Hagop Souren Akiskal, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry and Director of International Mood
Center
San Diego Veterans Administration Medical Center
3350 La Jolla Village Drive (116A)
San Diego, CA 92161-9116A
Phone #: 858.552.8585, x 2226
FAX #: 858. 534.8598
E-mail:
hakiskal@ucsd.edu
Biography
Dr. Akiskal obtained his medical degree (Alpha Omega Alpha)
from the American University of Beirut in 1969. Thereafter he
settled in the United States and obtained his psychiatric
training at the Universities of Tennessee, Memphis and
Wisconsin, Madison. He was appointed Professor of Psychiatry
and Pharmacology at the University of Tennessee (1972-1990),
and subsequently recruited as the Senior Science Advisor to
the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health
(1990-1994). He is presently Professor of Psychiatry and
Director of the International Mood Center at the University of
California at San Diego. He holds an honorary doctorate degree
from the University of Lisbon. Since 1996, he is the
Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Affective Disorders.
Research Focus
Professor Akiskal rose to prominence with his integrative
theory of depression (Science, 1973). Subsequently he
established chronic depressions as treatable mood disorders.
His research on cyclothymia paved the way for understanding
the childhood antecedents of bipolarity, and helped in the
worldwide renaissance of the temperament field. His focus on
subthreshold mood disorders enlarged the boundaries of bipolar
disorders. He has received the Gold Medal for Pioneer Research
(Society of Biological Psychiatry), the German Anna Monika
Prize for Depression, the NARSAD Prize for Affective
Disorders, the Jean Delay Prize for international
collaborative research (World Psychiatric Association), as
well as the French Jules Baillarger and the Italian Aretaeus
Prizes for his research on the bipolar spectrum.
Clinical Focus
Professor Akiskal has pioneered in the study of outpatient
mood disorders. At the University of Tennessee, he established
mood clinics which have had worldwide appeal because of his
philosophy of conducting clinical training and research while
delivering high quality care. His clinical expertise ranges
from dysthymia to bipolar spectrum disorders, as well as
comorbidity, resistant depression, interface of personality
with mood disorders, mixed states, anxious bipolarity, and
PTSD. In 2003, he received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor
“for exceptional national humanitarian service.” He consults
and lectures internationally.
Selected Publications
- Akiskal HS, McKinney WT: Depressive disorders: Toward a
unified hypothesis. Science 182:20-29, 1973.
- Akiskal HS:Dysthymia: Psychopathology of proposed chronic
depressive subtypes. Am J Psychiatry 140:11-20, 1983. Abstract
- Akiskal HS,Downs J, Jordan P, Watson S, Daugherty D, Pruitt
DB: Affective disorders in the referred children and younger
siblings of manic-depressives: Mode of onset and prospective
course. Arch Gen Psychiatry 42:996-1003, 1985. Abstract
- Akiskal HS, Maser JD, Zeller P, Endicott J, Coryell W, Keller
M, Warshaw M, Clayton P, Goodwin FK: Switching from “unipolar”
to bipolar II: An 11-year prospective study of clinical and
temperamental predictors in 559 patients. Arch Gen Psychiatry
52:114-123, 1995. Abstract
- Akiskal HS, Bourgeois ML, Angst J, Post R, Moller HJ,
Hirschfeld RMA: Re-evaluating the prevalence of and diagnostic
composition within the broad clinical spectrum of bipolar
disorders. J Affect Disord 59 [Suppl 1]: 5s – 30s, 2000. Article
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