The European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) is pleased to announce Moussa B. H. Youdim as the recipient of the 2010 ECNP Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his innovative and lasting contribution to the area of neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric drug development. The ECNP Lifetime Achievement Award is presented biennially and recognises significant and lasting impact on the field of neuropsychopharmacology. The award is accompanied by a prize of € 20,000.
Moussa B. H. Youdim, born in 1940 in Teheran, is Finkelstein Professor of Life Sciences and at Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel. He is also founder and Director of the Eve Topf and U.S. National Parkinson Foundation Centers of Excellence for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research and Teaching, an independent extension of the Department of Pharmacology dedicated to advancing the understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders.
"With regard to current treatment standards based on symptom control, innovative neuroprotective therapies are needed in the common neurodegenerative disorders," he emphasised on the occasion of the 23rd ECNP Congress in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Moussa Youdim has gained a worldwide reputation for his work in addressing this need in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease over nearly 50 years of highly productive activity.
He is especially known for his key role in establishing the importance of the monoamine oxidase enzymes, which are central to the metabolism of neurotransmitters such as dopamine, noradrenaline and serotonin, and the connection between these enzymes and abnormal brain iron metabolism. He has also pursued this research into the clinic, with the development of novel treatments for neurodegenerative diseases. "A current challenge for drug discovery designed for complex brain disorders such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's disease is to look for multimodal drugs with a disease modifying effect," said Youdim.
Presenting the award at the 23rd ECNP Congress in Amsterdam, the chairman of the ECNP Award Jury 2010, Tomas Hökfelt of the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, highlighted Youdim's scientific discoveries and their public health implications. "Demographic changes in Europe are making Parkinson's and Alzheimer's an increasing public health concern. Moussa Youdim's contribution to our understanding and better treatment of these conditions has been lasting and significant. We congratulate him on this well-deserved award."
ECNP is an independent scientific association established in 1987 to promote the translation of ground-breaking science discoveries into improved pharmacological treatments for mental disorders and enhanced public health. The 23rd ECNP Congress 2010 in Amsterdam, in which more than 7,000 registered participants from across the world met to discuss the latest advances in brain research, marks ECNP's ongoing commitment to alleviating the burden and suffering associated with mental disorders.