk, MD, MSc, Department of Psychiatry, Ankara University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey, for her manuscript: Cognitive profile of euthymic patients with bipolar disorder on monotherapy with novel antipsychotics or mood stablizers

Ana Andreazza, PhD, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, for her manuscript: Decreased Complex I Activity and Increased Oxidative-Modified Protein in the Postmortem Prefrontal Cortex of Subjects with Bipolar Disorder

David Bond, MD, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, for his manuscript: The Association of Weight Gain with Mood Symptoms and Functional Outcomes in First-Episode Mania Patients: Prospective 12-Month Data from the Systematic Treatment Optimization Program for Early Mania

Seetal Dodd, PhD, Department of Clinical and Biomedical Sciences: Barwon Health, University of Melbourne, Australia, for his manuscript: A Prospective Study of the Impact of Subthreshold Mixed States on the 24-Month Clinical Outcomes of Bipolar I Disorder or Schizoaffective Disorder

Sandip Kulkarni, MD, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, India, for his manuscript: Impairment of Verbal Learning and Memory and Executive Function in Unaffected Siblings of Probands with Familial Bipolar Disorder

Fernando Neves , MD, PhD, Grupo de Estudos em Neuropsiquiatria Clínica e Molecular, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, for his manuscript: Is the Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) a Potential Marker for Suicidal Behavior in Bipolar Disorder Patients?

Dr. Benjamin I. Goldstein MD, from the Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA. His innovative work focused on substance use disorders among adolescents with bipolar spectrum disorders.

Dr. Morgan Haldane, MB, BS, BSc, MRCPsych, Section of Neurobiology of Psychosis, Institute of Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom, for his research on the impact of COMT VAL158MET genotype on neural correlates of facial affect recognition in bipolar disorder patients and unaffected siblings.

Dr. Carlos Lopez, MD, MSc, from the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Universidad De Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia, for his work entitled ‘Effect of chronicity on the cognitive performance of patients with bipolar disorder type 1’.

Dr. Samir Kumar Praharaj, MBBS, MD, DPM, from the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Kanke, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, who explored cerebral blood flow changes and efficacy of rapid suprathreshold repetitive trans-cranial magnetic stimulation of right prefrontal cortex in bipolar mania.

Dr. Carrie Bearden, PhD - University of California, Los Angeles - Los Angeles, CA, USA
Manuscript: Evidence for Disruption in Prefrontal Cortical Functions in Juvenile Bipolar
Disorder

Dr. Marcia Kauer-Sant’Anna, MD - University of British Columbia - Vancouver, BC, Canada
Manuscript: Traumatic Life Events in Bipolar Disorder: Impact on BDNF Levels and Psychopathology

Dr. Benicio Frey, MD, MSc - Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul - Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Manuscript: Abnormal cellular energy and phospholipid metabolism in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex of medication-free individuals with bipolar disorder: an in vivo 1H MRS study

Dr. Vesile Senturk, MD - Ankara University Psychiatry Dikimevi - Ankara, Turkey
Manuscript: Impaired verbal memory and otherwise spared cognition in remitted bipolar patients on monotherapy with lithium or valproate