American College of Neuropsychopharmacology

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Founded in 1961, the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) is a professional organization of leading brain and behavior scientists. [1] The principal functions of the College are research and education. Their goals in research are to offer investigators an opportunity for cross-disciplinary communication and to promote the application of various scientific disciplines to the study of the brain's effect on behavior, with a focus on mental illness of all forms.  Their educational goals are to encourage young scientists to enter research careers in neuropsychopharmacology and to develop and provide accurate information about behavioral disorders and their pharmacological treatment.

Contents

Organization

The College is an honorific society.  Members are selected primarily on the basis of their original research contributions to the broad field of neuroscience. [2]   The membership of the College is drawn from scientists in multiple fields including behavioral pharmacology, neuroimaging, chronobiology, clinical psychopharmacology, epidemiology, genetics, molecular biology, neurochemistry, neuroendocrinology, neuroimmunology, neurology, neurophysiology, psychiatry, and psychology. [3]

Annual meeting

The annual meeting of the College is a closed meeting; only the ACNP members and their invited guests may attend. [4] Because of the College's intense concern with, and involvement in, the education and training of tomorrow's brain scientists, the College selects a number of young scientists to be invited to the annual meeting through a competitive process open to all early career researchers. This meeting, a mix of foremost brain and behavior research world-wide, is designed to encourage dialogue, discussion, and synergy by those attending.

Awards

The ACNP offers the following awards. [5]

Publication

The Springer-Nature Publishing Group journals Neuropsychopharmacology and NPP-Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience are their official publications. Neuropsychopharmacology [6] was first published in 1987 and NPP-Digital Psychiatry and Neuroscience is an Open Access journal that started in 2023.

Related Research Articles

Neuropsychopharmacology, an interdisciplinary science related to psychopharmacology and fundamental neuroscience, is the study of the neural mechanisms that drugs act upon to influence behavior. It entails research of mechanisms of neuropathology, pharmacodynamics, psychiatric illness, and states of consciousness. These studies are instigated at the detailed level involving neurotransmission/receptor activity, bio-chemical processes, and neural circuitry. Neuropsychopharmacology supersedes psychopharmacology in the areas of "how" and "why", and additionally addresses other issues of brain function. Accordingly, the clinical aspect of the field includes psychiatric (psychoactive) as well as neurologic (non-psychoactive) pharmacology-based treatments. Developments in neuropsychopharmacology may directly impact the studies of anxiety disorders, affective disorders, psychotic disorders, degenerative disorders, eating behavior, and sleep behavior.

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References

  1. "About Us". ACNP. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  2. "Membership FAQs". ACNP. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  3. "Neuropsychopharmacology - 5th Generation of Progress". ACNP. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  4. "Meeting FAQs". ACNP. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  5. "Honorific Awards". ACNP. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
  6. "Neuropsychopharmacology". Nature Publishing group.

See also