Koplewicz Honored

Harold Koplewicz, M.D., is the winner of the Quest for the Test Award for advancing the understanding of early-onset bipolar disorder. The Quest for the Test funds investigations focused on finding an empirical test for bipolar disorder.

Koplewicz will use the $20,000 accompanying prize to support the ground-breaking resting-state fMRI research of F. Xavier Castellanos, M.D., which could lead to a diagnostic tool for early-onset bipolar disorder. “Dr. Castellanos' unique brain imaging work has the potential to truly transform the field of child and adolescent psychiatry” said Koplewicz. “Just as pediatricians can take a blood test to determine if a child has a virus, these brain growth charts have promised to diagnose brain disorders like early-onset bipolar disorder.”

Koplewicz is the director of the Nathan S. Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research and founding president of the Child Mind Institute, a new organization dedicated to transforming mental health care for the world's children.

The Quest for the Test is a key initiative of the Ryan Licht Sang Bipolar Foundation, which was established in 2004 in memory of Ryan Licht Sang, a young man who suffered from early-onset bipolar disorder and died at age 24.