For the second consecutive year, a Weill Cornell Medical College faculty member has received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government to professionals at the early stages of their research careers.
Dr. Francis Lee, associate professor of both psychiatry and pharmacology, is being honored for his work that could lead to the first-ever diagnostic test to guide the treatment for depression.
Dr. Lee's work, which was published in Science, takes a sample of the patient's DNA and looks for a variant of the gene coding a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), which indicates the patient would not likely respond to treatment with the most commonly used class of antidepressant drugs, such as Prozac, Celexa, Paxil and Zoloft.
This test could possibly spare patients and physicians the frustrating trial-and-error process of determining an effective course of medication.
"I am very honored by this award, and believe it is directly due to the efforts of all my mentors who were involved in my training as a physician-scientist," Dr. Lee said. "I look forward to continuing this line of basic molecular neuroscience research, which will hopefully inform future treatment strategies for neuropsychiatric disorders."
Dr. Lee with Dr. Lawrence Tabak (left), acting NIH principal deputy director, and Dr. John H. Marburger III (right), then-director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
Dr. Lee was one of 67 researchers honored in a ceremony held Dec. 19 at the White House, presided by Dr. John H. Marburger III, who served as science adviser to the president and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
The Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers, established in 1996, honors the most promising researchers in the nation within their fields. Nine federal departments and agencies annually nominate scientists and engineers who are at the start of their independent careers and whose work shows exceptional promise for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge. Participating agencies award these talented scientists and engineers with up to five years of funding to further their research in support of critical government missions.
Last year, Dr. Bruce McCandliss, a psychologist at Weill Cornell's Sackler Institute for Developmental Psychobiology and associate professor of psychology in psychiatry at the Medical College, was named as a recipient of the award for his research into the biological basis for language development and dysfunction in developmental disorders such as dyslexia.