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The Department of Psychiatry is honored to announce that Dr. Charles F. Reynolds III has been presented with the prestigious Pardes Humanitarian Prize in Mental Health by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (BBRF).  This international prize recognizes a physician, scientist or public citizen whose extraordinary contribution has made a profound and lasting impact by improving the lives of people suffering from mental illness and by advancing the understanding of mental health. Dr. Reynolds was presented with the award at a special ceremony hosted by the BBRF in New York, NY on October 28, 2016. Click here to view a video tribute to Dr. Reynolds and the significant impact of his work. 

“It is a privilege and an honor to be a recipient of the Pardes Humanitarian Prize,” said Dr. Reynolds. “In our youth-focused culture, the elderly and their struggles with mental illness are often overlooked and neglected.  Late-life depression is a global health priority that has immense impact on older individuals and their families.   It is my sincere hope that as a society we can work to restore the joy of living to older adults affected by mental illness.”

Dr. Reynolds is Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, Behavioral and Community Health Sciences, and Clinical and Translational Science, and UPMC Endowed Professor of Geriatric Psychiatry.  He is recognized internationally for his groundbreaking contributions to the prevention and treatment of late-life depression. Through his research, teaching, and advocacy, Dr. Reynolds has helped to define a new global health priority as depression prevention in older adults is now recognized as a feasible public health goal. He and his colleagues have demonstrated that depression treatment reduces both suicidal risk and cancer-related death in elderly medical patients, and his work has informed long-term treatment to prevent recurrence and to delay dementia in depression with mild cognitive impairment.

Dr. Reynolds leads of a study funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) with the Goa Medical College/India and Sangath to test a scalable model of depression prevention. This work uses lay health counselors for early intervention in low-and middle- income countries, optimizing scarce mental health resources to reduce the global health and economic burden of late-life depression.  The NIMH-sponsored Center in Late Life Mood Disorders, which Dr. Reynolds directs at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has mentored 25 research-career development (NIH K) awardees since 1995, and has had a significant impact on their careers.

In addition to co-founding the Global Consortium on Depression Prevention and editing the American Journal of Psychiatry, Dr. Reynolds served as president of the International College for Geriatric Psychoneuropharmacology, the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. He is the recipient of numerous other awards in recognition to his outstanding contributions to the field.  These honors include the American Psychiatric Association’s Weinberg Award for lifetime contributions in geriatric psychiatry, the American College of Psychiatrists’ research award in geriatrics, and the International Psychogeriatric Association’s Service to the Field of Psychogeriatrics Award.