2018 Award Winner

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 Dr. Koob's research interests have been directed at the neurobiology of emotion, with a focus on the theoretical constructs of reward and stress. He has made contributions to our understanding of the anatomical connections of the emotional systems and the neurochemistry of emotional function. Dr. Koob has identified afferent and efferent connections of the basal forebrain (extended amygdala) in the region of the nucleus accumbens, bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, and central nucleus of the amygdala in motor activation, reinforcement mechanisms, behavioral responses to stress, drug self-administration, and the neuroadaptation associated with drug dependence. Dr. Koob's work with the neurobiology of stress includes the characterization of behavioral functions in the central nervous system for catecholamines, opioid peptides, and corticotropin-releasing factor. Corticotropin-releasing factor, in addition to its classical hormonal functions in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, is also located in extrahypothalamic brain structures and may have an important role in brain emotional function. Recent use of specific corticotropin-releasing factor antagonists suggests that endogenous brain corticotropin-releasing factor may be involved in specific behavioral responses to stress, the psychopathology of anxiety and affective disorders, and drug addiction. Dr. Koob also has characterized functional roles for other stress-related neurotransmitters/neuroregulators such as norepinephrine, vasopressin, hypocretin (orexin), neuropeptide Y, and neuroactive steroids. Dr. Koob also is one of the worldGÇÖs authorities on the neurobiology of drug addiction. He has contributed to our understanding of the neurocircuitry associated with the acute reinforcing effects of drugs of abuse and more recently on the neuroadaptations of these reward circuits associated with the transition to dependence. He has validated key animal models for dependence associated with drugs of abuse and has begun to explore a key role of anti-reward systems in the development of dependence. The identification of specific neurochemical systems within the basal forebrain system of the extended amygdala involved in motivation has significant theoretical and heuristic impact. From a theoretical perspective, identification of a role for dopaminergic, opioidergic, GABAergic, glutamatergic and corticotropin-releasing factor systems in the excessive drug taking provides a neuropharmacologic basis for the allostatic changes hypothesized to drive the process of pathology associated with addiction, anxiety, and depression. From a heuristic perspective, these findings provide a framework for further molecular, cellular and neurocircuit research that will identify the basis for individual differences in vulnerability to pathology 

 Nick Heather is Emeritus Professor of Alcohol & Other Drug Studies in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. He obtained a BA(Hons) in Psychology from University College London in 1965, an MSc in Clinical Psychology from Leeds University in 1971 and a PhD from the University of Dundee in 1979. After working as a clinical psychologist in the UK National Health Service, he developed and led the Addictive Behaviours Research Group at the University of Dundee. In 1987 he became founding Director of the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He returned to the UK at the beginning of 1994 to take up a post as Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Newcastle City Health NHS Trust and as Director of the Centre for Alcohol and Drug Studies in Newcastle. He took up his present position on retirement from the NHS in 2003. He has published over 500 scientific articles, books, book chapters and other publications, mostly in the area of addictions and with an emphasis on the treatment of alcohol problems and alcohol brief interventions. He is a co-founder and Honorary President of the New Directions in the Study of Alcohol Group (NDSAG) and a co-founder of the International Network on Brief Interventions for Alcohol & Drugs (INEBRIA).  In 2017 he was the winner of the Jellinek Memorial Award for “outstanding research and conceptual contributions on the interaction of individual and psychosocial factors in alcoholism”. 

Dr. Krystal is the Robert L. McNeil, Jr., Professor of Translational Research, Chair of the Department of Psychiatry, and Professor of Neuroscience at the Yale University School of Medicine. He is also Chief of Behavioral Health at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago, Yale University School of Medicine, and the Yale Psychiatry Residency Training Program. He has published over 500 papers and reviews on the neurobiology and treatment of alcoholism, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, and depression. His research program unites psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience. He and his colleagues have characterized disturbances in human glutamate and GABA signaling associated with alcohol dependence and the heritable risk for alcoholism that alter human alcohol response, disregulate human reward circuit function, and contribute to pathological drinking. He may be best known for the discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine. Since 2000, he has led the NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism. He also leads the Clinical Neuroscience Division of the VA National Center for PTSD and he previously led one of the two national VA Alcohol Research Centers (1991-2011). Dr. Krystal received a number of awards including the Joel Elkes Award of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, the NIAAA Jack Mendelson Alcoholism Research Award, and the RSA Henri Begleiter Alcoholism Research Award. He is also a member of U.S. National Academy of Medicine.  He has served on the NIAAA National Alcohol Advisory Council (2008-2012) and the RSA Board of Directors (2005-2009). He co-chaired the RSA Program Committee (2009-2010),and chaired the NIAAA International Conference on the Applications of Neuroimaging to Alcoholism (2004, 2008, 2013). He previously chaired the NIMH Board of Scientific Counselors (2004-2007). He currently serves as president-elect of the International College of Neuropsychopharmacology, member of the NIMH National Mental Health Advisory Council, and editor of Biological Psychiatry (IF=10.23).