Welcome to the June issue of your CINP eflyer.

In this Issue

	Stockholm 2012
	Abram Hoffer 1917 - 2009
	Request for Pro/Con and Plenary Proposals for CINP Hong Kong 2010
	Welcome to new members

Stockholm 2012

CINP are pleased to announce that the 2012 CINP biennial congress will be held in Stockholm. Stockholm is Sweden’s capital and its largest city; it is also the site of the national Swedish government, the parliament, and the official residence of the Swedish monarch. Apart from being a large city with an active cultural life, Stockholm houses many national cultural institutions, including the location for the Nobel Prize award ceremony. The perfect location for the XXVIII CINP Congress.

The congress will be held in the Stockholm International Fairs & Congress Center which is 10 mins by public transport from the city centre. The Stockholm Concert Hall, the venue for the Nobel Prize award ceremony, will be the ideal setting for some of the CINP social functions.

CINP are delighted to announce that CPO Hanser will be the Professional Congress Organiser for CINP 2012. CPO Hanser have over 25 years of experience in the industry and were the PCO for the highly successful XXVI CINP Congress in Munich.

Prof. Hans-Jurgen Moller
President-Elect, CINP

Abram Hoffer 1917 - 2009

Abram Hoffer, one of the founders of CINP, died in Victoria (BC, Canada) on May 27, 2009 after a brief illness. Born November 11, 1917 on a farm in Hoffer, Saskatchewan (Canada), Hoffer attended a one-room schoolhouse and studied on horseback. He graduated with a BSA and MSA from the University of Saskatchewan, and received his PhD in Biochemistry in 1944 from the University of Minnesota and his MD in 1949 from the University of Toronto. He specialized in psychiatry and was, for many years, director of psychiatric research for the Saskatchewan Department of Public Health and associate professor of medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, in Saskatoon. In these capacities he carried out research in several areas, ultimately authoring more than 500 articles and more than 30 monographs and books.

Hoffer challenged the then-dominant view of schizophrenia as a psychological disorder caused by poor mothering, and co-authored research on the genetics of schizophrenia with the renowned geneticist, Ernst Mayer. He co-discovered the lipid-lowering effect of niacin (vitamin B-3). He advanced one of the first biochemical hypotheses of schizophrenia, attributing the disease to stress-induced anxiety that leads to the production of adrenochrome, a psychotoxic oxidation product of epinephrine. The hypothesis stimulated biochemical research that contributed to the development of a biological foundation of psychiatry. Believing that his hypothesis is correct he developed what would have been a rational treatment for schizophrenia by preventing the formation of adrenochrome. with the administration of nicotinic acid. In collaboration with his colleague, Humphrey Osmond, he studied the properties of hallucinogens and pioneered the use of LSD in conjunction with skilled and compassionate psychotherapy in the treatment of alcoholism. He also collaborated with Linus Pauling in developing orthomolecular psychiatry. For many schizophrenic patients refractory to conventional treatment Hoffer offered hope. He also organized Schizophrenics Anonymous, a self-help organization for people with schizophrenia.

Hoffer moved to Victoria in 1976 where he practiced psychiatry for many years, becoming a founding member and president of the Senior Physicians Association of British Columbia. He devoted the rest of his life to his family and patients. His son Bill died in 1998 and his wife Rose died in 2001. He is survived by his daughter, Miriam, by his son, John, and four grandchildren.
 

John Hoffer, MD
 

Request for Pro/Con and Plenary Proposals for CINP Hong Kong 2010

While the Scientific Program Committee is dealing with the mass of work involved with the scientific symposia submitted for CINP Hong Kong, the Executive Committee and Scientific Program Committee would like to request from the membership suggestions for plenary lectures and pro/con debates. Plenary lectures at CINP have often billed Nobel Prize winners and leaders in our field. While continuing this tradition, we also hope to get suggestions from the membership for lecturers in frontiers of science that we would like to hear but do not always have an opportunity to do so at our usual professional meetings. Lecturers in human brain evolution, philosophy of consciousness and personality genetics will be featured and further suggestions for such lectures are welcome. In addition, it is increasingly recognized that science in general and psychopharmacology in particular do not progress in a linear fashion. Numerous controversies exist in our field that cannot be denied. Some of the memorable moments of the past CINP in Munich included debates on subjects such as whether SSRIs enhance suicide risk in a small subgroup of patients. Proposals for such pro/con debates including speakers who are skilled in adversary rhetoric are requested from the membership.
 

Prof. RH Belmaker
President, CINP
Chairman Scientific Program Committee
 

Welcome to new members

New members who have joined the CINP in recent months include:

• Dr Thomas Freeman received his MD at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is currently the Director, Consult-Liason Psychiatry at CAVHS.
• Dr Noriaki Koshiwawa is currently Professor, Department of Pharmacology, at Nihon University School of Dentistry in Japan. He received his PhD in Pharmacology from Nihon University in 1979.
• Dr Michael Hwang currently holds a position as an associate chief of staff in mental health and behavioural science at the Wilkes-Barre VAMC in PA, USA. This position requires overseeing the administrative, clinical, and academic activities at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in the northeastern region of Pennsylvania.
• Dr Penny Randall, MD, MBA is currently an Executive Director of Medical and Scientific Services at Quintiles, Inc. Her expertise is in developing central nervous system compounds, particularly pharmaceuticals to treat depression, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, and addictive disorders.
• Dr Dayong Wang is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He is now researching the roles of Aβ in stress response, including the neurochemical changes resulted from the hyperactivation of adrenergic nervous system and the regulatory functions of Aβ on β2-adrenergic/AMPA receptors.
• Prof. Gal Richter-Levin is currently a Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Ethology and Department of Psychology at the University of Haifa, Israel. He received his Ph.D in Neurobiology at the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot in 1992.
• Dr Nela Pivac currently holds a position as Senior Scientist and Principal Investigator of the projects in the Laboratory for Molecular Neuropsychiatry, Division of Molecular Medicine, at Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Croatia.
• Dr Saddichha Sahoo gained his Diploma in Psychological Medicine (DPM) from the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, India in 2007 . He was the winner of the CINP Rafaelsen Young Investigators Travel Award at the CINP Thematic Meeting in Edinburgh in April 2009.
• Dr Pouya Tahsili-Fahadan from Iran is currently a Post-doctoral Scholar at the Medical University of South Carolina in the Laboratory for Neuromodulation and Behaviour, Department of Neurosciences. His research interest is in cellular and molecular basis of psychiatric diseases.
• Prof. Isan Kumar Patro is currently a Professor in the School of Studies in Neuroscience at the Jiwaji University, Gwalior, India. His contribution to Human Resource Development in Neuroscience by establishment of India’s first UTD of Neuroscience at Jiwaji University, Gwalior has enabled training 70 M.Sc. Neuroscience and 7 PhD students since 2001.

Gill Moore
Executive Secretary