Leo Sher, M.D.

The 67th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Biological Psychiatry (SOBP) was held on May 3-5, 2012 in Philadelphia. The announced theme of the meeting was “Systems Neurosciences: Applications to Psychiatric Illnesses.”

As most readers probably know, Philadelphia is a large city located in the Northeastern United States. Philadelphia was founded in 1682, and by the 1750s Philadelphia was the largest city and busiest port in the original 13 American colonies. In Philadelphia, the Founding Fathers of the United States signed the nation’s Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 and the Constitution on September 17, 1787. Philadelphia was the temporary capital of the United States from 1790 to 1800 while Washington, D.C., was under construction. Currently, Philadelphia is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States with a population of more than one and half million people.

The role of gene-environmental interactions in the pathophysiology of psychiatric disorders, identification of novel genes and phenotypes, diagnostic and treatment issues, neurostimulation treatments in psychiatric disorders, neurobiology of traumatic brain injury, the role of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor and polyunsaturated fatty acids in the neurobiology of mental illnesses, and many other topics were discussed at the meeting. My presentation was entitled, “Testosterone levels in bipolar suicide attempters” (Sher L, Grunebaum MF, Sullivan GM, Burke AK, Cooper TB, Mann JJ, Oquendo MA. Testosterone levels in bipolar suicide attempters. In: 67th Annual Convention of the Society of Biological Psychiatry, Philadelphia, PA, May 3-5, 2012. Biological Psychiatry, 2012, Vol. 71, No. 8, Suppl., p. S294).

Most meeting participants were from the United States. There were participants from other countries, including Canada, Israel, Germany, Great Britain, and Poland.

The SOBP website states that “The Society of Biological Psychiatry was founded in 1945 to encourage the study of the biological causes of and treatments for psychiatric disorders. Its continuing purpose is to promote excellence in scientific research and education in fields that investigate the nature, causes, mechanisms, and treatments of disorders of thought, emotion, or behavior.”

The photos were taken by the author of this report.