The University of Oxford's Medical Sciences Division has bestowed the honour of Visiting Professor at the Department of Psychiatry to Dr Daniel Weinberger.
About Dr Weinberger
Daniel R. Weinberger, M.D. has been at the forefront of the scientific investigation of schizophrenia and related disorders for over 30 years. He became the Director and CEO of the Lieber Institute for Brain Development, Baltimore, in 2011 after leaving the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) where he was for many years head of the Genes, Cognition and Psychosis Program.
Dr. Weinberger has been instrumental in focusing research on the role of abnormal brain development as a risk factor for schizophrenia, and his key 1987 paper provides the first exposition of the contemporary neurodevelopmental hypothesis of the disorder.
It is doubtful whether several of our major grants would have been successful without Daniel’s involvement, and his willingness to share expertise and resources. As such, these relationships with Dr Weinberger have been hugely beneficial to Oxford, and I anticipate this continuing, and increasing, in the coming years.
- Professor Paul Harrison
His lab identified the first specific genetic mechanism of risk for schizophrenia, and the first genetic effects that account for variation in specific human cognitive functions and in human temperament. In addition, he and his colleagues developed the first high-fidelity animal model of schizophrenia.
In 2003, Science magazine highlighted the genetic research of his lab as the second biggest scientific breakthrough of the year, second to the discovery of the origins of the cosmos. He is past president of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, past president of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, and has been elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Weinberger has published over 870 papers, cited almost 90,000 times, with an H index of 146 (Scopus). His papers include several in Nature, Science, New England Journal of Medicine and Cell – a truly exceptional publication record.
Oxford collaborations
Professor Paul Harrison, Associate Head of the University of Oxford’s Department of Psychiatry, and theme lead for the NIHR Oxford Health BRC, has collaborated with Dr Weinberger since 2002. They have co-supervised graduate students and post graduate training fellows. Their joint work has led to a number of high-profile publications over the past 15 years. Dr. Weinberger and Professor Harrison also co-edit Schizophrenia, the standard reference book on the disorder.
Ongoing collaborations include shared grants: Dr. Weinberger is an investigator on a current Wellcome Trust strategic award, and on a new MRC grant led by Professor Elizabeth Tunbridge.
The collaboration with Dr Weinberger and his team has been essential in allowing the Department of Psychiatry to be at the forefront of research into the neurobiology of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.