Scientific Advisory Board

John C. Reed, MD, Ph.D., is President & Chief Executive Officer of Burnham Institute for Medical Research, where he has worked as scientist and leader for over 15 years. Dr. Reed is also Professor and Donald Bren Presidential Chair at Burnham, with adjunct Professor appointments at several universities. Dr. Reed’s scientific accomplishments include authorship of over 725 research publications and more than 50 book chapters. He was recognized as the world’s most highly cited scientist for his research publications during the decade 1995-2005 in the broad field of “cell biology” and also in the field of “general biomedicine” by the Institute for Scientific Information. Dr. Reed is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, and has been awarded over 70 research grants for his work. He is a named inventor for over 80 patents and the founder or co-founder of five biotechnology companies. Dr. Reed has served as an advisor to numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, and has also served on the Boards of Directors of several public and private biotechnology companies and life-sciences organizations.

Professor Michael Bauer, MD, PhD, is Director and Executive Chair at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at the Medical Faculty of the Technische Universität Dresden, and physician-in-chief of the psychiatric hospital and outpatient clinics at the University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus in Dresden, Germany.

Dr. Bauer received his MD from the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, and his PhD from the Institute of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry also at Freie Universität Berlin. From 1990-1996 he completed a residency in psychiatry and neurology at Benjamin Franklin University Medical Center in Berlin, Germany. From 1998 to 2002 he was a Visiting Professor of Psychiatry at the Neuropsychiatric Institute of the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). From 2002-2006 he was Deputy Head in the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at Charite-University of Medicine Berlin, in Berlin, Germany, and also Director of the Mood Disorders Research and Clinical Program at the Charité.

 Dr. Bauer’s research interests include the neurobiology and treatment of mood disorders with an emphasis on bipolar disorder, and refractory depression and investigation of the thyroid system in mood disorders using neuroendocrine and functional brain imaging techniques.

He currently is the President of the International Group for the Study of Lithium-treated Patients, Chair of the German Society of Bipolar Disorder, Chair of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry Task Force on Treatment Guidelines for Unipolar Depressive Disorders, and editor of the journals “Pharmacopsychiatry” and “Der Nervenarzt”.

 He has published more than 160 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 10 edited books and 54 book chapters and has been the recipient of several honors and awards, including the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Young Investigator Award, the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Independent Investigator Award 2005, the Judson Braun Research Scholarship at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft Research Scholarship.

Professor Michael Berk is currently appointed as Chair of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine, Deakin University. He also is a Professorial Fellow at the University of Melbourne and the Mental Health Research Institute, and leads the first episode bipolar program at Orygen Youth Health Research Centre. He is immediate past President of the International Society of Bipolar Disorders, and Chairman of the Australasian Society of Bipolar Disorders. He has published over 350 papers on a range of topics with his research interests focusing on mood and psychotic disorders, particularly bipolar disorder and depression. His greatest contribution to the field is in the discovery and implementation of novel therapies. He has published over 20 self-initiated, non-industry randomised controlled trials, predominantly in bipolar disorder. He is a past committee member of both the Collegium Internationale Psychopharmacologicum and World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry and is a member of a number of international advisory boards. He was the founding editor of The Journal of Depression and Anxiety, is associate editor of both the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry and Early Intervention in Psychiatry, has served as guest editor or is on the editorial board of 12 other journals as well as being a reviewer of 30 journals.

Prof Berk is the recipient of a number of grants, including a NHMRC CCRE and 3 NHMRC project grants, two beyondblue grants and two Stanley Medical Research Institute awards and is a lead investigator on the CRE for Mental Health. He is regularly invited as a speaker at international meetings. In 2008, he was awarded the Australasian Society of Psychiatric Research Eli Lilly Oration, the Pathcare Smart Geelong Research and Learning Expo Health and Lifestyle award and the G Force Recruitment Researcher of the Year award for his work, and in 2009 received a commendation in the Ministers Award for Mental Health. Since relocating to Australia in 2001, he has established a new research unit at Barwon Health, which now has 15 researchers and 6 students engaged in 33 projects, multiple local, national and international collaborations, as well as heading a clinical Professorial Unit at the Geelong Clinic.

Joseph Calabrese holds the Bipolar Disorders Research Chair and is Professor of Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University. He is the Director of the Mood Disorders Program at the University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland, Ohio.

Dr. Calabrese also co-directs an NIMH-funded ‘Bipolar Disorders Research Centre, whose projects include research conducted by Bob Findling (Director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) on the phenomenology and treatment of juvenile bipolar, and research conducted by Martha Sajatovic (Director of Geriatric Psychiatry), whose projects include late life bipolar disorder, health services research, and qualitative methodology.The research center is dedicated to the improvement of clinical outcomes in under-served populations of bipolar disorder, including those with bipolar depression, rapid cycling, children and adolescents, adults currently abusing alcohol and/or drugs, forensic complications of bipolar disorder, those receiving care within community mental health centres, older adults, and members of the Ohio National Guard.

Dr Calabrese has received numerous research grants from the NIMH and Federal agencies and published over 300 peer-reviewed papers. His primary scientific focus is the short- and long-term treatment of bipolar disorder, with special emphasis on bipolar depression and the rapid cycling pattern of presentation. Dr. Calabrese was chosen by psychiatry residents to receive the ‘Best Teacher of the Year Award’ in three different years, received the NARSAD Lifetime Achievement Award for his research in bipolar disorder in 2005, Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2006, and the Gerald L. Klerman Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.