Paul D. MacLean Award for Outstanding Neuroscience Research in Psychosomatic Medicine

Paul MacLean was a physician whose visionary neuroscientific research career at Yale Medical School and NIMH was inspired by his recognition of the importance of emotion in clinical medicine and everyday life. In 1949 he hypothesized that psychosomatic disorders arose from impairment in communication between the limbic system and neocortex. This award is intended to honor Dr. MacLean and promote the line of research that he created on emotion, the brain and physical disease.

The Award:

• Up to $1,500 in travel expenses
• Complimentary meeting registration
• A plaque
• Opportunity to give a talk at the APS Annual Meeting

Criteria for Nominees:

• It is expected that the award recipient will be willing to contribute to the Society’s Newsletter upon request from the Newsletter Editor
• Outstanding neuroscientific research
• Direct brain measurements (e.g. brain imaging, single unit recordings) or manipulations (lesions, stimulation) are essential
• Indirect indicators of brain function such as mood states, cognition, autonomic or endocrine functions, or indirect manipulations such as peripheral or cranial nerve stimulation, are insufficient
• The neuroscientific research should either be unequivocally psychosomatic or foundational to the field of psychosomatic medicine
• The research can be basic (i.e. pre-clinical) in nature and focus on animals or humans
• Innovative and integrative theoretical contributions are welcome but must be supported by empirical evidence