RAPHINE, VA, March 03, 2021 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Jack D. Barchas, MD, has been included in Marquis Who's Who. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Fascinated by the field of medicine since childhood, Dr. Barchas followed his bachelor's degree at Pomona College with a year in brain research at UCLA with James Olds and Horace Magoun and a medical degree at the Yale School of Medicine (1961), plus a year in research and an internship in medicine at the University of Chicago. He then served as a lieutenant commander for the U.S. Public Health Service with research in biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology with Sidney Udenfriend, Herbert Weissbach, and Sydney Spector at the National Heart Institute, where he was also influenced by Julius Axelrod, Seymour Kety, and Marshall Nirenberg. Next came a residency and research in psychiatry at Stanford Medical School with David and Beatrix Hamburg.
In the 1950s, behavioral and biological processes were believed to work separately. Jack Barchas tested the reverse hypothesis, that stress must change a person's neurochemistry and this might influence present and future behavior. With Daniel X. Freedman, and encouraged by Richard Schoenbrun, he provided the first evidence that stress differentially changed two important neurotransmitters in rodents, serotonin and norepinephrine--a finding that changed views. Other influential studies at Yale included work with the discoverer of melatonin, Aaron Lerner, demonstrating that it is made only in the pineal gland and may function as a hormone (later work with Sydney Spector showed that melatonin increases sleep). With Henry Payson he was author of a Special Article in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrating that faculty on medical teaching rounds spent surprisingly little time talking to patients. This range of interests can be seen through his career. In addition to these activities, he was active in civil rights efforts in New Haven.
As an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford University, Dr. Barchas established the Laboratory of Behavioral Neurochemistry, which became an international model in simultaneously studying multiple neuroregulators in terms of their identification, assay, formation, metabolism, genetics, regulation, molecular biology and relations to behavior. It included human to animal and animal to human investigations. The program attracted extraordinary trainees and colleagues from many disciplines. His first trainee, Roland Ciaranello, received a national award for work on metabolism of adrenaline in brain, became a child psychiatrist and molecular biologist, and was the prospective director of the National Institute of Mental Health when he died. Jack's youngest sister, Rebecca, destined to be a psychiatrist, worked with Ciaranello and was a co-author of a Nature paper. Other pathbreaking studies focused on peptide hormones, particularly endorphins. A major training ground, the lab took students of many backgrounds and interests, helping them to build their careers. Seven researchers who trained with him later became members of the National Academy of Medicine; others have had valuable roles and made important contributions. Dr. Barchas became an associate professor, associate chair of the department and Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford. In 1990, after 25 years there he accepted an offer from UCLA where he served for almost 4 years as a professor and dean for neurosciences and dean for research development.
In 1993; eager to return to his roots and roles in psychiatry, Dr. Barchas accepted the chairmanship of the Department of Psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center which--with outstanding leadership from Robert Michaels, Otto Kernberg, William Frosch and their colleagues--was recognized for excellence in clinical services, treatment, scholarship, and education. Building on the department's existing strengths, and increasing resources including endowment, Barchas and his colleagues fostered programs in developmental neurobiology and psychobiology, brain imaging, child-adolescent psychiatry and autism, geriatrics, psychosomatic medicine and specialized clinical programs as well as the women's and psychology programs. The department's roles as a center for humanities for the College and Hospital were enhanced, including its new music and medicine program, programs in history of psychiatry and psychology, policy and social medicine, plus lecture series and art shows. Relationships were strengthened with Rockefeller University, the Hospital for Special Surgery, Memorial Sloan Kettering, and departmental partners at Columbia University.
During his 25 years as the Barklie McKee Henry Professor and Psychiatrist-in-Chief at Weill Cornell the department received multiple research and clinical awards from outside reviewers; the department's Westchester Division of almost 300 beds, under Philip Wilner, received the first Planetree Award in America for innovative care and dedication to patient needs. Dr. Barchas retired in 2019 as a DeWitt Wallace Distinguished Scholar in Psychiatry to focus on writing and other roles, including co-director of the Weill Cornell Node of the Pritzker Consortium.
Throughout his career, Dr. Barchas has provided expertise to other institutions: the Pritzker Network on Mental Disorders; Neurex Corporation; MacArthur Foundation; American Psychiatric Association, in roles including president of its non-profit foundation; New York Academy of Medicine, including 4 years as chair of its board of directors; Robert and Claire Pasarow Foundation, where he devised and chaired its major program, awards for excellence for contributions to cancer, cardiovascular disorders, and neuropsychiatry (8 of the awardees subsequently received the Nobel prize); New York Psychiatric Society as President; and National Academy of Medicine, where among other activities he chaired a National Academy report requested by the White House which resulted in a doubling of research funds for mental health, drug and alcohol abuse. Dr. Barchas serves on the board of trustees of the Hatos Neuroscience Research Foundation; and is a member of the science advisory board of the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and its Pardes Humanitarian Awards Committee.
Jack Barchas has contributed to 300 publications, including an early textbook, Psychopharmacology from Theory to Practice. Glen Elliott, then an MD-PhD student, was essential in this project in addition to his research on serotonin derivatives and administrative contributions to the Laboratory. With colleagues a 9-page invited perspective was prepared for Science on behavioral neurochemistry. He was editor of Archives of Psychiatry and on the editorial board of JAMA for 8 years. His awards include: the Sarnat International Prize in Mental Health, National Academy of Medicine; Bennett and Lifetime Achievement Awards, Society of Biological Psychiatry; Research Award, American Psychiatric Association; Lehman Award for Psychiatric Research, New York State; Efron Award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology; Yale Psychiatry Department Alumnus Award; Honorary Membership, American Psychoanalytic Association, for supporting psychological and biological approaches; Honorary Alumni Membership, Weill Cornell; Greenberg Award, New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell; and Blumenthal Humanitarian Award, United Jewish Appeal of New York.
Dr. Barchas deeply appreciates the multiple mentors, trainees, colleagues, staff members, funders, and leaders associated with the many institutions where he has been, with particular thanks to David and Beatrix Hamburg, Daniel Freedman, the Pritzker Family, Claire Fagin, Huda Akil and Stanley Watson for their encouragement throughout his career, and the exceptional current leadership in psychiatry at Weill Cornell: Francis S. Lee, MD, PhD, its chair, a gifted scholar, clinician, administrator and researcher with an international reputation; Philip J. Wilner, MD, extraordinary clinician and highly effective educator-administrator of sensitivity, generosity, and rare talent; and Jen Walsh, the epitome of an able departmental administrator-they constitute a superb team.
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