Robert A. Sweet, MD Presented with Distinguished Scientist Award by the Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
The Association for Geriatric Psychiatry has presented the organization's Distinguished Scientist Award to Dr. Robert Sweet, MD in recognition of his scientific contributions and extensive mentorship of junior researchers in the field of geriatric psychiatry.
Dr. Sweet is Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology, and an active member of the University's Translational Neuroscience Program faculty. The long term objective of his research is to identify targets for novel interventions to prevent or alleviate psychotic symptoms, and the cognitive and perceptual deficits linked to these symptoms, in individuals with Alzheimer disease and schizophrenia. Dr. Sweet has served as the Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator for over 16 federally sponsored research grants and projects, and as a Co-Investigator for numerous other studies. He has widely disseminated his findings, publishing over 150 published or in-press peer-reviewed articles in scientific and medical journals, and has presented over 75 invited lectures in the United States and internationally.
In addition to his extensive research activities, Dr. Sweet is a talented mentor who directs the federally funded Training for Transformative Discovery in Psychiatry Program. Dr. Sweet also serves as the Director of the Clinical Core of the University of Pittsburgh's Alzheimer Disease Research Center and Co-Associate Director for Research at the Mental Illness Research, Education, and the Clinical Center at the Veterans Administration of Pittsburgh Healthcare System.
"I am profoundly honored, and was actually quite surprised, to receive this award from my colleagues in the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry," said Dr. Sweet. "Past recipients include many researchers that I have looked up to over my career, joining them is a thrill. I also see this as a challenge to me. I want to continue to deserve the award by generating new discoveries in my continuing studies of the mechanisms leading to psychosis, ideally succeeding in the goal of identifying effective treatment targets."
Dr. Sweet accepted the award at the meeting?s opening plenary session on March 17, 2016 and presented a special lecture at the award ceremony on March 19, 2016 at the AAGP 2016 Annual Meeting in Washington, DC.