2019 Research Award

NAMI will present its 2019 Scientific Research Award to Matcheri Keshavan, M.D., the Stanley R. Cobb Professor and Vice-Chair of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Massachusetts Mental Health Center; Harvard Medical School, a position he assumed in April 2008. He is also Vice-Chair for the department’s Public Psychiatry Division, and a senior psychiatric advisor for the Massachusetts mental Health Center. Since September 2017, he serves as the Director of the Commonwealth Research Center at Beth Israel.

Dr. Keshavan is closely involved in research in neurobiology of psychosis, especially as it pertains to first episode psychotic disorders. His other areas of research include the neurodevelopmental basis of schizophrenia, neuroimgaging, biomarkers and early intervention. His research has resulted in over 550 publications to date, including over 500 peer-reviewed papers, and four books. He has received numerous awards for his work. He teaches Harvard Medical School medical students and residents, and co-directs the neuroscience, critical thinking and public psychiatry courses for Harvard Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center residents.

He received his medical training in Mysore, India (where he graduated at the top of his University), and his psychiatric training in Bangalore (India), Vienna, London and Detroit. In 1986, he joined the faculty at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, Pittsburgh, PA. He was appointed full tenured professor in 1998. Between 2004 and 2008, Dr. Keshavan served as Tenured Professor and Associate Chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, Wayne State University in Detroit, MI.

Dr. Keshavan is a distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association; a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, Canada; and a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, UK. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Schizophrenia Research (Elsevier) and serves on the editorial board for journals such as Acta Neuropsychiatrica, Bipolar Disorder and Asian J psychiatry. In addition, he is often invited to speak at national and international conferences.