The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 11, 2025. This year, the awardees include Walker Rogers who received the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Mohammad Hassan, PhD, who accepted the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award
Continue Reading →The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 12, 2024. This year, the awardees include Madhurbain Singh who received the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Shannon Cusack, PhD, who accepted the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award.
Continue Reading →Madhurbain Singh received the 2023-2024 Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics IDEA Seminar Award for his seminar titled “GWAS across the ancestry spectrum in UK Biobank enhances genomic discovery for major depression” presented on May 16, 2024.
Continue Reading →The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 14, 2023. This year, the awardees include Mallory Stephenson, M.S., who received the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Luís Fernando Silva Castro de Araújo, M.D., Ph.D., who accepted the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award.
Continue Reading →Marc Kealhofer, Graduate Student at the Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, is a Poster Presentation Finalists in the 2023 Early Career Investigator Program Award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics for his abstract “Dissecting the Relationship Between Major Depressive Disorder and Cognition Using Genetics.“
Continue Reading →Severine Lannoy, PhD, receives the 2023 Early Career Investigator Program Award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics as a post-doctoral researcher for her abstract “The Roles of Aggregate Genetic Liability and Early Adversity in Risk for Suicidal Thought and Behavior.“
Continue Reading →Mallory Stephenson, Graduate Student at the Virginia Institute of Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, is a Poster Presentation Finalists at the IASR/AFSP 2023 International Summit on Suicide Research for her abstract “Clarifying the Relationship Between Painful and Provocative Events and Risk for Suicide Attempt in a Swedish National Sample.“
Continue Reading →Madhurbain Singh, from the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, received The 2nd Rising Star Award at the 53rd Annual Meeting of the Behavior Genetics Association for his oral presentation “Harnessing the Genetic Diversity in the UK Biobank to Enhance Genomic Discovery.“
Continue Reading →The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 15, 2022. This year, the awardees include Mohammad Ahangari, who received the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Severine Lannoy, Ph.D., who accepted the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award. Mr. Ahangari has been working with Brien Riley, Ph.D., and Dr. Lannoy has been working with Alexis Edwards, Ph.D.
Continue Reading →The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 16, 2021. This year, the awardees include Terrell Hicks, who received the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Chelsea Sawyers Rooney, Ph.D., who accepted the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award. Mr. Hicks has been working with Ananda Amstadter, Ph.D., and Dr. Rooney has been working with Jim Bjork, Ph.D.
Continue Reading →Ruth Brown-Ennis, PhD, received the 2021-2022 Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics IDEA Seminar Award for her seminar titled “Genetically informed approaches to understanding mental health disparities among people with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Updates from the HOPE lab” presented on December 9, 2021.
Continue Reading →The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 16, 2020. This year, the awardees include Eva Lancaster, who received the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Amanda Gentry, Ph.D., who accepted the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award. Ms. Lancaster has been working with Roseann Peterson, Ph.D., and Dr. Gentry has been working with Ananda Amstadter, Ph.D.
Continue Reading →The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 16, 2019. This year, the awardees include Kevin McKee, who received the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Joshua Pritikin, Ph.D., who accepted the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award. Both Mr. McKee and Dr. Pritikin have been working with Michael Neale, Ph.D.
Continue Reading →The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 6, 2018. Annually since 2007. This year, the awardees include Dana Lapato, who received the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Chris Chatzinakos, Ph.D., who accepted the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award. Awards were presented by the recipients’ advisors, Roxann Roberson-Nay, Ph.D. and Silviu-Alin Bacanu, Ph.D., respectively. The awardees discuss their research goals and their sentiments about being formally recognized for their achievements below.
Ms. Lapato’s dissertation research focuses on understanding how maternal depressive symptoms and DNA methylation patterns jointly influence each other during pregnancy. She is also interested ...
Continue Reading →The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 7, 2017 and presented by Drs. Roxann Roberson-Nay, Ph.D., and Michael Neale, Ph.D.
Ashlee Moore was presented with the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research, and Lance Rappaport, Ph.D. received the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award. These awards are given annually by VIPBG faculty to one outstanding pre- and post-doctoral trainee who have demonstrated excellence. The recipient must be a current student and nominated by a faculty member. The faculty vote after a group discussion of the nominations merits. These awards have been given since 2007 and each recipient ...
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Rao emphasizes university values at event marking the beginning of the academic year.
Virginia Commonwealth University President Michael Rao, Ph.D., marked the beginning of the academic year Wednesday by recognizing distinguished faculty. First, he delivered an unwavering message about the university’s values.
“As a research university we have to continue to be mindful of the fact that we are leading in a very challenging time,” Rao said at VCU’s Opening Faculty Address and Convocation. “In light of a lot of things that have gone on in the last week or two, I want you to know that I absolutely abhor racism. I abhor anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, sexism, genderism, ageism and religious intolerance. I will not accept ...
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Michael Neale, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry in the School of Medicine, received the Distinguished Scholarship Award. He has dedicated his research to making connections between how genetic, environmental and behavioral factors interact and contribute to illnesses such as substance abuse and psychiatric disorders.
Michael Neale created an open-source computer program widely used by researchers in modeling data to determine whether genetic variants are linked to outcome variables. The program has been cited more than 3,000 times in scientific literature.
“I hope these tools will be further developed by future generations of researchers.”
“At any point in history, it [has been] a great privilege to work as an ...
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Virginia Commonwealth University will recognize distinguished faculty at its 35th annual Opening Faculty Address and Convocation on Wednesday.
VCU President Michael Rao, Ph.D., and Gail Hackett, Ph.D., provost and vice president for academic affairs, will preside over the ceremony, which will begin at 3:30 p.m. at the W.E. Singleton Center for the Performing Arts, 922 Park Ave. VCU will live stream the event online at http://go.vcu.edu/convocation.
Awards will be presented to faculty members who have distinguished themselves and the university through their commitment to excellence, service, teaching and scholarship. A glance at the honorees:
University Award of Excellence
Supriyo Bandyopadhyay, Ph.D., commonwealth professor, School of Engineering
Bandyopadhyay, named Virginia’s Outstanding Scientist in 2016 by Gov. Terry McAuliffe, leads the Quantum ...
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The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on December 15, 2016 and presented by Drs. Brien Riley, Ph.D. and Hermine Maes, Ph.D.
Graduate student Megan Cooke was presented with the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research and post-doc Roseann Peterson received the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award.
These awards are given annually by VIPBG faculty to one outstanding pre- and post-doc student who have demonstrated excellence. The recipient must be a current student and nominated by a faculty member. The faculty vote after a group discussion of the nominations merits. These awards have been given since 2007 and each recipient receives a certificate ...
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The Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics pre- and post-doc awards were announced on November 5, 2015 and presented by Drs. Roxanne Robberson-Nay, Ph.D. and Michael Neale, Ph.D.
Graduate student Jeanne Savage was presented with the Kenneth S. Kendler Award for Excellence in Pre-Doctoral Research and post-doc Robert Kirkpatrick, Ph.D. received the Lindon Eaves Post-Doctoral Award.
These awards are given annually by VIPBG faculty to one outstanding pre- and post-doc student who have demonstrated excellence. The recipient must be a current student and nominated by a faculty member. The faculty vote after a group discussion of the nominations merits. These awards have been given since 2007 and each recipient receives a ...
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The National Academy of Medicine today awarded Virginia Commonwealth University psychiatry professor Kenneth S. Kendler, M.D., with the Rhoda and Bernard Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health in recognition of his research on the role of genes and environment in the development of psychiatric and substance use disorders.
The award was presented to the director of the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics at the NAM’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Kendler shares the recognition with Kay Jamison, Ph.D., professor of mood disorders at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Jamison is a leading international expert on manic-depressive illness.
“Dr. Jamison and Dr. Kendler have each made tremendous contributions to the field of mental health by ...
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Alexis Edwards, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry. She has always been interested in behavior and completed her Ph.D. in Genetics, working with model systems of aggression. However, she then realized she could translate her work to human behavior. Therefore, her professional and personal passion for understanding the genetic and environmental influences on psychiatric illness led her to pursue her postdoctoral training at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, where she became an Assistant Professor in 2012.
Dr. Edwards’ current research interests involve alcohol use disorder and internalizing disorders, both independently of one another and in shared genetic and environmental liabilities ...
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